Randy Newman

American songwriter, singer, pianist and conductor who introduced "salon rock" in the late 1960s and recorded his first song at 17. He writes strange, bitter lyrics set to sweet melodies. His song "Short People" was a parody about prejudice, but many people missed the irony of "Short people got no reason to live," and he was sent hate-mail for 20 years about the loony lyrics. Many of his LP's went gold. His film scores include his compositions for, "Toy Story," and, "Michael." He was nominated for three Oscars in 1999 for his scores in "Pleasantville," 1998 and "A Bug's Life," 1998, as well as the song "That'll Do" from "Babe: Pig in the City," 1998; Newman went home Oscar less. He did, however, in 1999, release "Bad Love," his first pop album in 11 years.

He was married from 1967 to 1985 and had three sons. He is known as a surly, charming, funny, irascible, quiet guy who reads a lot and has a high IQ. As a kid, he had four or five operations to correct crossed eyes, but the problem was never fully fixed. Newman had a five-year hiatus 1983-88 with the Epstein-Barr virus. His album "Land of Dreams," 1988, again demonstrates his wit, imagination and songwriting talents.

On 24 March 2002, Newman finally copped an Oscar on his 16th nomination, for "If I Didn't Have You."