Wheeler, Harold (14th July 1943-Present)

He is a pianist, producer, conductor, orchestrator, composer and music director born William Harold Wheeler Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri.

From the late 1960s he has worked on numerous Broadway productions such as Lennon, The Wiz, Dreamgirls, A Chorus Line and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, as a conductor, orchestrator, arranger and music director and after having been nominated for many Tony and Drama Desk Awards, he was successful in winning a Drama Desk Outstanding Orchestration Award in 2003 for Hairspray.

Becoming involved in the jazz-funk and disco world he released his own album with the Harold Wheeler Consort in 1975 and in 1976/7 became part of the disco production company formed by the chart-topping producer, Meco, where he wrote and arranged many of the works that appeared on his albums. Throughout these years he would also work as a pianist and can be heard on many albums accompanying artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Nine Simone.

In 2004 he led the orchestra at the Academy Awards ceremony using his previous experience of conducting the VH1 Honors, The American Film Institute, The People’s Choice Awards, The Grammy and Emmy Award ceremonies. In the movie world he has worked on the music for films that include Love! Valour! Compassion!, Straight Out Of Brooklyn, Hercules, Blood Brothers, The Kid, and City Slickers II among many others.

His work has been regularly heard since 2005 in the show Dancing With the Stars where he is musical director and in 2008 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the NAACP Theatre Awards.

Meco recordings
Roman Nights (Harold Wheeler)

Sources:

Wheeler, Harold (14th July 1943-Present)

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