ASMAC (American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers)

Masters Series: Tom Bähler

Hosted by Sylvester Rivers

LA 12pm | NY 3pm | Lima 2pm | London 8pm | Paris 9pm | Sydney 5am (+1 day)

The Arranger’s Arranger: Lessons From the Top

Master musician, composer, vocalist, and arranger Tom Bähler draws from his amazing body of work to share his techniques, concepts, and insights on arranging, composition, and collaboration.

From his extensive work with Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, We Are the World, She’s Out of My Life, Patti Austin, and James Ingram to Neil Diamond, Sonny & Cher, and Billy Joel, Tom will break down and detail his specialized ideas and approach to working with diverse artists and genres, including film and television, to achieve maximum results.

Bios

Thomas Bähler

Thomas Bähler is an amazing singer, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer and author. Bahler is most known for his song "She's Out of My Life", which was recorded by Michael Jackson; the song was originally written for Frank Sinatra, who never recorded it. He is the younger brother of the singer, arranger, conductor and composer John Bahler.

In Bahler's early career, he worked with Jan Berry (of Jan and Dean). Later, he and his brother John were vocalists in the Ron Hicklin Singers. Together with The Wrecking Crew, the Bahler brothers have sung, produced and arranged hundreds of worldwide hits. They were the featured background voices on The Partridge Family recordings in the 1970s.

Bahler wrote the Bobby Sherman hit, "Julie, Do Ya Love Me" (1970) and Cher's 1972 hit "Living in a House Divided". "She's Out of My Life", recorded by Michael Jackson and other artists, was written by Bahler in 1979. It has been claimed he wrote "She's Out of My Life" about Karen Carpenter, who broke up with Bahler after discovering he had fathered a child with another woman, but Bahler says the song was written about Rhonda Rivera. In 1985, he was the associate producer of the Grammy Award-winning "We Are the World", which he considers his most significant project.

Bahler is an associate of Quincy Jones. He has also worked with B. J. Thomas, Neil Diamond, Sonny & Cher, David Cassidy and Billy Joel.

For television and film, Bahler produced the music for the Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe Pageants for a number of years and he composed the music for a number of movies and scored a number of soundtracks. He made cameo appearances in movies such as Wag The Dog, also composing the song, "The American Dream" for the film.

(from Wikipedia)

Sylvester Rivers (Host)

Composer, producer, arranger and pianist Sylvester Rivers has recorded with numerous hit artists including Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, The Jacksons, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson, Kenny Rogers, New Edition, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Martha Reeves, Lamont Dozier, Barry White, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, Shalamar, Cheryl Lynn, Gloria Gaynor, Candi Staton, The Sylvers, Marc Bolan & T. Rex, Ray Parker, Jr. & Raydio, Deniece Williams, Johnny Mathis, Billy Preston, Syreeta Wright, Michael Henderson, Earl Klugh, Stanley Turrentine, Najee, Maxine Nightingale, Aretha Franklin, The Fifth Dimension and many others.

Sylvester Rivers occasionally toured as music director with artists including Ray Parker, Jr., (“Ghostbusters”), with whom he also recorded, and he conducted the world tour of Soul II Soul (“Back to Life”). Back in the studio, Rivers expanded once again, this time into composing and arranging television scores, including the syndicated sports program, “The Other Side of Victory,” hosted by the late Arthur Ashe and later by sports commentator, James Brown. He arranged and orchestrated music for the ABC production of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey’s, “The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour.” Rivers composed and produced the score for MLK: A Dream Deferred, which featured Halle Berry, Regina King and Isaiah Washington. Sylvester Rivers is a Board Member of ASMAC (American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers).