The hitmaking career of arranger and composer
Artie Butler embraces the breadth of American popular music from the girl group sound to the disco era. A onetime protégé of the legendary songwriting team of Jerry Lieber and
Mike Stoller, his list of credits is staggering, spanning more than 100 chart blockbusters including
the Drifters' "On Broadway,"
Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," and
Barry Manilow's "Copacabana." Born December 2, 1942, in Brooklyn, NY, as a child
Butler poured over jazz magazines like Downbeat and Metronome, at various times studying piano, clarinet, and drums. At 13, he entered the New York City offices of King Records on a whim, auditioned for exec
Henry Glover on a rehearsal piano and landed a record deal on the spot, releasing the R&B-inspired "Lock, Stock and Barrel" on the label's DeLuxe subsidiary in mid-1954. The single went nowhere, and after a brief return to teenage anonymity,
Butler resurfaced when the pianist scheduled for a Lieber/
Stoller session went AWOL. He remained a staple of their Brill Building studio crew for years to come, contributing to classic records including
the Drifters' "Up on the Roof" and
Ben E. King's "Gettin' to Me." In 1963
Butler earned his first assignment as an arranger, teaming with producer
Abner Spector for the Jaynettes' supernatural girl group classic "Sally, Go Round the Roses." Later that same year, he signed on as a session keyboardist with the songwriting tandem of
Jeff Barry and
Ellie Greenwich, joining a studio crew that also featured
Al Gorgoni on guitar and
Buddy Saltzman on drums.
Barry and
Greenwich later joined forces with Lieber and
Stoller to form Red Bird Records, and
Butler appears on most of the label's blockbusters including
the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack,"
the Dixie Cups' "Chapel of Love," and
the Ad Libs' "The Boy from New York City." He also teamed with Lieber to write
Alvin Robinson's 1964 Red Bird release "Down Home Girl," launching his career as a songwriter.
After Lieber and
Stoller sold Red Bird to
George Goldner in 1966,
Butler remained on the
Barry/
Greenwich payroll, arranging records including
Neil Diamond's early hits "Solitary Man" and "Cherry Cherry." He relocated to Los Angeles in 1967 and a year later signed with A&M Records to record Have You Met Miss Jones?, a collection of bossa nova-inspired instrumentals featuring up-and-coming jazz luminaries including keyboardist
Herbie Hancock and bassist
Ron Carter. During his A&M tenure
Butler also devised the memorable piano figure to
Joe Cocker's 1969 smash "Feelin' Alright," soon after leaving the label to work as a freelancer, arranging a decade's worth of pop hits including
Armstrong's 1970 crossover hit "What a Wonderful World,"
Paul Revere & the Raiders' 1971 "Indian Reservation,"
Vicki Lawrence's 1973 "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,"
Neil Sedaka's 1975 "Laughter in the Rain,"
Manilow's "Copacabana," and
Dionne Warwick's Grammy-nominated "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again." At the same time
Butler also emerged as a Hollywood composer and arranger of some renown, scoring 1972's What's Up, Doc? (the first of several collaborations with filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich) and 1977's animated Disney feature The Rescuers. Film and television became his primary focus in the decades to follow, and in 1992 he earned an Emmy nomination for his work on the CBS miniseries Sinatra. In 2004
Butler reunited with
Mike Stoller to compose Laughing Matters, a theatrical musical with lyrics by Iris Dart that premiered in New York City two years later. ~ Jason Ankeny