David Ari Leon

Musical artist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Ari Leon (born December 12, 1967) is an American music supervisor, composer, songwriter and musician.[1]

Born (1967-12-12) December 12, 1967 (age 58)
Los Angeles, California, United States
OccupationsComposer, musician, songwriter, music supervisor
Years active1990–present
LabelsVitamin Records, SoundMind Music
Quick facts Background information, Born ...
David Ari Leon
Leon at the 2012 Comic-Con
Leon at the 2012 Comic-Con
Background information
Born (1967-12-12) December 12, 1967 (age 58)
Los Angeles, California, United States
OccupationsComposer, musician, songwriter, music supervisor
Years active1990–present
LabelsVitamin Records, SoundMind Music
WebsiteSoundMindMusic.com
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Leon's first professional music credit was in 1990 working with Danny Elfman on the feature film Nightbreed.[2] He is best known for writing and supervising music for Marvel Entertainment on titles including Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk.[3] He is a songwriter on the themes to the Marvel series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and The Super Hero Squad Show, and composed the main title music to the shows Xyber 9: New Dawn and Mr. Bill Presents.[4] Leon was also commissioned by NASA to be the music supervisor on their video "29 Days on the Edge" about the James Webb Space Telescope which NASA released in conjunction with the launch of the space telescope in 2021.[5]

Leon has been featured as a music artist on NPR's syndicated programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered in ten episodes between the years 2005 to 2018.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

He was also featured on the album "Rockabye Baby! Baby's Favorite Rock Songs,"[16] which was available exclusively at Starbucks March 23 – April 19, 2010. The album reached #3 on Billboard's Kids Albums chart,[17] #18 on the Billboard Independent Albums,[18] and #111 on the Billboard Top 200.[19] It contains a version of the Rolling Stones song Ruby Tuesday that Leon performed and produced for the Rockabye Baby! series,[20] which also features the artists Björk, Journey and Kanye West.

Education and early career

College

In 1990, Leon received a B.A. degree from UCLA in music composition, where he focused on piano performance, film scoring and electronic music production. While attending the university, he did internships with Academy Award-nominated composers, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman, the latter of which resulted in Leon's first feature film credit on the Clive Barker film Nightbreed.[21] Immediately following his completion of university, Leon worked on Days of Our Lives, garnering him an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Music Director."[22]

Marvel and Fox

In 1994, Leon began working for New World, the parent company of Marvel at that time, as music director and composer on the TV series Valley of the Dolls.[23] The following year (1995) was the start of his work for Marvel as composer and music supervisor on the show Spider-Man, along with other titles for Fox Kids.[24]

Leon subsequently held a vice president of music title for Fox from 1997 to 2002. During that time, he received music supervisor credits on many film and television projects for Fox such as the miniseries Les Misérables starring John Malkovich and the primetime series State of Grace, starring Frances McDormand.[25]

Recent works

More recently, Leon performed and arranged songs for a series of albums on Vitamin Records by artists including Neil Young, The Cure, R.E.M. and Pink Floyd.[26][27] He has also music supervised and written music for a series of interactive and Motion Comics for Marvel, starting with The Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon,[28] and including the recent Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was the first digital comic to have an interactive soundtrack. Other more recent work for Marvel includes Leon being the music supervisor on eight films co-produced by Lions Gate including Thor: Tales of Asgard and The Invincible Iron Man.[29] 2019 found Leon writing a series of songs for the successful Netflix Original series, Super Monsters. While continuing his TV music work on shows such as the Emmy winning ABC show Sea Rescue and the Emmy nominated ABC show The Wildlife Docs, Leon also currently scores music for popular titles for EA and other interactive companies. Games with Leon's music include hit titles such as Contre Jour,[30] Superman,[31] Snoopy Coaster and Woody Woodpecker,[32] which garnered Leon a Hollywood Music in Media Award nomination for his original score to the title.[33] Leon's music was also included in the educational project Kiwaka, a game exploring the concept of tangential learning.[34]

Filmography

More information Year(s), Title ...
Works with a credit of Music Supervisor and/or Composer
Year(s) Title Credited as Notes
Music Supervisor Composer
1990-
-1994
Days of Our Lives Green tickY NBCUniversal, 300 episodes
Emmy Nomination, Outstanding Music[35]
1994 Valley of the Dolls Green tickY Green tickY A Fox series, 65 episodes
1995-
-1998
Spider-Man Green tickY A Marvel series starring
Mark Hamill, 65 episodes
1995 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Green tickY A Fox series, 28 episodes
1996 Masked Rider Green tickY A Fox series, 40 episodes
Oliver Twist Green tickY Green tickY
Power Rangers Zeo Green tickY
1996-
-1997
The Incredible Hulk Green tickY Green tickY A Marvel series
starring Luke Perry, 21 episodes
1996-
-1998
Dragon Ball Z Green tickY Music Supervised 53 episodes of this series
1997 Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie Green tickY A 20th Century Studios film
1997 Big Bad Beetleborgs Green tickY Music Supervised 88 episodes of this series
1998 Rusty: A Dog's Tale Green tickY A film starring Rodney Dangerfield
Richie Rich's Christmas Wish Green tickY A film starring Eugene Levy
Ohh Nooo! Mr. Bill Presents Green tickY Green tickY A 20th Century Studios series
starring Rowan Atkinson, 53 episodes[36]
Like Father, Like Santa Green tickY A film starring Harry Hamlin
Power Rangers in Space Green tickY
1999 Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog Green tickY A 20th Century Studios series, 50 episodes
Power Rangers Lost Galaxy Green tickY
2000 Les Misérables Green tickY A miniseries starring
John Malkovich
St. Patrick: The Irish Legend Green tickY Recorded an Irish choir in Dublin
for this film with Inon Zur
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue Green tickY
Time Share Green tickY A Fox film Starring Timothy Dalton
2000-
-2001
Spider-Man Unlimited Green tickY A Marvel series, 13 episodes
2001 State of Grace Green tickY An ABC series starring
Frances McDormand
Three Days Green tickY A film starring Kristin Davis
2006 Ultimate Avengers Green tickY A Marvel Studios / Lionsgate film
2000-
-2007
Xyber 9 Green tickY Green tickY A Fox series starring Tim Curry
2007 Invincible Iron Man Green tickY A Marvel Studios / Lionsgate film
Doctor Strange Green tickY A Marvel Studios / Lionsgate film
2008 Next Avengers Green tickY A Marvel Studios / Lionsgate film
Wolverine and the X-Men Green tickY A Marvel series, 26 episodes
2009-
-2011
Super Hero Squad Green tickY Green tickY A Marvel Series, Theme with Parry Gripp
2009 Hulk Vs. Green tickY A Marvel Studios / Lionsgate film
2010 Iron Man: Extremis Green tickY Green tickY
(Theme)
A Marvel series, Theme with Guy Erez,
sung by Glen Phillips
Planet Hulk Green tickY A Marvel Studios / Lionsgate film
2011 Superman Green tickY An EA / Warner Bros. game[37]
Thor: Tales of Asgard Green tickY A Marvel Studios / Lionsgate film
Contre Jour Green tickY An EA Game, Won "iPad Game of the Year" Award from Apple in 2011[38]
2010-
-2012
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Green tickY Green tickY
(Theme)
A Marvel Series,
Theme song with Guy Erez
2012 E.T. The Green Planet Green tickY An EA game
Astonishing X-Men Green tickY A Marvel miniseries
Woody Woodpecker Green tickY An EA / NBCUniversal game with
An HMMA Award nominated music score[39]
2013 Snoopy Coaster Green tickY An EA / Peanuts game. Soundtrack
described as "amazing" by reviewer. [40]
2013-
-2018
The Wildlife Docs Green tickY Green tickY An Emmy nominated ABC series
130 episodes
2014 Kiwaka Green tickY A game made with ESA
2018-
-2019
Super Monsters Green tickY Songwriter on 10 original songs
for this Netflix series.
2012-
-2021
Sea Rescue Green tickY Green tickY An Emmy-winning ABC series
178 episodes
2021 NASA's "29 Days on the Edge" for the JWST Green tickY NASA [41] Nominated for Webby Award
2025 Committee Animal Green tickY A film starring Leslie Zemeckis[42]
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References

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