On the scoring stage at Warner Bros. Studios in 1975 with Phil Ramone, Kenny Ascher and Barbra Streisand, discussing the score for the 1976 remake of "A Star is Born" starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.
COMPOSER / ARRANGER / VOCALIST / VOCAL ARRANGER
Grammy-winning composer/arranger, Ian Freebairn-Smith, began his career in music as a group singer/arranger, and in recent years, has continued to provide the bass voice of the chorus on many film scores.
In the early 1960's, he was part of the group of session singers who sang on the themes for many classic TV shows like "Flipper," "Batman," and "Gilligan's Island," and was the solo singing voice of Ray Walston in the movie, "Kiss Me Stupid," starring Dean Martin. His career as a pop music arranger included several of the hits on Stephen Bishop's first record, "Careless," including "On and On" and "Save It For a Rainy Day," as well as recordings by Liza Minelli, Frankie Avalon, Phil Ochs, Emitt Rhodes and Anthony Newley, among others. But, it was his collaborations with Paul Williams as a film composer and orchestrator that garnered him a Grammy Award for "Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal," in 1978 for the Streisand/Williams composition, "Evergreen," from the 1976 remake of "A Star is Born," starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Shortly after, he scored another classic film, "The End," starring Burt Reynolds, and worked with Paul on the score for "The Muppet Movie," which featured his arrangement of the now classic song "The Rainbow Connection," performed by Kermit the frog. Prior to that, he wrote the score for an antiwar film, now a cult classic, "The Strawberry Statement," the soundtrack for which included songs by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Thunderclap Newman, among others. In his 20's, Freebairn-Smith formed a group with fellow singers Perry Botkin, Jr., Don Shelton, Jimmy Bryant and Sue Brown, known as "The Singers Incorporated." Through Perry, he met a young songwriter named Harry Nilsson and they wrote a song together, "The Wailing of the Willow," which appeared on Harry's "Aerial Ballet" LP that also included his biggest hit, a cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin,'" featured in the Oscar-winning film, "Midnight Cowboy." "Wailing of the Willow" has been covered by many artists including Astrud Gilberto, of "The Girl from Ipanema" fame. |
1978 Grammy Award for "Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal" for "Evergreen," the love theme from "A Star is Born."
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The Singers Incorporated (L to R): George Tipton, Sue Allen, Jimmy Bryant, Ian Freebairn-Smith and Perry Botkin.
With Perry Botkin, Jr. at a session.
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With former Singers Incorporated Members Sue Allen and Perry Botkin, Jr. -- then and nearly 60 years later
Perry, Sue and Ian
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Ian, Sue and Perry
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On the set of the 1976 version of "A Star is Born" with Barbra Streisand and, director, Frank Pierson. (Mike Melvoin on Fender Rhodes in the foreground.)
