Blake Neely

Blake Neely is a famous American composer, orchestrator, author, and conductor. Blake was born and brought up in Texas. His father is a Professor, his mother is a Journalist, and his brother is an artist in L.A. Neely started playing the piano when he was very young, i.e., four years old. At age 14, his parents, in order to develop Blake’s interest in composing, enrolled him under Simon Sargon. During high school, he started playing the French Horn for the marching band of the school.

He got his first pair of synthesizers at the age of 14. He graduated High School in 1987 and went on to study further at the University of Texas, in Austin, in order to continue his music major. Interestingly, the music panel did not get impressed with his piano playing and he received a letter saying that he should consider another career path! He interned at the famous Disney for two summers in Los Angeles and later on after Graduation he was offered a full-time job by their record company, Hollywood Records.

Later on, he moved to work in the Disney’s music publishing division. In 1966, Blake began freelance work, writing method books for Hal Leonard Publishing and arranging music. More than 25 instrumental method books have been written by him which consist of some of the best ever selling books like the ‘Piano for Dummies’ and also the ‘Fastrack Music Instruction.’ Blake started orchestrating for his mentor, friend and composer Michael Camen, who introduced him to film music.

He later worked with Vangelis and Hans Zimmer German-born musician Hans Zimmer is known as one o >> Read More... . In 2002 he got his big debut from Greg Berlanti Greg Berlanti is an American film and television w >> Read More... when he hired him for the television series, ‘Everwood’ for WB. Blake received his first Emmy nomination for the main title theme. Blake has composed music for some very prestigious people and events such as the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, the Queen of England and the Mars shuttle launch. He also orchestrated a live audience of a billion for the FIFA World Cup Final Draw in 2002.

Neely has received several awards which include 4 ASCAP awards - 1 for ‘The Mentalist’ and 3 for ‘Brothers & Sisters’; 13 BMI awards for ‘The Mentalist’, ‘Brothers & Sisters’, ‘Arrow’, ‘The Golden Boy’, ‘ Life As We Know It Click to look into! >> Read More... ’, ‘Resurrecton’, ‘ The Flash Click to look into! >> Read More... ’; 1 Goldspirit Award for ‘The Pacific’; 1 International Film Music Critics Association Nomination for ‘Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission Of Hope’ and 3 Emmy nominations for ‘Pan Am’, ‘The Pacific’ and ‘Everwood’.