The Karamatics is a group name I use for the songs I write. I'm still waiting for commercial success in this area, but as a prose writer I am the author of 14 books including The Songwriter's Handbook and The Encyclopedia of the Music Business (winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award and recommended on one of the televised Grammy Awards shows by Academy Award-winning composer Henry Mancini). My most recent music book is Song and System: The Making of American Pop Music.
My music books have blurbs on their back covers by such music luminaries as Elton John, Burt Bacharach, Richard Rodgers, Henry Mancini, Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne, Marvin Hamlisch, Aaron Copland, Johnny Mathis, Pat Boone, Bobby Rydell, Sandy Linzer and Tony Orlando. I also wrote Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones and Einstein's Brain: Marvelous Tales of Historical Artifacts" which was adapted for the History Channel series History's Lost and Found.
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Song genres I write in
I write music and lyrics across a variety of genres including modern pop, traditional country and Broadway as well as classical waltzes and ragtime. Most of all, I have a special passion for 1950s and 60s-style vintage pop, and my songs of this genre may generally be described as blissful, passionate, romantic and dreamy.
Speaking of dreamy, I dream a lot about getting my songs synced!