Biography
Mike Post is an American multi-Grammy and Emmy Award winning composer best known for his TV theme songs for such primetime series as Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Rockford Files, L.A. Law, Quantum Leap, Magnum, P.I. and Hill Street Blues.
Post's first credited work in music was cutting demos using two singing sisters, Terry and Carol Fischer. With Sally Gordon, they went on to become The Murmaids. Their first single, "Popsicles and Icicles" (written by David Gates), was a #3 hit song in January 1964. Post also provided early guidance for the garage rock band the Outcasts while in basic training in San Antonio, Texas. He was the songwriter and producer for both songs on the band's first single, released in 1965, and also arranged a local concert where they served as the back-up band. He won his first Grammy at age 23 for Best Instrumental Arrangement on Mason Williams' "Classical Gas", a #2 hit song in 1968. He is also credited as the producer for Williams' LP that included this song, The Mason Williams Phonograph Record.
Most Notable Awards
Emmy Award | 1 Win |
BMI Award | 42 Wins |
His big breakthrough came in the following year with his theme song for The Rockford Files, another series by producer Stephen J. Cannell. The theme also got cross-over Top 40 radio airplay and earned a second Grammy for Post. Post subsequently won Grammys for Best Instrumental Composition for the themes for the television shows Hill Street Blues in 1981 and L.A. Law in 1988 as well as another Grammy in 1981 for Best Instrumental Performance for the Hill Street Blues theme. Post won an Emmy for his Murder One theme music, and had previously been nominated for NYPD Blue, among others. He has won BMI Awards for the music for L.A. Law, Hunter, and the various Law & Order series. The theme for The Greatest American Hero (co-written with Stephen Geyer) is one of the few television themes to reach as high as #2 as a single record on the Billboard Hot 100. Other TV music works include The A-Team, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Blossom, CHiPs, The Commish, Doogie Howser, M.D., Greatest American Hero, Hardcastle & McCormick, Hooperman, Hunter, Magnum, P.I., NewsRadio, Profit, Quantum Leap, Renegade, Riptide, Silk Stalkings, Stingray, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, The White Shadow, Wiseguy, the BBC series Roughnecks, Law & Order, and Philly.
Filmography List
1999-2014 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) (312 episodes) | Original Music Composer |
2013 | Behind the Gate (Documentary) | Original Music Composer |
2001-2011 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV Series) (191 episodes) | Original Music Composer |
2011 | New York Says Thank You (Documentary) | Original Songs Composer |
2010 | Rust | Original Music Composer |
1990-2010 | Law & Order (TV Series) (398 episodes) | Original Music Composer |
2009 | Home Is Where You Find It (Documentary short) | Original Music Composer |
2007 | Law & Order Special Victims Unit: Russia (TV Series) | Original Music Composer |
2005-2006 | Law & Order: Trial by Jury (TV Series) (13 episodes) | Original Music Composer |
2005 | Blind Justice (TV Series) | Original Music Composer |
2005 | 'NYPD Blue': A Final Tribute (TV Movie documentary) | Original Music Composer |
2003-4 | Dragnet (TV Series) (22 episodes) | Original Music Composer |
1993-2004 | NYPD Blue (TV Series) (17 episodes) | Original Music Composer |
2003 | The Gin Game (TV Movie) | Original Music Composer |
2002 | Inside 'NYPD Blue': A Decade on the Job (TV Movie documentary short) | Original Music Composer |
2002 | Dead Above Ground | Original Music Composer |
2001-2002 | Philly (TV Series) (22 episodes) | Original Music Composer |
200 | Deadline (TV Series) | Original Music Composer |
2000 | City of Angels (TV Series) | Original Music Composer |
1999 | Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: The Movie (TV Movie) | Original Music Composer |
1999 | The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds... It Leads (TV Movie) | Original Music Composer |
1998 | Exiled (TV Movie) | Original Music Composer |