Stu Phillips (composer)

American songwriter

Stuart Phillips (born September 9, 1929) is an American composer of film scores and television series theme music, conductor and record producer. He is best known for composing the theme tunes to the television series McCloud, Battlestar Galactica, and Knight Rider.

Phillips studied music at The High School of Music & Art in New York City, New York, and at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While at Eastman, he began arranging music for the Rochester Civic Orchestra. In 1958, Phillips began composing for Columbia Pictures' television and record subsidiaries. He founded Colpix Records and produced high charting hits for James Darren, Nina Simone, The Skyliners, Shelley Fabares, and The Monkees. He also furnished music for Columbia's television series, including The Donna Reed Show with Fabares and The Monkees. Phillips branched out into motion picture work, and scored Columbia's 1964 movie, Ride the Wild Surf. In the mid 1960s, he worked for Capitol Records and created, produced and arranged for the easy listening studio orchestra the Hollyridge Strings. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Phillips continued scoring films and television series including music for the films Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), The Seven Minutes (1971) and the television series Get Christie Love!. In 1974, he began working at Universal Studios scoring television series; Glen A. Larson made extensive use of his compositions. During this time, he scored music for the television series The Six Million Dollar Man, McCloud, and Battlestar Galactica. Long a "serious" musician, Phillips has also orchestrated pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven and Sergei Rachmaninoff for Symphony orchestra. Phillips can be heard on FaLaLaLaLa. com discussing the history of The Hollyridge Strings's Christmas album, which it released in 2008.