Van Dyke Parks

US-American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, and actor.

Brother of Carson Parks

Born 3 January 1943 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA, Parks has spent over 40 years in music. He attended the American Boychoir School in Princeton, N.J. He first studied clarinet. He spent two years at Public School, and studied piano at Carnegie Inst, where he went on to major in music, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,'60-'63.

His first artist contract was at MGM Records in '64. He signed at Warner Brothers in '66, after working as lyricist for Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. At Warner Brothers he produced the first records of Randy Newman and Ry Cooder, among others. His own albums are: "Song Cycle" ('67); "Discover America" ('71); "Clang of the Yankee Reaper" ('76); "Jump" ('82); "Tokyo Rose" ('90); "Orange Crate Art" ('95). "Moonlighting" ('97). Other productions are "Phil Ochs' Greatest Hits" on A&M, "The Mighty Sparrow/Hot & Sweet", and "The Esso Trinidad Steelband" on W. B. (best ethnic/traditional Grammy, 1971). He pioneered an audio/visual department at Warner Brothers' Records in 1971--- the first of its kind to film music videos for record promotion.