Paul Shaffer

This article is about Paul Shaffer, the musician. For the German cult leader, see Paul Schäfer.

Paul Shaffer

Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949 in Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian-American musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian and composer currently seen as the band leader on The Late Show with David Letterman . Since 1990, he has been married to Cathy Vasapoli, with whom he has four children: Victoria (born 1993), William (born 1999), Jasper (born 2001), and Crystal (born 2002). He is the godfather of Tucker Caploe.

Musical career

Shaffer began his musical career in 1972 as the musical director for a Toronto production of Godspell. He went on to play piano for a Broadway show called The Magic Show in 1974, then became the musical director for NBC's popular Saturday Night Live television program from 1975 to 1980, though briefly leaving the series in 1977. SNL gave Shaffer the opportunity to stretch his comedy wings as well, when he eventually became a cast-member. Shaffer's hilarious parodic impersonation of Don Kirshner is particularly well-remembered.

Shaffer occasionally teamed up with the Not Ready for Prime-Time Players off of the show as well, including work on Gilda Radner's highly successful Broadway show, and a time spent as the musical director for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, whenever they recorded or performed as The Blues Brothers.

Since 1982, Shaffer has served as musical director for David Letterman's late-night variety shows: as leader of "The World's Most Dangerous Band" for Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1993) on NBC, for which he also composed the theme song, and as leader of the CBS Orchestra for The Late Show with David Letterman (1993—) on CBS. Letterman consistently maintains that the show's switch to CBS was because NBC "fired Paul for stealing chalk". Shaffer has also guest-hosted the show a few times when Letterman was unavailable.

File:Paulcarnac.jpg

Paul Shaffer as Carnac the Magnificent on the Late Show with David Letterman

Shaffer has served as musical director and producer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony since its inception in 1986 and filled the same role for the 1996 Olympic Games closing ceremonies from Atlanta, Georgia.

Shaffer has released two solo albums, 1989's Grammy nominated Coast to Coast, and 1993’s The World's Most Dangerous Party. Shaffer has also recorded with a wide range of artists, including Grand Funk Railroad, Diana Ross, B.B. King, Cyndi Lauper, Carl Perkins, Yoko Ono, Blues Traveler, Cher, Chicago, and Robert Burns. He wrote and produced, with Paul Jabara, the song "It's Raining Men" which was a #2 hit in England for the Weathergirls in 1984 and a UK #1 remake for Geri Halliwell in 2001. The Weathergirls single only reached #46 in the United States, but has more than made up for its middling chart position with a durable shelf life.

Paul also loves to support Canadian bands. When Broken Social Scene performed on the show on July 19, 2006 he performed with the band with the piano.

Other activities

File:Paulnote.jpg

Paul Shaffer holding a note on the Late Show

Shaffer has appeared in a number of motion pictures over the years, including a major role in Rob Reiner's This is Spinal Tap, Blues Brothers 2000, a scene with Miles Davis in the Bill Murray film Scrooged and as a passenger in John Travolta's taxicab in Look Who's Talking Too. In addition, Shaffer lent his voice to Disney's animated feature and television series, Hercules.

In 1977, Shaffer left SNL for a few months to co-star with Greg Evigan in A Year at the Top, a short-lived CBS sitcom in which Shaffer and Evigan play two musicians from Idaho who relocate to Hollywood where they are regularly tempted by a famous promoter (who is actually the devil's son) to sell their souls in exchange for a year of stardom. Though the series only lasted a few episodes, a soundtrack album was released nevertheless; CBS apparently having expected that the series would be a far bigger hit than it was. Following the series' cancellation, Shaffer returned to SNL, and Evigan's next series, B.J. and the Bear, proved far more successful for him as well. In 1977, Shaffer was also present on the Mark & Clark Bands hit record Worn Down Piano.

In 2001, Shaffer hosted the VH1 game show "Battle of the Cover Bands" along with a co-host, DJ/model Sky Nellor. In this show, cover bands would compete against each other to become the ultimate winner of the series. Each week Paul would sign off by saying "Just because you're in a cover band, it doesn't mean you're not a star." The show lasted thirteen episodes and featured celebrity judges like Kevin Nealon, Nile Rodgers, Cyndi Lauper, and Ace Winston.

In 2002, a street which surrounds the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium in his hometown was renamed "Paul Shaffer Drive". Shaffer has also received two honorary doctorates.

Since 2002, he has been the national spokesperson for Epilepsy Canada.

In June of 2006, he received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

External links

• Paul Shaffer at IMDb
• Official Late Show biography
• Paul Shaffer at NNDB
• Paul Shaffer at Godspell.ca