Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche (/ˈniːtʃi/ NEECH-ee;[3] April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer.
Nitzsche worked with Earl Palmer, Leon Russell, Roy Caton, Glen Campbell, Carol Kaye and Hal Blaine in The Wrecking Crew, the backing band for many pop acts such as the Beach Boys and the Monkees.
Nitzsche arranged the title song of Doris Day's film Move Over, Darling, which was a successful single on the pop charts of the time.
2 in the UK), Out of Our Heads, Aftermath and Between the Buttons as well as on their hit singles "Paint It, Black" and "Let's Spend the Night Together"; he also wrote the choral arrangements for "You Can't Always Get What You Want".
Nitzsche co-produced the band's 1971 self-titled debut album and sang lead vocal on "Crow Jane Lady".
This period culminated in his arrest for allegedly breaking into the home of and then raping ex-girlfriend Carrie Snodgress, formerly Young's companion, with a gun barrel on June 29, 1979.
Nitzsche produced three Mink DeVille albums beginning in the late 1970s: Cabretta (1977), Return to Magenta (1978) and Coup de Grâce (1981).
Nitzsche had also worked on film scores throughout his career, such as his contributions to the Monkees movie Head, the theme music from Village of the Giants (recycling an earlier single, "The Last Race") and the soundtracks for Performance (1970), The Exorcist (1973),[8] One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975),[8][14] Hardcore (1979), The Razor's Edge (1984) and Starman (also 1984).
He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy for his contributions to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, his first of many studio projects with Scott Mathews.
[14][15] In the mid-1990s, an inebriated Nitzsche was seen being arrested in Hollywood in an episode of the television show Cops after brandishing a gun at some youths who had stolen his hat.
In 1997, he expressed interest in producing a comeback album for Link Wray, although this never materialized due to their mutually declining health.
Nitzsche intended to produce and orchestrate the record, having praised the band's 1998 album Deserter's Songs, but he died before pre-production.
[5] With Crazy Horse With The Rolling Stones With Neil Young include previously unreleased material featuring Nitzsche: Nominated – Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Most Intrusive Musical Score