Joe Delia

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Joe Delia is an American composer associated with cinema and television. Although best known for his dark and atmospheric film scores, he has also been prolific in composing scores for a wide range of film and television projects.

His feature film credits include several directed by Abel Ferrara: China Girl; King of New York, starring Christopher Walken, Wesley Snipes and Laurence Fishburne; Bad Lieutenant, starring Harvey Keitel; Body Snatchers; Dangerous Game, in which Keitel co-starred with Madonna; The Addiction; The Funeral; Subway Stories; and The Blackout, on which Delia wrote the original score and collaborated on songs with rap artist Schoolly D. Delia also wrote songs and score music for and appeared in an episode of Miami Vice, which Ferrara directed. He can be seen discussing his collaboration with Ferrara in the documentary A Short Film About the Long Career of Abel Ferrara, included on Artisan's King of New York DVD.

Born in Brooklyn, he began his career as a teenager in the late sixties, playing piano and singing with his group The Bruthers. The band was signed to RCA records and managed by legendary promoter Sid Bernstein. The Bruthers worked as a backup band on tours with rock 'n' roll greats Stevie Wonder, The Crystals, Chuck Berry, Little Eva and the Isley Brothers and were signed to RCA records. The album "Bad Way to GO" has recently been reissued on Sundazed Records.

Among Delia's earliest experiences in the music business were co-writing and singing for the Muppets' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show., composing jingles for major advertising campaigns, and co-composing a children's musical titled Lollapalooza which was produced by Joseph Papp and Bernard Gertsen for the New York Shakespeare festival.

During the seventies, Delia studied composition, arranging, piano and bass viol. ( Don Sebesky, Dave Carey, Eddie Gomez, Jimmy Garrison.) He was later chosen for the position of Composer in Residence at Sarah Lawrence College for two years under the direction of Shirley Kaplan and June Ekert. He eventually made his way into the studio scene in New York City, playing keyboards and writing arrangements for such diverse artists as Dusty Springfield, Grace Slick, Janis Ian, Pat Benatar, Helen Schneider, The Left Banke, Cory Daye and Engelbert Humperdinck, as well as writing jingles and scoring many industrial films.

After scoring two low-budget features for director Abel Ferrara during the 1970s, the two teamed up on a third film, the classic Ms.45 (1980). This working relationship continued for over twenty years, resulting in scores for most of Mr. Ferrara's body of work.

Partnering with Scandinavian singing star Kim Larsen in the early eighties, Delia produced and co-wrote two albums that topped the pop charts throughout Europe, including a number one single in France (1981) Donnez Moi du Feu, sold out tours, and platinum albums in France, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Delia later toured internationally with rock singer David Johansen, producing and co-writing his solo album Sweet Revenge, and continued with the co-creation of the Buster Poindexter show. Over the next five years he served as musical director and piano player for the live show, and is credited as musical director and co-arranger of the self-titled Buster Poindexter album which yielded the hit song Hot,Hot,Hot.

In the early nineties, Delia produced a series of albums on BMG/Music Masters for jazz greats Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, Jim Hall, Louis Bellson and his own album Killer Joe/Scene of the Crime, which he produced with Max Weinberg (of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band). Around this time he composed theme music for a season of Pee Wee's Playhouse, while continuing to score feature films.

Other credits during the nineties include the HBO film The Enemy Within; and Drunks, starring Richard Lewis and Faye Dunaway. He also scored the television series Dellaventura, starring Danny Aiello, and scored the second season of the sci-fi series War of the Worldss. He composed music for twenty-six episodes of the BBC children's show Growing Up Wild/Madison's Adventures, was musical director for Richard Belzer's HBO and Showtime specials, and scored the Emmy Award-winning ten-part series Lost Civilizations for NBC/Time Life.

Delia's recent film scores include Jenniphr Goodman's comedy hit The Tao of Steve, released by Sony Classics; Fever, by Alex Winter; Ricky 6, written and directed by Peter Filardi; A Jersey Tale; by Michael Tolajian; My Best Friend's Wife, by Doug Finelli; Bitter Jester, produced by Richard Belzer; Bridget, by Amos Kollek; the jazz segments for the PBS film Partners of the Heart, by Bill Duke; and Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (a prequel to Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way) directed by Michael Bregman and executive produced by Martin Bregman.

He recently completed his third season as the composer for the History Channel's most successful series Digging for the Truth and is currently writing the score for the Discovery Channel series Weapon Masters.