SpongeBob SquarePants composer Andy Paley has died, aged 72.
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Paley, who also worked with artists including Brian Wilson, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Ramones, Madonna, Elton John, Patti Smith and Debbie Harry over the years, passed away on Wednesday (November 20) after battling cancer.
Wilson, who Paley produced and co-wrote songs for on his solo comeback album in 1988, was one of the first to pay tribute to the late composer.
A post on his official Instagram read: “We are saddened to learn of the passing of Brian’s friend and collaborator, Andy Paley. Andy was literally instrumental in Brian starting his solo career with his critically acclaimed 1988 album, ‘Brian Wilson’.
“Andy played electric and acoustic guitars, bass, drums, percussion, keyboards, harmonica, and provided backing vocals. He co-wrote three of the songs, including ‘Rio Grande.’ Andy collaborated again with Brian on the legendary, unreleased Wilson-Paley Sessions, counting more than twenty songs. Brian always called him ‘The Genius Andy Paley.’ Love and mercy goes out to Andy’s family and friends.”
Paley launched his music career in the mid-1970s as a member of the rock band Catfish Black, who recorded an album produced by Patti Smith’s guitarist Lenny Kaye.
He then formed a band called the Paley Brothers with his brother Jonathan Paley but they broke up in 1979.
Paley then took a job as a staff producer at Sire Records and worked on several albums in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the 1990s, he started writing music for films including the 1990 movie Dick Tracy starring Warren Beatty and Madonna.
In the noughties, Paley started working with Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob Squarepants franchise, writing and producing music for the series and composing for the 2004 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. In 2012 he and Tom Kenny, the voice artist behind SpongeBob, co-wrote ‘It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! Album’.
They also more recently toured as Tom Kenny & the Hi-Seas, a 16-piece rock and soul band.
Paying tribute via Variety, Kenny said: “My friendship with Andy and our collaboration – writing songs and my fronting the band that he formed – is one of the greatest true joys I’ve ever experienced. He possessed not only encyclopedic knowledge of all pop music – especially rock ‘n’ roll and girl group – but was also astoundingly astute when it came to art and literature.”
Paley is survived by his wife Heather Crist Paley, who he married in 2010, and their twin sons Jackson and Charlie. He also leaves three sisters, Sarah, Brewster and Debby and a brother Jonathan.
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