Michael Whalen
Brooklyn, NY, UNITED STATES
Official WebsiteFacebookTwitterInstagramSpotifyPandoraAppleMusicSoundCloudYouTubeMichael Whalen is a two-time Emmy® Award winning composer and music supervisor (with 8 nominations) who has worked in advertising, television, film and video games for over 30 years. Some of his best-known work: “Veronika Decides to Die” (2014), “What the Bleep Do You Know?”, “As The World Turns”, themes for HBO, CBS News, ABC News’ “Good Morning America”, “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, dozens of specials for PBS, National Geographic, Discovery, The BBC, NHK and the History Channel and television films for Lifetime and the Hallmark Channel. Michael is also an internationally known recording artist with 32 solo and soundtrack recordings to his credit. Well-known for his beautiful and thematic music, he performs when time allows. He has also produced and executive produced over 100 recordings for other artists. His work as a executive producer resulted in a Grammy Nomination in 2000.
As well as his music work, Michael is an expert on copyright law, music monetization and digital rights. He consults with major technology and music companies and mentors artists around the world. As a teacher, he has been an adjunct professor at NYU, The Berklee College of Music, The City College of NY and the Fashion Institue of Technology. Michael is also an author, thought leader on the future on digital copyrights and panelist at dozens of major conferences and festivals.
Albums
“Cupid Blindfolded” reviewed by Judson Hurd
Cupid Blindfolded is the latest full length album by artist and composer Michael Whalen. This is the 22nd album with a long career with 2 Emmy wins and a BMI Award. His composition “ I Have Loved You For a Thousand Lifetimes” has been streamed over 30,000,000 times on Spotify and millions of views on YouTube. I was excited to hear that he was releasing a solo piano album which is different than his ambient/electronic albums from the past.
The first song and title track gives echoes of classic Windham Hill like Liz Story and Barbara Higbie. Very romantic and beautiful voicing that bring out the emotions in the piece. This is probably one of my favorite pieces on the album.
“All of My Heart, All of My Soul” is the next track on the album starts with high soft notes and then goes into a soft ballad expressing lots of emotion. “Reflection of My Affection” is a nostalgic, minor key song that really brings sad and serious emotion of a lost love.
“The Muse” starts with a beautiful bass drone and builds intensity and then comes back to a soft touch. “Standing in the Rain” caught my attention with soft arpeggios that give me a mental image of soft rain in the mountains that begins to build to a heavier storm and then resolves back to a gentle rain. Beautiful!
“City of Lights” begins simple chords and beautiful voicing that reminds me of driving in beautiful city at night time and contemplating about the little things about life. There are ten tracks on this album and I highly recommend purchasing a copy available on iTunes and Amazon!