Michael Boddicker
Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953), is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. Three times N.A.R.A.S. Most Valuable Player “Synthesizer” and MVP Emeritus, he was awarded a Grammy as a songwriter for Imagination from Flashdance in 1984. In recognition of his achievements, contributions and furtherance of electronic music in the recording industry he was presented with an honorary doctorate of music from Coe College in 1991.He has given seminars at such noticeable entities as FIDM, Coe, The International Computer Music Conference and San Jose State University. He was the winner of Keyboard Magazine’s Reader’s Poll Award – “Best Studio Synthesist” 1986 & 1987 and “Best Session Player” 1988.
Boddicker grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His ancestors (Johan & Elisabeth (Jacobi) Boddicker) emigrated in 1861 from the village of Brilon, Province of Westphalia. He is a distant cousin of the Major League Baseball player, Mike Boddicker, who is also originally from Cedar Rapids.
He attended The University of Iowa where he studied electronic music, poetry and 20th century composition. He later went on to The University of Wisconsin for jazz improvisation and UCLA for continued studies in music composition. He quickly found work as a session musician, and by 1977 appeared playing synthesizer, vocoder, accordion and keyboards on albums by many notables such as Quincy Jones, Randy Newman, The Manhattan Transfer and The Bee Gees.
One of Boddicker’s earliest soundtrack collaborations of note was a score for a short experimental claymation film made by Gumby creator Art Clokey entitled “Mandala” (released in 1977). Soon after that he entered the mainstream with work on such films as Saturday Night Fever, Battlestar Galacticta and The Wiz.
Boddicker officially changed his name to Michael Lehmann Boddicker when he married singer/conductor/actress Edie Lehmann in 1995. They have raised four children together in Los Angeles, CA.
Among his film score credits as a composer are the cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), the score for The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986) and additional music for Bulletproof (1996),”Bullet Proof” – Additional Music By Michael Boddicker, ” “The Magic Egg” -Omni Max Computer Animated Film Original Film Score by Michael Boddicker, “Get Crazy” – Original Music by Michael Boddicker/Soundtrack LP, “Whitewater Summer” Original Film Score by Michael Boddicker, “FX2 ” Additional Music By Michael Boddicker and “Starfire” Additional Music by Michael Boddicker. His contributions as a composer can also be heard in “Battlestar Galactica” (the film) additional music by Michael Boddicker, BattleStar Galactica Theme Produced and Arranged by Michael Boddicker, “Free Jack” additional music by Michael Boddicker “Spiritual Network: The Big Eye & Mind Meld”, Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” (music video) and “HIStory” (music video) video produced by and additional music underscore and “THE FLY” eleven cues to augment or replace the original score.
Artists that have recorded his songs and compositions include Lani Hall (“Go For The Heart”), Earth, Wind and Fire (“Opening Raise Tour”), Patti Austin (“Oh, No Margarita”), Michael Jackson (“Captain EO & HIStory Unveiling”), Isao Tomita’s & YMO’s Hideki Matsutake (“Automatic Collect”, “Automatic Correct & Plan”), Kitaro (“The Silk Road”), Laura Branigan (Imagination) and David Hasselhoff.
As a session musician he played synthesizer on, among others, Michael Jackson’s This Is It, HIStory, Thriller, Bad, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”, Off the Wall’, Dangerous, Black or White, and We Are the World; Earth, Wind & Fire’s Let’s Groove; Lionel Richie’s Hello, You Are, Running with the Night; Dazz Band’s Let It Whip; Randy Newman’s The Natural and Short People; Kenny Loggins’ Footloose; Barbra Streisand’s Somewhere; Cheap Trick’s Surrender; The Jacksons’ Shake Your Body; Pointer Sisters’ He’s So Shy; and Diana Ross’s Missing You.
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