Charlie Midnight

Charlie Midnight (born Charles Kaufman, January 9, 1954) is an American songwriter and record producer and the founder of Midnight Production House. He has been nominated for the 1987 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (Writer, "Living in America" by James Brown), two Golden Globes, and has been a producer and/or writer on several Grammy-winning albums, including The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album, Joni Mitchell's Turbulent Indigo, and Marlo Thomas & Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long. He also is a writer on the Barbra Streisand Grammy-nominated, Platinum-selling Partners album having co-written the Barbra Streisand and Andrea Bocelli duet "I Still Can See Your Face."

Midnight was born in Brooklyn, New York to Louis Leo Kaufman (1916–1993), a factory worker and World War II veteran, and Bella Hanft (1918–2012). He was raised in Bensonhurst, a working-class neighborhood, and attended Lafayette High School. He aspired to enter acting (according to his high school yearbook) or pursue poetry. Before deciding to become a musician, Midnight briefly attended Brooklyn College. His first musical foray was in London, England with a band before he returned a few months later to the United States. Midnight worked various jobs to support his music career, such as being employed as a legal proofreader and paralegal.

Although primarily known as a producer and songwriter for other artists, Midnight actually began his career as a singer and musician himself. He performed in several groups throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, which culminated in the release of his solo album Innocent Bystander in 1982. Shortly after his first and last solo album (which he deemed a commercial failure based on its reception), Midnight came to the attention of famed singer-songwriter, musician and producer Dan Hartman. The two began collaborating on songwriting, forming a musical partnership that would last until Hartman's death in 1994.

Midnight's first producing job was the Time Bandits' 1987 album Can't Wait for Another World with Hartman as the executive producer.[10] He went on to produce and write songs for more than 30 films including Rocky IV,[11] The Bodyguard,[11] Bull Durham, Lizzie McGuire and Ruthless People, as well as for such varied artists as Cher, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Seal, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, James Brown, Chaka Khan, Joe Cocker, The Doobie Brothers, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Jamey Johnson, George Thorogood, John Waite, Hilary Duff, Dan Hartman, Paul Stanley and Paul Young.[12][13]

In 1987, Midnight was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for co-writing "Living in America", a song for which James Brown won the Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male.[14] During the same year, Midnight co-wrote two Joe Cocker songs ("Trust in Me" and "A Woman Loves a Man") for Cocker's Unchain My Heart album which was produced by Charlie Midninght and Dan Hartman. In 1992, an updated version of "Trust in Me" (this time with Sass Jordan on backing vocals) was released on The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album, which won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.[15] In 1988, he was twice nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Firstly, for the aforementioned "A Woman Loves a Man" which was re-released in the 1988 movie Bull Durham. Secondly, for the song "Why Should I Worry?" from the 1988 Disney animated film Oliver & Company.[16] In 1994, the song "How Do You Stop"—which he co-wrote with Dan Hartman for James Brown's 1986 album Gravity—was covered by Joni Mitchell on her album Turbulent Indigo in a version that featured vocals by Seal. The album later won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Pop Album.

In 2004, it was announced that Midnight signed a publishing deal with Famous Music Publishing.[17] That same year, he wrote and produced "I'll Give Anything But Up" (sung by Hilary Duff) for the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children-winning children's album Marlo Thomas & Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long. In 2010, Midnight co-wrote with Jamey Johnson the song "My Way To You", which appeared on the latter's album The Guitar Song (nominated in 2011 for the Grammy Award for Best Country Album). The same year, Midnight co-wrote "Welcome To Burlesque"—Cher's first song in the feature film Burlesque. Its soundtrack album won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.[18] In 2012, Midnight co-wrote two specialty lyrics for Barbra Streisand for her Back To Brooklyn tour on "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Boulevard and "You're the Top" from Anything Goes.[19] During the same year, "Welcome To Burlesque" (sung by Cher and co-written by Charlie Midnight) appeared on the Grammy-Nominated Soundtrack Album "Burlesque" (Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Visual Media). In 2014, Midnight co-wrote the duet "I Still Can See Your Face" (performed by Streisand and Andrea Bocelli) for Streisand's Partners album. Partners reached No. 1, which made Streisand the only artist to have a Number One album in each of the past six different decades. Furthermore, the album was Grammy nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. In 2018, Midnight co-wrote the song "The Rain Will Fall" with Streisand, Jay Landers, and Jonas Myrin.

Continuing his success in having his songs featured in films, Midnight co-wrote the song "Keep On Movin'" (sung by Thomas Hien) for the Disney feature film Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and co-wrote "The Healing" (performed by Gedeon Luke and the People) featured in the 2015 film Get Hard. Collaborating with Idina Menzel and Walter Afanasieff, Midnight wrote "December Prayer," for Menzel's "Holiday Wishes": Number One Billboard Holiday Album

He co-wrote the song "Big Time Rush", which served as the theme song for the hit Nickelodeon series of the same name. He also won a BMI Cable Award at the 2006 BMI Awards for the theme song to the comedy series Daisy Does America. Midnight worked with Jordyn Jones on her song, I'm Dappin' .[20] He has worked extensively as a writer and a producer for artists from all around the world. These include such notable international artists as Lin Yu-chun (Taiwan), Tata Young (Thailand), Chage and Aska (Japan), Peter Maffay and Yvonne Catterfeld (Germany), Gölä (Switzerland) Saint Lu (Austria) Time Bandits (Netherlands), El Último de la Fila (Spain), Rhydian (UK), Dodo and the Dodos (Denmark), Sahlene and Don Patrol (Sweden), Rodsogarden (Finland), Rouge (Brazil).

Listed alphabetically

Listed alphabetically

Midnight and his wife Susanna have a daughter, Shantie. Midnight has a daughter, Hannah, from a previous marriage.