TAMPA – “Glee” music producer Adam Anders says working on the Fox Broadcasting hit is like putting together a stage production of “Grease” — in a week.
For each episode, he has just over a week to whip six to eight songs into shape for the comical musical drama, which follows the lives and loves of glee club geeks and their teachers at fictional McKinley High.
“It’s intense but so rewarding when it all comes together,” says Anders who will have arranged more than 150 songs over the course of the 22-episode season.
“Glee,” from “Nip/Tuck” creator Ryan Murphy, was the surprise new hit of the fall. It returns at 9:28 p.m. Tuesday for the second half of its freshman season.
It already won a Golden Globe and a People’s Choice Award and is headed for Emmy fame this summer. Anders says the second half has more music, more guest stars and a whole episode devoted to the music of Madonna (airing April 20).
Guest stars for the remaining nine episodes of the season include Neil Patrick Harris, Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel and Mike O’Malley (returning as Kurt’s dad). Kristin Chenoweth also is returning.
Music is an important ingredient, because downloads of “Glee” singles have topped 2 million. Two soundtrack albums have been released, and a concert tour begins May 15 in Phoenix. (No Florida dates have been announced.)
Anders, 34, who grew up in Tampa, said the show has covered just about every musical genre, from Broadway show tunes to rap.
The son of classically trained Swedish musicians Eric and Annette Anders, Adam was born in Stockholm but spent his formative years (9 to 17) in Tampa. By age 12 he was performing in a band here with his older brother and sister.
While still in high school, he studied jazz bass under Professor Mark Neuenschwander at the University of South Florida. Neuenschwander says Adam “was very talented and focused at an early age and quickly became a world class player and musician. I just needed to stay out of his way.”
Anders’ parents toured the world and settled in Lakeland. They still tour Europe. His father has been the top selling Christian soloist in Sweden and has recorded more than 200 songs.
His sister Andrea Anders lives in Tampa and tours the South with her “hard folk” band Dre’s Awakening.
Anders says he split for Nashville after finishing high school at age 17 and eventually worked as bass player and backup singer for Contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman and co-wrote Chapman’s “Next Five Minutes.”
He met and married singer/song writer Nikki Hassman. “She’s my secret weapon on ‘Glee,’” he says. “She helps me with arrangements. On every duet that you see on the show, she has had a hand in developing it.”
Anders is now based in Los Angeles. Among the songs he has written or co-written is the Backstreet Boys single “More Than That.” He also worked on “High School Musical 3″ and “Hannah Montana: The Movie.”
But “Glee” takes up most of his time now. The songs are hand picked by series creator Murphy, but Anders and the cast often make suggestions. “He listens to us sometimes,” says Anders.
One of the things Anders brings to the show is the creation of “mash-ups,” the blending of two songs into one, such as melding “Hair” with Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.”
“The great thing about ‘Glee’ is that it introduces young viewers to older songs that they might never have discovered and it introduces their parents and grandparents to newer music,” says Anders. For example, the cast version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” from the first episode, sold 500,000 downloads. “Glee” also gave new life to “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked” and “Maybe This Time” from “Cabaret.”
“And the actors are amazing and so talented,” he adds, noting Cory Monteith (who plays quarterback Finn) had never sung before.
“But he’s got a great voice and he works hard,” he says. And he says Lea Michele, who plays diva Rachel, is “a little spitfire” who has a powerful voice.
Source: Former Tampa man makes music on ‘Glee’ – Tampa Bay Online
