Rezak Lecture: Maureen Crowe ’79

Close your eyes and consider the best scene from your favorite movie or television show. Chances are music is part of that powerful moment. But that song didn’t get to you by chance, or even easily—and likely not cheaply—in most cases.

This week’s Rezak Lecture is dedicated to exploring the art, science and business of music supervision. And this week’s speaker is legendary music supervisor Maureen Crowe ’79. If you think “legendary” is hyperbolic, then imagine the movie “Wayne’s World” without the famous scene of the film’s stars head-banging in a car along to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Or imagine Whitney Houston singing something other than “I Will Always Love You” in her iconic movie, “The Bodyguard.” These are just two examples of Crowe’s highly impactful and influential work. In the course of this conversation, you will learn the various creative and business factors that go into song selection and rights clearances. And we will discuss not only Crowe’s past work, but also her current projects, including the Clive Davis-backed Whitney Houston biopic that’s currently in the works; and also Crowe’s thoughts on various contemporary projects that showcase exceptional music supervision. Euphoria much?

Maureen Crowe is a true pioneer, leader and one of the most powerful voices in music supervision today who continues to challenge the entertainment industry landscape to evolve and inspire while preserving the integrity of music design supervision in all media.

Recruited by the Recording Academy, Crowe was elected as the first female president of the Los Angeles chapter and a national trustee, and she advocated for music supervisor voting rights and award status. She also brought together leading music supervisors to form the Guild of Music Supervisors. She also created the Guild of Music Supervisor Awards while advocating and securing membership in the music branch of the Television Academy, which led to the creation of an Emmy Award for music supervision in addition to increasing the representation of women winning Emmys.

As the founding president of the Guild of Music Supervisors in 2008, she made incredible strides towards rights advocacy, fostering colleague relationships, educating future professionals and promoting her peers and their work, and was responsible for driving the many vital initiatives that have created a strong foundation for the guild—membership, governance, advocacy and sponsorship development.

As a music supervisor, Crowe is known for her exceptional musical design, casting, original song creation, on-camera performance and marketing acumen. She has also been called upon to come in and “redesign” the musical style of a film. Crowe has spearheaded some of the most groundbreaking achievements in the field, most notably the creation of the best-selling soundtrack album of all time. With 45 million copies sold worldwide, “The Bodyguard” soundtrack includes the chart-topping single “I Will Always Love You,” which Crowe pitched to producer and star Kevin Costner. During her speech accepting the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Whitney Houston said, “Thank you, Maureen Crowe, for your ears.”

Crowe’s passion for music began while growing up in a family that loved musical theatre. Piano, guitar, glee club and musical performance from elementary school through college acted as her training ground. As a journalism major at Marist College, she interned and was hired at CBS News Radio 88. When she transferred to the Newhouse School, she worked for The Associated Press for the Lake Placid Winter Olympics and eventually was on-air talent and producer for a local TV series called “Upstate Travel,” where she featured contemporary music as score.

Moving to Los Angeles, she was hired by Disney Imagineering to produce an American Express exhibit on travel for EPCOT and worked for the Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival, but it would be when she was hired to deliver original music for the television series “Fame” with Debbie Allen, developing over 80 songs per season in all genres of music, that she found her calling.

Soon after, she began music supervision for films such as the Broadway bound “Newsies” with Kenny Ortega, the rock classic “Wayne’s World,” the cult classic “True Romance,” the multiplatinum Grammy- and Oscar-winning musical film “Chicago” and favorite “The Young Victoria.” She was also handpicked to supervise the highly revered musical masterpiece “A Late Quartet” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.

After making waves as a music supervisor, she was tapped as vice president of soundtracks at Columbia Records, where she released the Oscar-nominated Bruce Springsteen song “Dead Man Walking” and then by the legendary Clive Davis at Arista Records where she spearheaded the release of “Angel,” Sarah McLachlan’s highest charting single from “City of Angels.” She has been a featured expert for VH1 Behind The Music (“Grease,” “Saturday Night Fever,” “Chicago”).

She has worked for Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, New Line Cinema, Miramax, MGM, Disney Channel/ABC Family, Sony/BMG, Interscope and many more.

Her latest projects include the Norman Lear, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Michael Kantor executive produced “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It” featuring the Kathryn Bostic score, which premiered at Sundance 2021, the Brian Grazer and Lee Daniels-produced “Ms. Pat” for BET+, Kenny Ortega’s Netflix premiere series “Julie and the Phantoms” and “Sisters on Track” original score and song by Mark Batson and featuring Tarriona “Tank” Ball (Tank and The Bangas).

She continues to thrive in her career, ever championing the art of music supervision and advocating for rewarding music supervisors for their design contribution to media storytelling.

Crowe is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, the Recording Academy and the Guild of Music Supervisors.

The Rezak Lecture is part of the Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries at the Newhouse School.