Music career

Early career

Upon moving to New York City at the age of 18, he was made head of A&R and promotion at Scepter Records. There he was mostly behind-the-scenes, producing hits for popular recording artists and movie soundtracks.

At 19 years old he first began producing with the likes of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. He worked on several Dionne Warwick hits such as "The Look of Love" and "Alfie." Together with B.J. Thomas, he worked on the Bacharach-David song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," which went on to win the 1969 Oscar for Best Original Song (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).

Film contributions

His contributions to the film industry include Mystic Pizza, That Thing You Do, Father of the Bride, The Brady Bunch Movie, and Out of Sync. Steve also worked in television and did the music for California Dreams, The Heights, and Frank's Place, among others.

Tyrell's performance singing "The Way You Look Tonight" in Father of the Bride, starring Steve Martin, pushed him center-stage as a vocalist, with live performances and a recording career of his own.

Recent work

Since the end of the 1990s, he has made several albums based on jazz, holiday, and Disney standards. In 2005, after the death of Bobby Short, Tyrell was asked by New York City's Café Carlyle to take over their Holiday Season of November and December, which Short had not missed in 36 years.

He recently produced That's Life, the debut album for Sony recording artist and winner of the 6th season of America's Got Talent, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. The album's vocal tracks were recorded at Wire Road Studios in Houston, Texas with the remainder of the album being recorded at Capitol Studios and Schnee Studios in Los Angeles and Deep Diner and Kilgore Sound in New York.

As an artist, all 7 of his American Standards albums have achieved Top 5 status on Billboard's Jazz charts; and his first album, A New Standard, was among the best-selling jazz albums for over 5 years. In May 2011, he recorded a live performance DVD at The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston Texas.

Discography

• A New Standard (1999), Atlantic Records
• Standard Time (2001), Columbia Records
• This Time of the Year (2002), Columbia Records
• This Guy's in Love (2003), Columbia Records
• Songs of Sinatra (2005), Hollywood Records
• The Disney Standards (2006), Walt Disney Records
• Back to Bacharach (2008), Koch/New Design Records
• Live at the Café Carlyle (2010)
• I'll Take Romance (2012)
• It's Magic - The Songs Of Sammy Cahn (2013) Concord
• That Lovin' Feeling (2015) Concord

Personal life

Tyrell was married to the late Stephanie Tyrell (1949 - October 27, 2003), an American record producer, television composer, and songwriter. They had 3 children together: Tina, Lauryn, and Nicholas. Stephanie Tyrell died of colon cancer on October 27, 2003. Tyrell's marriage to Houston interior designer, Karen Pulaski, took place on December 26, 2010. Karen Pulaski filed for divorce on October 11, 2011, and the divorce was finalized on December 12, 2011.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]