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Ron Wasserman

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Ron Wasserman
Wasserman at the 2023 WonderCon
Wasserman at the 2023 WonderCon
Background information
Birth nameRonald Aaron Wasserman
Also known asAaron Waters
The Mighty Raw
Born (1961-09-02) September 2, 1961 (age 63)
Encino, California, U.S.
GenresHeavy metal
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer
Instrument(s)Vocals, piano, keyboard, drums, percussion, clarinet
Years active1979–present
LabelsRawfish, Saban Music Group
Websiteronw.com

Ronald Aaron Wasserman (born September 2, 1961), also known as Aaron Waters and The Mighty Raw, is an American musician who composed the original theme songs for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and X-Men: The Animated Series. He was also a member of the band Fisher.

History

Early career

Wasserman has been fascinated with music since he was three years old. His early music bands include Hollywood Headliners Betty Boop & the Beat, formed by SAG actress Lucrecia Sarita Russo. In 1983 (with Wasserman on keyboards), the group opened for Felony/Scotti Brothers records at the Florentine Gardens. Felony was fronted by Lucrecia's then-husband, Jeff Spry, who was receiving chart action with the KROQ-FM hit single "The Fanatic". In the mid-1980s, Ron started a rock band with present-day actress, E.G. Daily. In 1989, shortly after the band disbanded, he started working for Saban Entertainment. Wasserman filled in at Saban Entertainment one afternoon and eventually stayed there for six and a half years. Wasserman and Ron Kenan, once V.P. of Saban Entertainment/Music Production, met in the early 80's and played together in the popular new wave pop band,[citation needed] Betty Boop & the Beat.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

While at Saban, Wasserman developed scores and co-wrote themes for several of their smaller series as well as the animated X-Men series, before he composed some of his most recognizable work, which was for the show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. One day, he was presented with the first footage of the show, was told to use the word "Go", and to have it finished by the next day. After two and a half hours, the song that resulted was the show's theme song, "Go Go Power Rangers".[1]

Several of his most popular songs and scores were eventually released on a successful concept album entitled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Album: A Rock Adventure, which linked his music around a variation on the opening episodes of season two of the television series.

All of his compositions for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series and various other Saban productions were credited to Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi (Haim Saban). This was so the pair could collect music royalties for Wasserman's work.[2][3] While working on the show, Saban asked Wasserman to come up with an artist name, as they did not want it to appear as though one person was doing all of the music. He came up with the name "Aaron Waters" because his middle name was Aaron and his surname Wasserman means "water carrier" in German. Saban later attached the additional alias "The Mighty RAW". While the reason behind it is unknown, it is assumed "RAW" is for his initials and "The Mighty" comes from the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers."[1]

Later Saban projects

Wasserman performed the Power Rangers in Space theme and music. His success with the Power Rangers soundtrack led to work on numerous other projects. Shows he contributed music to around this time include Sweet Valley High and VR Troopers. He was also hired to produce the musical score for FUNimation's first English dub of Dragon Ball Z, which was co-handled by Saban.[4][5] Wasserman left Saban in September 1995,[6][7] citing exhaustion.

Post-Saban music career

After leaving Saban, Wasserman started a band with then-girlfriend Kathy Fisher, whom he later married.

Wasserman also began working on various video game titles with Pink Floyd producer, Bob Ezrin and contributed to DIC Entertainment. In 1998, Fisher contributed a song for the movie Great Expectations.

Return to Power Rangers

Wasserman returned to solo work in 2005, and even returned to the Power Rangers franchise in 2005, composing the theme song for the thirteenth Power Rangers season, Power Rangers S.P.D.. News of his involvement reached the fanbase and demo versions of the theme were leaked, upsetting Disney executives. According to Linkara in his "History of Power Rangers" show after contacting Wasserman he also submitted 2 demos for Power Rangers Mystic Force a rock theme and a rap theme, he had first submitted the rock theme and originally the producers at Disney approved of it, but later contacted him saying they were seeking something more of a rap genre thus leading him to creating and submitting a rap theme to them which they in turn rejected, although Wasserman admits that his rap theme wasn't very good. Since Disney were not going to be using the themes for the series he posted the demos online for the fans.[8]

Post Power Rangers

Wasserman remains active with other television and commercial projects, including work for America's Next Top Model.

In 2010, Wasserman released two original songs with Ozone Entertainment as downloadable content on the Rock Band Network.[9]

Power Rangers: Redux

Power Rangers Redux
Studio album by
Ron Wasserman
ReleasedOctober 22, 2012
GenreSoundtrack
Length85:49

On August 28, 2012, Wasserman announced on both RangerBoard and RangerCrew that he would be re-cutting the original Power Rangers songs, to refresh their sound and use new technology to record them. During the process of recording the tracks, Wasserman posted a few unedited/unmixed sample clips.[10][11]

Despite being limited to songs that were commercially released on CD or cassette during the 90s, a large repertoire of his Power Rangers music still remained to create the new album. The tracks were released via Bandcamp on October 22, 2012, with CD Baby (covering Amazon, iTunes, etc.) coming thereafter. This new album includes an instrumental version of each song, making it the largest instrumental release of Power Rangers music thus far. A listing of the tracks is as follows:[12]

Power Rangers: Redux
No.TitleWriter(s)Artist(s)Length
1."Go Go Power Rangers - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman3:58
2."Fight - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman3:58
3."Hope For the World - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman4:36
4."Combat - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman4:59
5."Cross My Line - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman3:14
6."Lord Zedd - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman2:40
7."We Need A Hero - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman5:36
8."Go Green Ranger Go - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman3:02
9."Unite - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman4:14
10."5-4-1 - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman2:24
11."I Will Win - Redux"Ron WassermanRon Wasserman5:34
12."Go Go Power Rangers - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 3:58
13."Fight - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 3:56
14."Hope For the World - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 4:36
15."Combat -Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 4:58
16."Cross My Line - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 3:15
17."We Need A Hero - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 5:35
18."Go Green Ranger Go - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 3:03
19."Unite - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 4:14
20."5-4-1 - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 2:24
21."I Will Win - Instrumental Redux"Ron Wasserman 5:25
Total length:85:49

Personal life

At an early age, Wasserman was adopted by parents of Russian-Jewish descent.[13] His sister was also adopted.[13] As a child, he was often mistaken as being from a different family, since he had blonde hair, while his parents and sister had red hair.[13]

He was formerly married to Kathleen Fisher (the namesake and Wasserman's bandmate in Fisher).[13] They had one son together, Aron, born in 2004.

In September 2018, Wasserman was involved in a mountain bike accident, requiring surgery afterwards.[13]

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

TV/film composing credits

Miscellaneous

References

  1. ^ a b An Evening with Ron Wasserman Part 1 of 2. YouTube.
  2. ^ "The Influencer". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
  3. ^ David Robb (Sep 18–20, 1998). "Composers say they're paupers in royalty game". Hollywood Reporter – via groups.google.com.
  4. ^ "SABAN SIGHTINGS!". The Power Rangers Zeo Newsletter. July 31, 1996. Mighty RAW (a.k.a. Ron Wasserman) just finished Monty Python's Holy Grail CD-ROM and the Ace Ventura, Pet Detective CD-ROM. His music can also be heard on Pythonline on the WEB. He is also doing music for the Saban show titled "Dragon Ball Z".
  5. ^ Patrick Cavanaugh (Nov 25, 2014). "MARVEL 75: RON WASSERMAN COMPOSED YOUR '90S CHILDHOOD". Marvel. Archived from the original on 2015-05-07.
  6. ^ Gabbin' with Gavin podcast, 2022
  7. ^ Wasserman, Ron. "Ron Wasserman's Page". Composers' Forum. Retrieved Jul 19, 2020.
  8. ^ "HOPR: Power Rangers Mystic Force Part 1". Archived from the original on 2013-04-16.
  9. ^ Ron Wasserman // The Music // Rock Band. Accessed August 8, 2010.
  10. ^ recutting the original Power Ranger songs...... Accessed October 18, 2012.
  11. ^ Single Post - Recutting the original PR Songs - Testing 1, 2, 3. Accessed August 30, 2012.
  12. ^ Power Rangers Redux | Ron Wasserman. Accessed October 23, 2012
  13. ^ a b c d e Sticky Jazz podcast, December 2020
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