Stanley A. Smith

A Southern California Native, Stanley A. Smith began playing and performing at a very young age. With a house full of musicians and singers, Stanley can't remember a time when there wasn't a musical presence in the Smith house. His Mother played piano for Double Rock Baptist Church and sang along with his Father in the church choir. His sisters started a singing group, The Voices of Inspiration, all the while his brother played drums. As the baby of the bunch, Stanley was inspired and certainly had some great footsteps in which to follow.

Stanley prepared early to pursue his dream of Composing by studying music at California State University-Long Beach, where he obtained his Bachelors of Music Degree. While attending CSULB, at the same time, he also worked as a Songwriter and Staff producer at TBA Records. Working with the various artists on the label, it gave him the unique opportunity to hone in on his writing, playing and producing skills, all of which eventually lead to several of his productions making their way on to the Billboard Contemporary Jazz charts, the start of what is better known today as Smooth Jazz.

Now of course every musician worth his salt must go on tour, so off he went too. In between productions, Stanley played with Jeffrey Osborne, Cheryl Lynn, Caron Wheeler (of Soul II Soul), The Boys, all while continuing to build his resume with dozens of songs featured in various film and television shows, soundtracks, remix, and production credits, even co-producing with Grammy Award-winning Producer David Foster.

Most notably Stanley is the Composer of the Main Title Theme and score to the award winning Fox series, "The Bernie Mac Show". For 5 seasons and over 100 episodes Stanley brought music to our ears instead of the typical laugh track. With an array of live musicians, and a shared vision, his weekly score created a sound for the show that echoed Bernie Mac's unique personality and style.

Not only versed in television, Stanley has also composed music for several award-winning independent features films such as, "Constellation", "The Visit" and "Catfish In Black Bean Sauce". In fact, it was "Indy" films that gave him his film scoring start and eventually lead to his first wide theatrical release, the Screen-Gems feature, "The Gospel", which debuted at an impressive #5 at the box office. "It is always exciting to be part of such a musically creative project", Smith also notes "The balancing act of merging traditional underscore with an All-Star Gospel Soundtrack". Most recently Stanley scored 10 episodes and again penned the Main Title Theme for BET's first scripted series, "Somebodies". Adapted for television from the Sundance Film Festival nominated film of the same name.

As one of few African American Composers in Film & TV, Stanley notes the importance of having his talent displayed on a wide range of projects. Be it for a comedy, dramatic score, urban, action or romantic comedy, he has the gift to strike a familiar chord with audiences universally.