He is a saxophonist, flautist, piccolo player, singer-songwriter, composer and producer born in the United States.
As a saxophonist he can be heard as a soloist and a session musician on over 150 songs that reached the Top 10 in the charts and his hits include “1-2-3” by Len Barry, “The Locomotion” by Little Eva, “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen” and “Breaking Up is Hard To Do” by Neil Sedaka, “Sunday Will Never Be the Same” by Spanky & Our Gang and “Mandy” by Barry Manilow. Gaining recognition in his field he was soon asked to appear on countless recordings by artists such as Carole King, Janis Ian, Neil Diamond, Brooke Benton, Peaches & Herb, Barry Mann and the Dixie Cups and the film industry beckoned where he would be the music co-ordinator for Arthur, The Midnight Cowboy, Fame and The Verdict amongst others.
Starting to write and produce music he moved into television where his work on the TV show Wonderama included the songs “Oh Gee It’s Great to be a Kid” and “Kids Are People Too”. His songwriting has also been in collaboration with Barry Mann where they wrote the song “Blue Bird” recorded by the duo Brady & Grady, with Arthur Brooks and Jack Keller in “Story of the Civil War” recorded by Barry Mann and “That’s How Much” recorded by Brian Hyland, with Jack Keller and Gerry Goffin on “Hits in Heaven”, with Tony Orlando and Jack Keller on “Snakey” and Jack Keller and Paul Kaufman on “My First and Only Lover” recorded by Nat King Cole.
Not content with writing and performing for other people he branched out as a singer-songwriter in his own right in the 1970s and his first album Confessions of a Male Chauvinist Pig, released in 1973, was picked up on in Europe, making the bestseller list. A further album Down By the Old Stream followed this success in 1974.
He began working on other projects n the 1980s and 1990s and would release the albums Barnyard Stories and Poems and Fun Time For Kids, write a children’s storybook, appear on tour in a Dixieland band with George Segal and perform on Broadway in The Leader of the Pack. Back in the recording studio after the turn of the century he has, to date, written and recorded at least 12 songs, and released the album I’m Just a Singer in the Band.
Brady & Grady recordings
Blue Bird (Barry Mann/Artie Kaplan)
Van McCoy recordings
The Shuffle (Van McCoy)
That’s the Joint (Van McCoy)
Sources:
- http://www.akprecords.com/artie.htm
- http://www.akprecords.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artie_Kaplan
- http://imdb.com/name/nm0438194/
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/410320-Artie-Kaplan
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/artie-kaplan-mn0000760336/credits
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Keller_(songwriter)