Aaron's Classical & Pop Music Roots

Aaron Zigman began training as a classical pianist at age six. At age 20, he began studying with George Bassman, a noted MGM composer who orchestrated for the “Wizard of Oz” and wrote the music for the films “Marty and The Postman Always Rings Twice”.  When Zigman was 23, he signed a songwriting contract with publishing giant Almo Irving and began writing, producing, arranging and orchestrating for many of the top major artists in the record industry. His first big hit in pop music was “Crush On You” which earned top-chart status for a group called The Jets. He then worked for Clive Davis and produced and arranged songs for Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole among others.  Zigman has written, arranged and produced over 50 hit albums and/or co-written songs with legendary and contemporary artists including John Legend, Quincy Jones, Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Dione Warwick, Carly Simon, Ray Charles, Tina Turner, The Four Tops, Seal, and many others.

“Zigman has written, arranged and produced over 50 hit albums for many legendary and contemporary artists including Quincy Jones, Dione Warwick, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, The Four Tops, Seal, Cristina Aguilera and many others.”

An early career highlight for Aaron was working for producer Clive Davis and on songs for the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.

A young eighteen-year-old Aaron Zigman plays a Jazz gig at UCLA with saxophonist Dave Koz, 17, and Jason Scheff, 19, who later went on to become the lead singer of Chicago and one of the best bass players Aaron has worked with.