Award Winning "The Simpsons" Composer Alf Clausen Passes Away at 84
Emmy Award-winning composer Alf Clausen, known for his work on projects like The Simpsons, has passed away at 84.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, renowned television composer Alf Clausen has died at the age of 84. Throughout his impressive career, Clausen took home two Emmys for his work and received an additional 30 nominations throughout his career. His bright and fun scores decorated popular programs such as The Simpsons, Moonlighting, and ALF.
Clausen passed away on Thursday in his Los Angeles home, which was confirmed to the news source by Clausen’s daughter Kaarin Clausen. Eight years ago, the creative had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare, degenerative brain disorder.
Clausen was integral to The Simpsons, joining the series for its 1990 second season. He would continue to create iconic melodies for the series until Season 28 in 2017. From just The Simpsons alone, Clausen received 23 Emmy nominations, which he won two of for his work on songs “We Put the Spring in Springfield" and “You’re Checkin’ In (A Musical Tribute to the Betty Ford Center)" in 1997 and 1998, respectively.
Ironically, Clausen was initially hesitant to take his gig at The Simpsons, feeling the series may be too lighthearted compared to his previous ventures. During a conversation with the Television Academy Foundation’s website The Interviews, Clause shared “I was posed the question, ‘Would you like to score an animated show?’ and I said, ‘No.' I said, ‘I just got off of four years of Moonlighting, and I really want to be a drama composer. I’m more interested in doing longform feature films.'" But series creator Matt Groening was able to convince Clausen to take the job. He went on to score over 550 episodes of the series.
Alf Clausen was born on March 28th, 1941 in Minneapolis, MN. His mother lived in Iowa at the time studying at Iowa State University, and happened to go into labor while on a weekend trip. After his mother received her degree, Clausen and his parents moved to Jamestown, ND. Clause took to music at a young age, starting with the piano. In middle school, Clausen was assigned the French horn, which he played throughout high school.
Initially attending North Dakota State University for mechanical engineering, Clausen’s love for music would push him to change majors. Afterwards, he went on to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin. However, a composition course at Berklee College of Music redefined his career trajectory. He would transfer to study full-time at the Boston school. He even went on to teach there.
In 1967, Clausen made his move to the City of Angels. He play professionally around Los Angeles and served as a music copyist on Planet of the Apes, M*A*S*H, The Carol Burnett Show and The Partridge Family.
In 1976, Clausen joined ABC’s Donny & Mack as an arranger, and by the show’s third season, Clausen had been promoted to musical director, which he would also be for 1979’s The Mary Tyler Moore Hour.
His career eventually led him to orchestrating and composing Airplane II: The Sequel, Splash, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Dragnet, and episodes of Fame, Wizards and Warriors, and Partners in Crime.
Unfortunately, Clausen’s exit from The Simpsons was far from harmonic. In 2017, he announced he had been let go from the series, and was replaced by a music firm that supplemented live orchestrations for synthesized music. Clausen went on to sue Disney and Fox, claiming he was let go for age discrimination. He would go on to amend his suit in 2020, clarifying he believed he was let go for a perceived disability.
Fox countered Clausen’s suit, saying his work on the 2017 hip-hop episode “The Great Phatsby" was disappointing and felt Clausen wasn’t familiar enough with modern music to continue to provide the series with its ever changing needs.
Clausen’s age discrimination suit was dismissed by a judge, however, Clausen was allowed to continue pursuing wrongful discharge, retaliation, and unfair business practice claims. He settled the suit in February 2022.
Clausen is survived by his wife, Sally; his first wife, Judy; his two sons, Kyle and Scott; stepchildren, Joshua and Emily; his sister, Faye; 11 grandchildren; and a niece and nephew.