Paul Shaffer, born on November 28, 1949 in Ontario, Canada is currently the band leader at the 'Late show with
David Letterman'. He is a native Canadian and is a famous actor, writer, voice actor, composer and comedian. He is multitalented and an all rounder. Paul was inclined towards music ever since he was a little kid. He used to play Piano and mouth organs in his school days and later on he joined various bands and jazz artists and performed with them in many bars and restaurants. He has done his graduation in Sociology from the University of Toronto but his love for music kept him intact with it and he chose music as his career and passion of his life.
He is nurtured with the Jewish traditions by his parents, mother Shirley and father Bernard Shaffer. In the year 1972, Paul began his career in the music industry as the director of music for 'Godspell' by Toronto production. Then in the year 1974 he started playing piano in a show called 'The magic Spell' after playing in this show he joined
NBC fir their famous show 'Saturday night live' as a member of the band. After playing with the band for over 2 years he decided to leave the band. He appeared on many shows off set and on set, and also emerged in a few movies.
Paul Shaffer in the year 1982 joined 'The world's most dangerous band' on the
David Letterman show on
NBC. He is the head of the band since 1982 and has been behind the success and the popularity of the band in the world. Paul Shaffer has also composed the theme song of this show. Now he is the leader of the
CBS orchestra, the band which plays on '
The Late Show with
David Letterman'. In the absence of
David Letterman on the show Paul used to host the show occasionally. Paul has also been serving as the musical director for many other projects like a few mentioned below:
Induction rite for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Concluding ceremony of the 1996 Atlantic, Georgia Olympic Games
Cinemax session of Fats Domino and Friends
He also has a couple of individual albums in his pocket. Both of the albums –Coast to Coast and 'The World's Most Dangerous Party' were successful. His first album 'Coast to Coast' which was released in the year 1989 was also a Grammy Award Nomination. He has worked with a number of artists and has also co-written and directed UK's hit song 'It's Raining Men' along with Paul Jabara. His life is dominated by music but he manages to involve himself in other activities as well. He has lent his voice to the Disney house production Hercules for the character Herms.
Paul has also been awarded a couple of Doctorates and a road near the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium is now renamed as the Paul Shaffer Drive. In the year 2006 he also received Canada's Walk of Fame award.
