- Was the musical arranger and orchestrator for many of Phil Spector's classic "Wall of Sound" recordings, in the 1960s, coincidentally, Nttzsche's nickname was "Specs".
- He was born in Chicago but was raised on a Michigan farm near the town of Newaygo.
- Was first choice for writing the score for The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). He declined.
- Composer, keyboardist and arranger. Started as a copyist with Specialty Records, after dropping out of music school in 1955.
- He was born exactly the same day as Jack Nicholson who starred in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) for which he wrote the music.
- Father of Jack M. Nitzsche Jr.
- Recorded "The Lonely Surfer" in 1963.
- Had a long-standing problem with drugs and a reputation for erratic behavior.
- He was John Carpenter's initial choice to score Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992). But star and producer Chevy Chase decided that Shirley Walker should score it instead.
- Co-wrote (with Sonny Bono) the song "Needles and Pins" for The Searchers which gave him his start in show business. Bono died January 5, 1998 from a skiing accident at age 62, Nitzsche died August 25, 2000, from a heart attack related to a lung infection at age 63, outliving Bono by only 32 months.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content