David Kitay grew up surrounded by music

David Kitay (Composer)

David Kitay grew up surrounded by music. The son of a professional opera singer, Kitay was encouraged to study music from the age of 7. By age 19, he caught the eye of songwriter/producer Barry Mann and started playing guitar for him, which led to a career as a respected session guitarist and arranger. He has recorded, arranged and co-produced for such artists as Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, The Temptations, The Four Tops, James Ingram and The Pointer Sisters. By age 26, Kitay was a respected session guitarist/arranger/producer. He was also writing scores for television shows such as “Teen Wolf,” Frank’s Place,” “Sisters,” and “1st and 10.”
Kitay's entrée into film scoring began at age 27 with Look Who's Talking, the first of what would become many successful collaborations with director Amy Heckerling.

After solidifying his reputation in the teen genre with hit movies like Clueless, Can't Hardly Wait, Scary Movie, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Kitay expanded his repertoire to include independent films.

He began scoring several innovative films – including Ghost World, Art School Confidential, The Shanghai Kiss and the upcoming My Sassy Girl– for more avant-garde directors. Kitay has kept his sense of humor, however, recently scoring such hits as Bad Santa, Because I Said So, and most recently doing a large amount of additional music on First Sunday. He continues his musical studies both as a conductor and by doing most of his own orchestrations. Kitay is also writing his own concert music.

Among other honors, he has received four prestigious BMI Awards, several for his scores for the hit TV series “Mad About You” and for Scary Movie and Look Who’s Talking. In addition to scoring, Kitay has recently produced records for such artists as The Boxing Ghandis, Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) and David Baerwald.
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters.