Jane McNealy
The Early Years
Jane McNealy
Jane McNealy began playing the piano at the age of three, studying with famed blind teacher Lev Shore in San Francisco, and was regarded as a musical prodigy. Being highly creative and impatient, she didn’t have the temperament to be a professional musician. However, she came from a musical family and was constantly exposed to different styles, from classical to Broadway to varied forms of jazz and pop–and she loved to write. The varied influences of McNealy’s early life, combined with her natural talent, turned her into a kind of a musical chameleon, able to absorb all the styles and nuances she was exposed to and create her own style of music.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1967, McNealy briefly lived at the Hollywood Studio Club, a spacious rooming house for young actresses and dancers like Barbara Stanwyck, Kim Novak, and Marilyn Monroe, to name a few. And although not an actress, McNealy was drawn to a beautiful Steinway Grand Piano where she would compose some of her most memorable songs while going on to study orchestration and arranging with UCLA professor Albert Harris and film scoring with Earl Hagen.
Music Career
Beginnings of Jane McNealy’s
It would be safe to say that what became McNealy’s style and the catalog of music she’s written—everything from jazz-pop hits to eclectic musicals to a piano concerto—has in large part been shaped by the musical kinships she made as she navigated the waters of Los Angeles in the 1960s and ‘70s.
The most influential of these kinships was with legendary New Orleans musican and producer Harold Battiste, Jr. (of Sam Cook and Sonny & Cher fame), whose meeting was facilitated by singer (and fellow New Orleanian) Lydia Marcelle. “Jane's songs were coming out of a theatrical bag, à la Broadway musical. I was most impressed with her melodic and harmonic sensibilities—these tunes could morph into jazz or standards—and they were being signed to (my) MMCI catalog,” Battiste wrote in his book, Unfinished Blues: Memories of a New Orleans Music Man.
With Battiste’s mentorship, McNealy was able to start a successful career as a songwriter, publishing and recording over 300 songs in the span of five years under his wing. Many of these tracks were recorded at the famous and funky Hollywood Central and GoldStar recording studios, and have been recorded or performed by artists including Sarah Vaughan, Petula Clark, Mel Carter, Joyce Dunn, Tami Lynn, Lydia Marcelle, and many more. McNealy continued to work with Battiste, for many years, even after he became disenchanted with Los Angeles and returned to New Orleans.
Musicals & Film Scores
About Jane McNealy’s
But McNealy’s musical adventure didn't stop there. While her career as a jazz-pop songstress was hitting its stride, she met Vassar-groomed theatre scholar, playwright, and librettist Alice Kuhns. The two women developed a rich catalog of musicals over the span of a collaboration that is still going strong as of this writing.
McNealy also worked in film and television, scoring such films as 1978’s The Sitter, which became a cult horror classic and the basis for When a Stranger Calls. In the 1980s and early ‘90s, McNealy scored a number of movies produced by her friend Diane Baker. Perhaps the most famous of these was Never Never Land, for which McNealy wrote the theme song, “Fly Away,” sung by Petula Clark. Fun bonus fact: McNealy also served as a sound editor on Paul Reubens’ cult hit kids’ show Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
McNealy has recently turned her focus towards releasing archival and contemporary work on the Lo-Flo Records label, which she founded in 2015, generating momentum for a series of projects that began to surface in 2020.
“All my musicals, songs, recordings, and screenplays have been worked on over the years and taken many forms and rewrites. Nothing worth doing well happens in a day. It takes a lifetime of hard work and perseverance. And even then, the most that is certain is artistic fulfillment.” Jane McNealy
Photo information. All photos courtesy of Lo-Flo Records unless otherwise stated.
Jane McNealy The Early Years
Top right: Jane McNealy age three at the piano
Bottom left clockwise (from top left): 1. The Hollywood Studio Club 3. McNealy composing 4. McNealy playing piano 5. Earl Hagen.
Beginnings of Jane Mcnealy’s Music Career
Top right clockwise (from top left): 1. Lydia Marcelle 2. Joyce Dunn 3. Harold Battiste Jr. 4. Sona Lee
Bottom left clockwise (from top left): 1. Battiste with Sonny & Cher (photo courtesy of Porter News Service (THNOC)) 2. Roy McCurdy 3. Tami Lynn 4. Jane McNealy composing.
About Jane McNealy’s Musicals & Film Scores
Top right clockwise (from top left): 1. McNealy’s sheet music 2. Alice Kuhns, McNealy and Petula Clark 3. Kuhns and McNealy 4. Diane Baker
Bottom left clockwise (from top left): 1. Kuhns and McNealy 2. Kuhns 3. McNealy 4. Kuhns and McNealy.