John Kander born 18 March 1927John Harold Kander is the American composer of a series of musical theatre successes as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.
Kander attended Oberlin College before earning a master's degree at Columbia University. He began his Broadway career as substitute rehearsal pianist for West Side Story. The stage manager for West Side Story then asked Kander to play the auditions for her next show, Gypsy. During the auditions Kander met the choreographer, Jerome Robbins, who then suggested that Kander actually write the dance music for the show in 1959. After that experience, he wrote dance arrangements for Irma la Douce in 1960. His first produced musical was A Family Affair, written with James Goldman and William Goldman.
In 1962 he teamed up with Fred Ebb to write Flora the Red Menace, produced by Hal Prince, directed by George Abbott, and with book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, in which Liza Minnelli made her initial Broadway appearance. In the same year rising star Barbra Streisand recorded two of the duo's songs, My Coloring Book and I Don't Care Much. It proved to be a success and launched the pair on their career. Kander and Ebb have since been associated with writing material for Liza Minnelli and for Chita Rivera, and have produced special material for their appearances live and on television.Kander has also written a number of film scores, notably Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984).
Their hugely succcessful musicals Cabaret and Chicago have been made into films and successfully revived in recent years and are both now acknowledged as iconic landmarks within the landscape of musical theatre.