Jesse Frederick James Conaway (born June 25, 1948) is an American film and television composer and singer. He wrote and performed the themes to TGIF television shows such as Perfect Strangers, Full House, Family Matters, and Step by Step for ABC.
Early years
Jesse Frederick James Conaway was born in Salisbury, Maryland, but was raised in Seaford, Delaware. He was the younger of two children. His brother, Everett Thomas “Tommy” Conaway, Jr. (1944–1956), died of cystic fibrosis at age 12 years. In his early childhood, Jesse was familiarly known as "Freddy" before he started using the middle name Frederick in his later teens. This was done in an attempt to distinguish himself from the legacy of his father, Everett T. "Conny" Conaway, Sr. (1915–2010). Conny was a prominent figure in the poultry processing industry. During his 70-year career, the senior Conaway designed and built some of the earliest processing plants for Allen Family Foods, Frank Perdue and Preston Townsend, all of which are still operating today. In early adolescence, Frederick attended Massanutten Military Academy for two years. Once he entered high school, his father put him to work, hoping to groom a protege in the industry. Frederick learned about the processing of poultry first hand as a plant laborer at many of his father's factories on the East Coast.
In high school, Frederick starred in many school plays and although his primary musical instrument was classical trumpet, he demonstrated mastery of a variety of musical instruments. He graduated Seaford High School in 1966, before attending Shenandoah College and Conservatory Of Music. Under his father's tutelage, he studied mechanical drafting, and eventually worked as his apprentice in plant overhead conveyor layout designs, but continued writing and composing his own work.
Career
Late 1960s to mid 1970s: music career and Bearsville Records and early EPs
Although he released some early single records in the Philadelphia area in his late teens, and recorded demos for Columbia Records while in college, it was in 1971, at the age of 23, Jesse was signed to Albert Grossman's Bearsville Records.
His self-titled debut album, recorded in Nashville and mixed in part by Todd Rundgren, was released in that year. Although the album gained Frederick a lot of respect from his peers, its sales success was limited. In 1973, Bearsville released a promo 45 featuring both stereo and mono versions of the first single from Frederick's second album, After the Rain, which would never be released. The single was entitled "I Belong to You". As the 1970s progressed, Frederick would sign with another label, spawning a third album in the process; as in the last project at Bearsville, it never saw the light of day.
In a partnership with producer Jeff Koz (who had worked with Frederick on The Last Horror Film in 1982 and Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse in 1984), Frederick formed the band The Kinetix and released the single, "Don't Stand In The Shadow" for Columbia Records, in 1984.
Late 1970s to early 1980s: film composing and acting in film on stage
By the late 1970s, Frederick had changed his beat to movie and TV score composing.
In 1980, he performed vocals for the character "Tommy Dee" (played by Paul Land) in the Taylor Hackford film The Idolmaker. A single from the picture's soundtrack, "Here Is My Love", was released in both stereo and mono formats. That same year, Frederick played Alice Cooper's roadie in the film Roadie. Also that year he performed in Goosebumps a rock musical stage show directed and choreographed by David Winters. It co-starred Carl Anderson, and Shabba Doo.
In 1982, Frederick reunited with director Winters and composed the score for his motion picture The Fanatic (aka The Last Horror Film). Many more major theatrical titles would follow, including that of Garry Marshall's 1984 hit The Flamingo Kid.