john clifton

General Biography

John Clifton was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1935, the second son of Harold Henry Kestner and Thelma Beatrice Armstrong. His father died when John was 2½ years old, and John and his brother Glenn (now deceased) lived with their mother, grandmother, uncle, aunt and baby cousin (plus an occasional boarder) in the small house Harold had built in Brentwood, a community just south of Pittsburgh. He began piano lessons at the age of five. John attended the Moore Elementary School through the third grade, when his mother married Walter Alfred Clifton and moved with her two sons to Clifton’s home in Erie, PA. World War II ended shortly afterwards, and John (known to many then as “Jack”) resumed schooling at Jefferson Elementary (until the Sixth Grade), Academy High School (grades 7-8), and graduated from Erie Technical High School as an Art major under the renowned teacher and regional painter Joseph Plavcan. During this time John was still continuing his piano studies and private lessons in Music Theory. John graduated first in his class, winning many art and scientific awards, including the Card Catlin Scholarship in Art, the Bausch & Lomb Science Award, and the Rensselaer Award in Science.

Passing on an acceptance into Yale University, John chose instead to attend Carnegie Institute of Technology (since renamed “Carnegie Mellon University”) under a full tuition scholarship from Scholastic Magazines, entering the School of Fine Arts in 1953. While studying painting and design, John became Student Conductor of the Cameron Choir and President of his fraternity (Alpha Tau Omega, Delta Pi Chapter). John designed two first-prize winning Homecoming displays, and also won an Award of Honor from the National ATO. He also received gold key awards for writing and co-directing two “Scotch ‘n Soda” shows (the University’s celebrated musical theater club) and was scholastically honored by Omicron Delta Kappa and Skull and Bones memberships.

Upon graduation in 1957, Clifton got a job as a commercial artist in the Los Angeles area, with an eye on breaking into animated films. Although offered a job at Disney Studios, this dream was quickly vanquished by a call in 1958 to serve in the U.S. Army. After basic training at Ft. Ord, CA, he was accepted into the Band Training Unit on that post. He was subsequently transferred to the 384th Army Band in Ft Eustis, VA where he filled out the balance of his two years of active duty. It was during this time that Clifton became interested in jazz and popular music, and before long he had his own jazz “combo” playing at the Service Club, NCO and Officers clubs as well as local spots off the post.

Honorably discharged in 1960 holding the rank of Specialist Fourth Class (equivalent to Corporal), Clifton settled in New York City, working as an artist in a small advertising agency in midtown Manhattan. He soon left this job to return once again to music, piano-conducting a U.S.O. troupe that toured for six months to American military bases in Europe and the Far East. One of the members of that tour was Dena Dietrich, later to become the famous "Mother Nature" on margarine commercials ("It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!").

Back in New York, John decided to abandon the advertising world for a life in the theater. He accompanied and coached many musical performers during those early years, and played for musical theatre and dance classes held by Mervin Nelson, Herbert Berghof Studios, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and Matt Maddox. He accompanied club performers in various night spots in and around New York. One of these was Joan Rivers, at the time a young, struggling comedienne. He recalls one incident where he and Ms. Rivers were bodily thrown out of a Greenwich Village club in response to demanding their agreed-upon wages.

In the summer of 1963 John found himself touring the Catskill Mountain resort circuit, accompanying a troupe performing Broadway show excerpts. It was here that he met Josée Clerens, the Belgian woman that would soon become his wife.

The summer of 1964 found John producing a small budget musical he composed called Hello Good-bye at a resort hotel in Atlantic City. It's worth noting the cast  included Michael Arquette and Sandra O'Neill.   Meanwhile, his bride-to-be was in Belgium arranging her affairs in preparation for their upcoming marriage that Fall. The general  manager of that show was Ben Tarver, a playwright/director who would later become John’s writing partner.

Josée returned that August and she and John were married there in Atlantic City, where John was now playing piano bar, finishing out the summer.

In 1965, John was piano-conducting a revue with music by Marvin Hamlisch at the Westport Country Playhouse.  Hamlisch had been slated as pianist/conductor for a “package” tour of The Fantasticks, starring Liza Minnelli and Elliot Gould, but due to a conflicting offer bowed out and Clifton was hired instead. The stellar cast also included David Margulies and Jay Hampton.  John also played several concert bookings for Liza during that time. After the tour, John became Mr. Gould’s personal accompanist, and he recalls rehearsing regularly in the Central Park West apartment Gould shared with his then-wife, Barbra Streisand.

By 1966 John had established himself as a sought-after accompanist, and was hired as rehearsal pianist for the original company of Man Of La Mancha. He worked with the legendary choreographer Jack Cole, shaping and reshaping the dance music with that perfectionist dance genius. During breaks, John would work on the orchestrations for his upcoming off-Broadway show Man With A Load Of Mischief. “Mischief”, written with Ben Tarver, opened that November. Tarver had brought Clifton to producer Donald H. Goldman, who then contracted Clifton to write the score. This show was an instant success, garnering rave reviews from every quarter and launching Clifton’s career as a composer-lyricist. It has been revived four times in New York City, produced in London, and in theaters across all the English-speaking countries. The score is still regarded by many critics and aficionados to be among the best ever written for off-Broadway.

Clifton’s career continued with John filling various musical capacities – composer, lyricist, pianist, synthesist, conductor, arranger, teacher and inventor.

In 1970, Clifton helped Joan Shepard and Evan Thompson form a new company for young audiences, the Fanfare Theatre Ensemble, an association which continues to this day. Over 20 musicals for young people bore Clifton's name as composer and/or lyricist and/or librettist. Some were repeated in televised versions.

In the early nineties, John invented and patented, with partner Phillip Vogel, the “Visual Conductor” an electronic device that conducts live performers in time with pre-recorded music, with a light moving in natural baton gestures. This device was used by such diverse entities as synthesist Wendy Carlos, Mariah Carey, and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus band.

John wrote the music and lyrics for the musical El Bravo! a Broadway-scale production presented at New York’s Entermedia Theatre. The leading critics disagreed about the show, Clive Barnes and most others giving a rave, and Frank Rich the lone negative review. Clifton also wrote the score for We The People (Theatreworks/USA) This last was performed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol for the Bicentennial of the Constitution, as well as touring the United States for two years.

For a time, John accompanied Barbara Cook in her nightclub performances, appearing with her in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., sitting in for her regular pianist Wally Harper while he was working on Broadway shows. While playing an engagement with her in the Capital, John and wife Josée visited the White House with Ms. Cook, who had been invited to sing at President Jimmy Carter's Christmas party. Two memories stand out in John's mind: (1) It was pouring that night and he and his wife, having forgotten umbrellas, arrived soaking wet, and (2) the wine they served was really cheap stuff.

Clifton's songs were heard on Broadway in The Madwoman Of Central Park West starring Phyllis Newman. He also orchestrated this show, which was directed by Arthur Laurents and featured songs by various creators including Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Peter Allen, and many others. Two of the songs, “My Mother Was A Fortune Teller” and “The List Song” had music by John Clifton and lyrics by Ms. Newman (wife of the late Adolph Green). John recalls a meeting with Leonard Bernstein in his studio in the famed Dakota building to discuss his songs in the show. There, in one small room, were Mr. Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Ms. Newman. Well. in musical theater circles, it just doesn't get any better than that!

Till  – The Fool of Flanders (book, music and lyrics) was selected for development and presentation by the O’Neill Center’s Music Theater Conference. Clifton considers the score for that show one of his best. Mama (music and lyrics; starring Celeste Holm) was presented by the Studio Arena (Buffalo) and Starshine, a Civil War romance (music and lyrics) was seen at Theatre-By-The-Sea (Portsmouth, New Hampshire). John composed the score for The Maiden Of Ludmir, a Yiddish musical, for New York’s Folksbeine Playhouse. He is currently working on a new show entitled Appalachian Fling – a farce with country-style music – and another new musical based on The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain.

Mr. Clifton taught music theory and composition at the Cultural Arts Center in Syosset, Long Island from 1991-1995. During part of that time he also chaired the music department at that high school for students gifted in the arts. He also taught composition and computer studies at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in Manhattan from 1996-2002.

Other composing credits over the years include original scores for A Midsummer Night's Dream (Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre), The Diary of a Scoundrel (Boston's Huntington), The Taming Of The Shrew (Syracuse Stage), and The Country Wife (New Jersey Shakespeare Festival).

John remains married to author Josée Clerens, with whom he wrote "Sparky Fights Back: A Little Dog’s Big Battle Against Cancer," a 2005 best-selling book about their miraculous dog. In 2007, John, a strong animal enthusiast, wrote “Stop The Shots! – Are Vaccinations Killing Our Pets?” which held Amazon’s number one spot under “Hot New Releases” in its category for three months. He still keeps his hand in visual art, occasionally designing Web pages and creating computer graphics.