Sean Altman teamed up with Elliott Kerman, Steve Keyes, and David Stix
in 1986 at Brown University and formed the a cappella group Rockapella.
They recruited Barry Carl after their bass man left, and they soon
found themselves performing on Spike Lee's PBS special, "Spike & Co.:
Do It A Cappella". Steve left soon after that, and Scott Leonard
permanently replaced him. A five-year stint as the house band for the
kids' game show Wo steckt Carmen Sandiego? (1991) made Rockapella a household name in the 1990s.
Sean's credits with Rockapella include featured performances on the PBS
documentary "Spike Lee & Co - Do It Acappella"; "The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno"; five years (295 episodes) starring in the PBS daily series
"Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" (for which Sean wrote the
theme song with David Yazbek, composer of Broadway hits "The Full
Monty" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"); nine CD releases; concerts with
Billy Joel (Madison Square Garden), Sting and Don Henley; and numerous
commercials.
After releasing nine CDs with Rockapella, Sean decided to call it quits
in 1997 and embark on a solo career. His CD catalogue includes
"seandemonium", "alt.mania" and "Losing Streak" (Chow Fun Records), a
22-song collection of his live-in-concert performances of songs by his
heroes - McCartney, Costello, Nilsson, Paul Simon, Bacharach, Carole
King and others - in the famed Loser's Lounge tribute series.
Sean's recent songwriting credits include the off-Broadway musical
comedy "Minimum Wage" (NYC Fringe Festival Audience Favorite Award);
numerous songs for Nickelodeon and Disney TV; and a dozen songs for the
comedy "Connections," which enjoyed a long run at Theater For The New
City (NYC). Sean's vocal arrangement credits include the feature films
"Leap of Faith," "Joe's Apartment," "Meet The Parents" and "Shut Up &
Sing."
He performs his songs in concert throughout the world with his
five-piece band, as an acoustic-electric duo, or solo acoustic. He has
appeared with Elton John, Billy Joel, Joey Ramone, Moby, Cyndi Lauper,
Warren Zevon, Fred Schneider of the B-52s, Styx, Dan Bern, Jill Sobule,
David Cassidy, John Cale, Robyn Hitchcock, Take 6, Ladysmith Black
Mambazo, The Persuasions, Chuck Berry, Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, and
They Might Be Giants.
