Craig Sharmat composes music for TV and Film, and also is an accomplished guitarist whose work has been noteworthy in the Smooth Jazz charts. He has scored a wide variety of reality TV shows, TV animation, television commercials, and documentary movies. He has also played guitar on thousands of cues and backed up a number of commercial artists as guitarist and or arranger. He released his first jazz single in 2009, "So Cal Drivin. The album of the same name was released later the same year. His second album "Outside In" contains the song "Ease Up" which rose to No.2 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz charts.

Biography

Born in New York City, Sharmat attended Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

 as a music major. He transferred to The University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

, finishing his studies at G.I.T. (now called Musicians Institute

Musicians Institute

Musicians Institute is a privately owned for-profit music vocational school located in Hollywood, California. Although not a regionally accredited school, the school offers a variety of unaccredited Bachelor Degree, Associate Degree and Certificate programs in fields including contemporary music...

). Sharmat's early professional years were filled playing gigs and occasional sessions, moving to Las Vegas to play showroom gigs by 1983. Craig returned to Los Angeles in 1985, where he quickly landed the role of guitarist for saxman Ronnie Laws

Ronnie Laws

Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Laws is an American jazz, blues and funk saxophonist. He is the younger brother of jazz flautist Hubert Laws.-Biography:...

. A tour with singer Randy Crawford

Randy Crawford

Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist...

 soon followed, though Sharmat later moved away from touring to score his first TV series, Disney's Kids Incorporated

Kids Incorporated

Kids Incorporated, is an American children's television program that was produced from 1984 to 1993. It was largely a youth-oriented program with musical performances as an integral part of each and every storyline....

, arranging and composing the final 3 years of the series. During the same time frame, Sharmat scored the background music to the American TV series Xuxa

Xuxa

Xuxa , Maria da Graça "Xuxa" Meneghel, born March 27, 1963 in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) is a Brazilian television actress, singer and children's television show host...

. Since 1995, Sharmat has written music for America's Most Wanted

America's Most Wanted

America's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...

. This show led to his finding work with Sirens Media, for which he has written the main titles and background music for The Real Housewives of New Jersey

The Real Housewives of New Jersey

The Real Housewives of New Jersey is a reality television program on the Bravo network which originally followed the lives of five women in and around several upscale communities in Northern New Jersey...

 among many other shows. He also wrote the opening for the 2007 MTV Movie Awards

MTV Movie Awards

The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...

 featuring Sarah Silverman

Sarah Silverman

Sarah Kate Silverman is a Jewish American comedian, writer, actress, singer and musician. Her satirical comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion....

. In 2008, Sharmat scored the movie Gotta Dance

Gotta Dance

Gotta Dance is a 2008 documentary film and Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award Finalist directed by Dori Berinstein. The film "chronicles the debut of the New Jersey Nets' first-ever senior hip-hop dance team, 12 women and 1 man - all dance team newbies, from auditions through to...

, produced and directed by Academy Award nominee Dori Berinstein. Sharmat is a graduate of Spud Murphy

Spud Murphy

Lyle Stephanovic, better known as Spud Murphy was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and arranger....

's Equal Interval System system.

Craig has written a significant amount of music for 615 Music

615 Music

615 Music is a broadcast production music company based in Nashville, Tennessee. 615 Music composes television news music packages and custom image campaigns for many television networks around the world. 615 Music also operates out of Los Angeles...

, a major music library based in Nashville, Tennessee.

In other activity, Sharmat also has co-written three Nate the Great

Nate the Great

Nate the Great is a series of novels written by Marjorie Sharmat and illustrated by Marc Simont, with occasional co-authorship by Mitchell Sharmat or Craig Sharmat , and recent illustrations by Martha Weston or Jody Wheeler...

children's books.

External links

Official website http://www.scoredog.tv/

Gotta Dance website http://www.gottadancethemovie.com/

Equal Interval Website http://equalinterval.com/