The voice behind songs from "Schoolhouse Rock!" is dead. Jazz trumpeter Jack Sheldon passed away on December 27th at the age of 88.
Jack Sheldon sang songs that have stuck with us for years. He taught us how a bill becomes a law, the function of a conjunction and a whole lot more.
You can find his voice in all of these:
- The Little Things We Do (2009)
- Report from the North Pole (2009)
- FatCat Blue: The Clean Rivers Song (2009)
- Windy and the Windmills (2009)
- I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College (2002)
- The Tale of Mr. Morton (1993)
- Them Not-So-Dry Bones (1979)
- Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla (1977)
He also had parts in TV shows and movies, like "Freaky Friday" in 1976 and Dragnet. (And yes, that was his voice in episodes of Family Guy ("Mr Griffin Goes To Washington") and The Simpsons ("The Day The Violence Died") that played off the Schoolhouse Rock classics.
Sheldon rose to prominence during the West Coast jazz movement of the 1950s and performed with some of most influential artists of that era. He served as music director and trumpeter on "The Merv Griffin Show" in the 1970s.