Broadway Pianist/Composer/Arranger Timothy Graphenreed Has Passed Away at Age 68

Graphenreed was best known for The Tornado and Emerald City Ballet in THE WIZ on Broadway

By: Sep. 02, 2020
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Broadway Pianist/Composer/Arranger Timothy Graphenreed Has Passed Away at Age 68

Broadway composer/lyricist/author/musical director/vocal arranger/dance arranger/orchestrator/accompanist, best known for composing The Tornado, and Emerald City Ballet in the Broadway hit "The Wiz," Timothy Graphenreed, passed away March 1, 2020, at Mt. Sinai at the age of 68.

Timothy Graphenreed, son of the late­, Angeline Graphenreed was born August 26, 1951 in Washington DC and graduated with honors at St Augustine's University.

Mr. Graphenreed's other Broadway shows include, "Coming Uptown," and "The Leader of the Pack." He also worked as arranger/musical director with numerous multi-talented director/choreographers including Michael Peters, Maurice Hines, Hinton Battle, Louis Johnson, Debbie Allen, Ken Roberson, Otis Sallid and Tony Award-winner, George Faison.

Mr. Graphenreed accompanied and/or created musical arrangements for numerous African-American Tony Award winners, including Lillias White (Mr. Graphenreed served as Ms. White's musical director/arranger for over 20 years), Hinton Battle, Adriane Lenox, LaChanze, Jennifer Holliday, Phylicia Rashad and Melba Moore. Other artists for whom Graphenreed accompanied and/or arranged include Lee Summers, Jeff Goldblum; Robert Downey, Jr.; Valerie Simpson and Nick Ashford; Darlene Love; Morgan Freeman; Charles Strouse; Ben Vereen; Peobo Bryson, Patti Austin; Gregory Hines and Maya Angelou.

Besides creating several original musicals and working with hundreds of youths for decades in St. Croix, Mr. Graphenreed was also musical arranger for several corporate clients including Ford, Krizia, L'Oreal, Essence Magazine, CBS, Rai Uno, Panasonic, PBS, Coca Cola and Lincoln Mercury. Graphenreed served an adjunct professor at NYU's Steinhart School of Music and Performing Arts Professionals the time of his passing.

Timothy Graphenreed is survived by his daughter Traci Graphenreed Crane, his two Grandchildren Aaralyn and Donavan Wilkerson and his loving life partner of 20 years, J. David Moore.



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