Celebrity Biographies
Stephen Lawrence
He worked as a composer for five decades, and leaves significant songs from “Sesame Street” to be remembered. Stephen J. Lawrence passed away on Thursday, December 30, 2020, at Clara Maas Medical Center in Belleville, New Jersey at age 82. His wife, Cantor Cathy Lawrence, confirmed the sad news.
Born on September 5, 1939, Stephen J. Lawrence received a BA in Music from Hofstra University. He began to stand out with “Free to Be… You and Me”, a record of children’s stories told by celebrities such as Alan Alda , which had an enormous impact in the United States.
Stephen J. Lawrence made his debut as a film score composer with the forgotten drama Jennifer on My Mind , followed by Death of a Gambler , directed in 1973 by John D. Hancock , which featured Robert De Niro in the cast . In 1984 he began working on the famous Sesame Street television program, being part of the staff for about thirty years, in which he invented educational songs. He went on to create more than 300 pieces during that time. For the company that had started the show, The Jim Henson Company, he also set The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss to music .
Of his later work, the score for Little Red Hood , from 1987, and the animated musical The Tale of Peter Rabbit , on HBO, stand out. Stephen J. Lawrence also served as Music Director at Temple Sinai in Stamford, Connecticut from 2003 to 2022. In addition to his wife, he is survived by Hannah Jones Anderson, their only child.