Garry Sherman

Garry Sherman, born December 28, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator, and musician whose career has spanned Broadway, film, recording, and advertising. Sherman has also maintained a parallel profession as a sports podiatrist throughout much of his adult life.

Sherman began playing piano at the age of four and continued developing his skills as an arranger and orchestrator while pursuing academic training in medicine and podiatry at Temple University, followed by an internship at Illinois College of Podiatry. After establishing a podiatry practice in New Jersey, he entered the music industry in the early 1960s, contributing piano, accordion, and celeste performances and arrangements to the 1960 Columbia Records album Percussion Goes Dixieland. His work in the Brill Building brought him into contact with prominent figures in popular music, including Leiber and Stoller, for whom he arranged the Drifters' recordings "Up on the Roof" and "On Broadway." Among the many other artists with whom he collaborated during this period were Jay and the Americans, Solomon Burke, Frankie Avalon, Gene Pitney, Bessie Banks, Bobby Goldsboro, Erma Franklin, Kai Winding, Herbie Mann, Lorraine Ellison, and Tony Orlando. Sherman also recorded under his own name for Epic Records during the mid-1960s.

A particularly close working relationship developed between Sherman and songwriter and record producer Bert Berns, who regarded Sherman as his first-choice arranger. Sherman played keyboards and arranged Van Morrison's 1967 recording "Brown Eyed Girl," produced by Berns, and his work is credited on more than thirty hit records in total. He later returned from musical retirement to serve as music supervisor and arranger for Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story in 2014.

Sherman's work extended into film and the concert hall. He served as arranger on the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy, and functioned as music supervisor, composer, and arranger on Alice's Restaurant that same year. He composed the score for The Heartbreak Kid in 1972 and wrote the orchestral work Viet Nam Cantata, which was performed at Town Hall in New York in 1970. His advertising work spanned eighteen years as chief orchestrator on campaigns for Coca-Cola, Miller Beer, and Löwenbräu, earning him several Clio Awards.

On Broadway, Sherman contributed to several productions. He served as music supervisor, orchestrator, and choral arranger on Purlie in 1972. His Broadway credits as composer include Comin' Uptown and The Amen Corner, the latter of which also carried his credits as orchestrator and arranger when it opened in 1983.

Sherman stepped away from music in the 1980s to concentrate on podiatry full time, specializing in the treatment of athletes. He developed techniques using computer models to analyze how feet distribute weight across different sports. He served as team physician for Billie Jean King's World Team Tennis franchise, the New Jersey Stars, and conducted research for U.S. Figure Skating at the Olympic Training Center. He holds a position as Biomechanical Sports Podiatrist at Rutgers University and continues to operate a sports podiatry practice in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey.