Paul Shaffer Bio | Wiki
Paul Shaffer ( Full Name: Paul Allen Wood Shaffer) is a prominent Canadian multi-instrumentalist, comedian, author, actor, composer, and singer. On the entire run of both Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1993) and Late Show with David Letterman (1993–2015), he served as David Letterman’s sidekick, band leader, and musical director.
Paul Shaffer Age
He was born on November 28, 1949, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Paul is 72 years old.
Paul Shaffer Height
He is a man of below-average stature. Paul stands at a height of 5 ft 5 in (Approx 1.65m).
Paul Shaffer Family | Young
He was born to Bernard Shaffer, and Shirley in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bernard was a lawyer. Furthermore, he was a jazz aficionado. On the other hand, Shirley loved show tunes. His parents took him on a trip to Las Vegas when he was 12 where they took in Nat King Cole and other shows. Paul took piano lessons as a child. Additionally, he played the organ in a band called Fabulous Fugitives in his teenage years with his schoolmates in Thunder Bay.
Paul Shaffer Wife
He is a married man. Paul is blissfully hitched to his loving and caring wife named Cathy Vasapoli. She is a previous talent booker on Good Morning America. As a couple, they exchanged their wedding vows on August 19, 1990. Together, they commemorate 32 years anniversary. Furthermore, they had both contracted COVID-19 back in 2020. Cathy ended up being hospitalized with the condition.
Paul Shaffer Daughter
He is a proud father of two children including a daughter named Victoria. Paul’s other child is known as Will.
Paul Shaffer Education
He attended a local high school and graduated with his high school diploma.
Paul Shaffer SNL | Blues Brothers
In the year 1972, he started his music career when Stephen Schwartz invited him to be the musical director for Godspell, the Toronto production. Godspell stars Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Gilda Radner, and Victor Garber. In the year 1974, Paul went on to play piano for the Schwartz Broadway show The Magic Show. He then became a member of the house band on NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) tv program from 1975 to 1980. However, Paul had taken a brief departure in 1977. Howard Shore was credited as SNL’s musical director although Paul was at the piano and appeared to be directing the band’s actions. Eventually, the actual conducting of the band was turned to Howard.
Furthermore, Paul also regularly appeared in the show’s sketches notably as the pianist for Bill Murray’s Nick the Lounge Singer character as well as Don Kirshner. On the 1978 album Desire Wire, he also appeared as a keyboardist recorded by Cindy Bullens, a pop/rock star, musician, and backing vocalist. Occasionally, Paul teamed up with the Not Ready for Prime-Time Players off the show. He also teamed up with the musical director for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd whenever they recorded or performed as the Blues Brothers. Paul was to appear in the duo’s 1980 film. However, he dropped from the project bt Belushi as he revealed in October 2009 on CBS Sunday Morning.
Belushi stated that he was unhappy that Paul was spending so much time on a studio record for Radner. Belushi added that he had attempted to speak him out of working on the album in the first place to avoid sharing Paul’s talents with another SNL-related project. Later, Paul reported that he was in unrequited love with Gilda Radner. He went on to appear in Blues Brothers 2000 in the year 1998. Paul left SNL in 1977 for a few months to co-star in A Year at the Top with Greg Evigan. He returned to SNL following the series’ cancellation. Paul appeared on the 40th-anniversary special of SNL in February 2015. He played music to Bill Murray’s lounge-singer character, a love song from the movie Jaws.
Paul Shaffer David Letterman | Letterman | The World’s Most Dangerous Band
He served as musical director for David Letterman’s late-night talk shows starting in 1982. This included as leader of the CBS Orchestra for the Late Show with David Letterman (1993–2015) on CBS and as leader of “The World’s Most Dangerous Band” for Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1993) on NBC. David consistently maintained that the show’s switch to CBS was because NBC caught Paul stealing pens or some other trivial reason. Four times when Letterman was unavailable, he guest-hosted the show.
In the 1982 song Goodbye to You by the band Scandal, Paul recorded the synthesizer solo. To emulate a 1960s organ sound, he used his Oberheim OB-Xa. Paul wrote and performs the bridging music on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, Letterman’s current Netflix series which premiered in 2018. He received a phone call from Letterman asking him to work on the show after Netflix announced publicly that it had given the series an order.
Paul started to receive cuts of episodes soon after from the first season and he began to put music in afterward when the director thought it was needed. He initially looked to Letterman for guidance in developing the sound of the show’s music.
Paul Shaffer Movies And TV Shows
Over the years, he has appeared in a number of motion pictures including as a passenger in John Travolta’s taxicab in Look Who’s Talking Too, a scene with Miles Davis in the Bill Murray film Scrooged, Blues Brothers 2000, and a small role (Artie Fufkin of Polymer Records) in Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap. Paul lent his voice to Hercules, Disney’s animated feature and television series. Here, he voiced the character Hermes. Paul was also on Hollywood Squares around 1998. He appeared in Blues Traveler’s video the following year for the song Hook.
Paul Shaffer Band
He is a member of the Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band. The American musical ensemble consists of other members named Frank Greene, Aaron Heick, Tom Malone, Will Lee, Sid McGinnis, Felicia Collins, and Anton Fig. Furthermore, past members included David Sanborn, Al Cheznovitz, Bruce Kapler, Bernie Worrell, Hiram Bullock, and Steve Jordan. The band was David Letterman’s house band for thirty-three years. In the year 1982, the band was formed to serve as a house band for NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman.
Paul Shaffer Spinal Tap
He has had a small role in Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap. Here, Paul portrays Artie Fufkin of Polymer Records. The 1984 American mockumentary film star Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest as members of the fictional British heavy metal band Spinal Tap. The band is one of England’s loudest bands.
Paul Shaffer Hercules
He lent his voice to Hercules, Disney’s animated feature and television series. Here, Paul voices the character Hermes. Walt Disney Feature Animation produced the 1997 American animated musical fantasy comedy film for Walt Disney Pictures. or Walt Disney Pictures. On June 13, 1997, Hercules was released and received generally positive reviews from film critics.
Paul Shaffer Masked Singer
He competed as Skeleton in the second season of the TV series The Masked Singer. On January 2, 2019, the American reality singing competition television series debuted on Fox. Furthermore, The Masked Singer was renewed for an eighth season. It debuted in September 2022. Moreover, Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, and Ken Jeong appear in each episode and vote alongside an audience for their favorite singer after all perform.
Paul Shaffer Music | Songs
- Yeh Yeh ft The World’s Most Dangerous Band
- Sorrow
- Happy Street
- Late Night
- Cast Your Fate to the Wind
- Some Kind of Wonderful
Paul Shaffer Net Worth
Having been working as a multi-instrumentalist, comedian, author, actor, composer, and singer for five decades now, he has managed to garner good affluence in his career thus far. Online resources estimate Paul’s net worth to be $18,881,118.
How Old Is Paul Shaffer
He is 72 years old. Paul was born on November 28, 1949, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Thus, he relishes and commemorates his birthday on November 28 each and every year.
Is Paul Shaffer Still Alive
He is certainly alive. Furthermore, there are no reported records or any health-related issues reported about Paul at the moment. He is alive and in good health.