(Los Angeles, CA) December 5, 2011—Five-time Grammy Award winning composer and music producer Mervyn Warren scores, produces, and arranges the songs for Warner Brother Pictures', Joyful Noise. The film is directed by Todd Graff and stars Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, and Jeremy Jordan. Joyful Noise tells the story of two choir members (Latifah and Parton) who have differing opinions on how to lead their Georgia choir to victory at the "How Sweet the Sound" competition in Los Angeles. The film opens January 13, 2012. The soundtrack is available on WaterTower Records.
Mervyn Warren's uplifting score adds a sense of exaltation to the film's moving scenes and highlights the individual struggles and triumphs of each character throughout the story. Warren's involvement with the film goes beyond composing, lending his hand to arranging and producing; he also appears on screen as the PacDiv choir's pianist.
The film includes original songs, "I'm Yours", which is performed by Keke Palmer, DeQuina Moore, and Angela Grovey and "He's Everything" written by Dolly Parton and arranged and produced by Mervyn Warren. In addition, Warren arranged a new version of the classic spiritual "Fix Me, Jesus," performed as a stirring solo by Queen Latifah, with whom Warren has collaborated previously on both movies and albums. Joyful Noise also includes Warren's arrangements of chart topping hits including Michael Jackson's, "Man in the Mirror," and Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed".
Warren began writing and arranging music for the film in 2009, just after Graff finished an early version of the script. "I enjoy the process," he notes. "It's like working a puzzle: a given song needs to accomplish something specific, needs to be a certain tempo, and needs to say something specific or comment upon the story." He also accompanied Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton at the "How Sweet the Sound" National Gospel Competition Grand Finale at Staples Center (2011), performing "He's Everything" to prepare for the role.
Mervyn Warren is an accomplished film and television composer, record producer, songwriter/lyricist, arranger, pianist, and vocalist. His career has traversed from Grammy-winning producer and performer with the group Take 6 to composer, scoring and writing songs for film. His list of credits includes Dreamgirls, The Preacher's Wife, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, The Wedding Planner, A Walk to Remember, and Honey. He has written arrangements for Quincy Jones, David Foster, and Whitney Houston. Mervyn Warren's accolades include the Soul Train Award and recognition by the NAACP Image Awards, Dove Awards, and Stellar Awards.