Jack Nitzsche; Oscar-Winning Songwriter, Arranger

Jack Nitzsche, an Academy Award-winning songwriter, producer and arranger who contributed to some of rock ‘n’ roll’s essential recordings, has died. He was 63.

Nitzsche died Friday at Queen of Angels hospital in Hollywood after cardiac arrest brought on by a recurring bronchial infection.

He arranged the bulk of Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” hits in the ‘60s, including the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” and he arranged and played keyboard on a series of Rolling Stones records, including “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” His score for the 1970 Mick Jagger film “Performance” is regarded as a landmark for the use of rock in film soundtracks. Nitzsche was also instrumental in the early solo career of Neil Young, and later worked with acts as varied as English singer Graham Parker and Los Angeles punk-rock band the Germs.

As a film composer, he scored more than 40 movies. Nitzsche received an Academy Award nomination in 1976 for his score to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” In 1983, he shared the best song Oscar with Buffy Sainte-Marie (his wife at the time) and Will Jennings for “Up Where We Belong,” the theme of “An Officer and a Gentleman.” His score for “Officer” was also nominated for an Oscar.

Nitzsche’s signature as a composer was a moody, atmospheric quality. “He really liked Wagner, and he leaned more to the sad tunes with minor chords,” said Denny Bruce, a record producer and executive who had been a close friend of Nitzsche since the late ‘60s. “That’s why he liked Neil Young.”

The son of German immigrants, Nitzsche was born in Chicago and grew up on a farm in Michigan. He studied piano, clarinet and saxophone and moved to Muskegon, Mich., where he worked at a steel foundry and played saxophone in a band while learning orchestration through a correspondence course.

He moved to Los Angeles in the early ‘60s and met Sonny Bono, who helped him into the fraternity of studio musicians that worked on Spector’s hits for the Blossoms, Ike and Tina Turner and others. Becoming a producer himself, he worked with singer Jackie DeShannon and went on to record with Young’s first group, the Buffalo Springfield.

Along with the success came difficulties. Nitzsche struggled with drug problems throughout his career, and in 1979 he was fined and sentenced to three years probation for an assault on his former girlfriend, actress Carrie Snodgress. More recently, Nitzsche was seen in an episode of the reality show “Cops,” being arrested in Hollywood after brandishing a gun at some youths who had stolen his hat.

“Being a musician, he liked the romance and the rituals of that world, and he was intrigued by it,” said Bruce.

Nitzsche’s last film score was for the 1995 Sean Penn movie “The Crossing Guard.”

He had been relatively inactive in recent years and suffered declining health, including a stroke two years ago, according to Bruce.

Nitzsche is survived by a son, Jack Jr., born to his first wife, Gracia Ann May. Private services will be held today in Hollywood.