Al Kasha, a renaissance man, was rare in today's entertainment industry. During his career, Mr. Kasha reached the top in every field to which he lent his talents as a writer, producer, composer and executive: theatre, film, television, home video, music publishing and records. As a creative entertainment entrepreneur, Mr. Kasha ran private and public entertainment corporations. Mr. Kasha was a graduate of New York University. He also held a Doctorate in Theology from The California Graduate School of Theology. He worked on a 60 million dollar animated musical feature "The Greatest King" with multi Grammy award winner David Foster. He and fellow producer, Paul Murray, completed a pop single "You're The Only One That's Real" for the MTV Group "2-Gether" which is called "2-Gether: The Series." Mr. Kasha was on the Board of Trustees at Regent University (WWW.Regent.Edu).
Between 1995 and 1998, he was President of the Family Channel Music Division. He was President of National General Records and Co-Founder and Director of AFT-American Film Technologies. He ran his own production firm "The Kasha Entertainment Company," a multifaceted entertainment enterprise. The companies activities include a wide variety of Broadway Theatrical Productions including Charles Aznavour's one man show "At Wits End", "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers", and "Copperfield." The Kasha Entertainment Company also owns the rights to Cole Porter's "The Pirate" and "Out Of This World."
He co-wrote the Broadway bound musical "Ordinary Girl" based on the life of and starring Donna Summer. He produced and directed the long-running Las Vegas revue "Let The Good Times Roll," and the Atlantic City Musical version of Cole Porter's "Can Can" starring Yvonne de Carlo. He also produced the motion picture "Take This Job and Shove It," inspired by the hit song of the same name.
With over thirty motion picture scores to his credit, recent success has stemmed from his scoring contributions to such films as the animated classic "All Dogs Go To Heaven," "Giant Of Thunder Mountain," "China Cry," (which won the coveted Angel Award) and "Rudolf, The Red Nosed Reindeer," an animated movie musical, starring John Goodman and Whoopi Goldberg.
In the television arena: Kelloggs tv animated musical special, "A Toucan Can," starring Donna Summer and Jason Alexander; NBC-TV 2-hour Prime Time animated musical special of Charles Dickens' classic "David Copperfield" starring Julian Lennon, Sheena Easton, Howie Mandel, Michael York and Andrea Martin. This special, co-produced by Al Kasha, also aired in Canada and France; and ABC-TV "The Kingdom Chums," A prime time animated musical special featuring Tony Orlando, Billy Preston, Debby Boone, Frankie Valli, and Marilyn McCoo. Other prime time animated musical specials include ABC's "Precious Moments," CBS/Marvel/McDonalds "The Magic Piantbrush" and The Family Channel's "The Little Tree."
Mr. Kasha also enjoyed a very successful relationship with recording artists over the years. Heading A&R at CBS Records' Music Publishing Company, he was responsible for the signing of: Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Andy Williams, The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin. Recording artists such As All 4 One, James Ingram, Melissa Manchester, Irene Cara, Gary Morris, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Wilson, Freddie Jackson, Sheena Easton, Julian Lennon, and Donna Summer are among the stars who have recorded his many songs.
Al Kasha wrote four best-selling books. His best selling "If They Ask You, You Can Write A Song" for Simon & Schuster, is in Marvin Hamlisch's words, "The Definitive Book On Songwriting. "Notes On Broadway," His Simon & Schuster release, has been called "The Best Book Ever Written On The Making Of The American Musical."
