Jeff Russo
American songwriter and composer
title: "Jeff Russo" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1969-births", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "american-alternative-rock-musicians", "american-film-score-composers", "american-television-composers", "american-rock-guitarists", "living-people", "american-male-film-score-composers", "american-male-television-composers", "place-of-birth-missing-(living-people)", "tonic-(band)-members"] description: "American songwriter and composer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Russo" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American songwriter and composer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Jeff Russo |
| image | Jeffrussolivepic.jpg |
| origin | United States |
| genre | Rock, acoustic rock |
| years_active | 1993–present |
| associated_acts | Tonic, Low Stars, Wendy & Lisa |
| website | |
| occupation | Composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, music producer |
| :: |
| name = Jeff Russo | image = Jeffrussolivepic.jpg | caption = | alias = | origin = United States | genre = Rock, acoustic rock | years_active = 1993–present | associated_acts = Tonic, Low Stars, Wendy & Lisa | website = | occupation = Composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, music producer Jeff Russo (born August 31, 1969) is an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and music producer, and one of the two founding members of the rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of the Americana band Low Stars.
Russo is also known for his work as a composer on various films and television series, notably the Noah Hawley series Fargo, Legion and Alien: Earth (as well as his film Lucy in the Sky); the Star Trek series Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy; the American remake of Utopia; as well as Counterpart, Snowfall, and For All Mankind. He also scored the miniseries The Night Of, Brand New Cherry Flavor, and Ripley, and the acclaimed video game What Remains of Edith Finch. For his work on Fargo, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special in 2017.
Biography
Russo began his music career as a rock musician, co-founding the band Tonic. In 2006 he was invited (by his friends, Wendy & Lisa) to assist in the studio while they worked on multiple film and TV projects, and he realized how much he enjoyed the process. He scores two Peabody Award nominated shows: CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery and FX’s Legion, starring Dan Stevens and Aubrey Plaza. He also scores on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy starring Elliot Page, Robert Sheehan and Mary J. Blige, which is based on the popular comic book series by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba. He wrote for Noah Hawley’s feature directorial debut from Fox Searchlight, Lucy in the Sky, starring Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm, and Altered Carbon, an adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s sci-fi novel. His film work includes scoring Mark Wahlberg’s action-thriller film Mile 22, Craig Macneill’s Lizzie, starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and Jon Avnet’s Three Christs, starring Richard Gere, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. His first connection with the Star Trek franchise was his contribution to Star Trek: Discovery.
Russo and his wife, musician Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, have two children.
Albums
Tonic
::data[format=table] | align'"center"|Year | Album | |---|---| | 1996 | Lemon Parade | | 1999 | Live and Enhanced | | Sugar | | | 2002 | Head on Straight | | 2009 | A Casual Affair: The Best of Tonic | | 2010 | Tonic | | 2016 | Lemon Parade Revisited | ::
Guest appearance
::data[format=table] | align'"center"|Year | Album | |---|---| | 2016 | TAMA GIRARD "When I Think of You" (Single) | ::
Low Stars
::data[format=table] | align'"center"|Year | Album | |---|---| | 2007 | Calling All Friends EP | | Low Stars | | ::
Solo
::data[format=table] | align'"center"|Year | Album | |---|---| | 2007-2008 | Make Me Feel Good About Me (unreleased) | ::
Soundtracks
Film
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Ghost Game | Joe Knee | |
| 2010 | Lesson Plan | Philip Neel | |
| David H. Jeffery | |||
| 2012 | About Cherry | Stephen Elliott | |
| Watercolor Postcards | Rajeev Dassani | ||
| 2013 | Free Ride | Shana Betz | |
| Bad Behaviour | Nicholas Brandt | ||
| Lisa Hamil | |||
| 2014 | The Surface | Gil Cates Jr. | |
| 2017 | Hondros | Greg Campbell | Documentary film |
| Three Christs | Jon Avnet | ||
| Submission | Richard Levine | ||
| 2018 | Lizzie | Craig William Macneill | |
| Mile 22 | Peter Berg | ||
| 2019 | Lucy in the Sky | Noah Hawley | |
| 2020 | Lorelei | Sabrina Doyle | |
| 2022 | American Dreamer | Paul Dektor | |
| 2023 | What You Wish For | Nicholas Tomnay | Co-composed with Tracie Turnbull |
| Canary | Danny O'Malley | ||
| Alex Rivest | Documentary film | ||
| Co-composed with Paul Doucette | |||
| 2024 | Rob Peace | Chiwetel Ejiofor | |
| 2025 | The Last Rodeo | Jon Avnet | |
| Looking Through Water | Roberto Sneider | ||
| :: |
Television
::data[format=table]
| Year | Series | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | The Unusuals | |
| 2010 | My Generation | |
| 2011-2013 | Necessary Roughness | Scored 16 episodes |
| 2013-2014 | Hostages | Composed with Ben Decter |
| 2014–present | Fargo | {{plainlist |
| 2014–2020 | Power | |
| 2015 | Tut | Miniseries |
| Manhattan | ||
| The Returned | With Zoë Keating | |
| 2016 | American Gothic | |
| The Night Of | Miniseries | |
| 2016–2021 | Lucifer | Composed with Ben Decter |
| Replaced Marco Beltrami and Dennis Smith for Season 2 onwards | ||
| 2016-2018 | Channel Zero | |
| 2017-2018 | Ghosted | |
| 2017-2019 | Legion | |
| Counterpart | ||
| 2017–2023 | Snowfall | |
| 2017–2024 | Star Trek: Discovery | Original Star Trek Theme by Alexander Courage |
| 2018–2020 | Altered Carbon | |
| Star Trek: Short Treks | Original Star Trek Theme by Alexander Courage | |
| Composed the main theme, the score for the first season and the music for "Children of Mars" from the second season. The rest of the second season continued to use Russo's title theme. Still, the scores were otherwise composed by various composers, including Kris Bowers, Nami Melumad and others, with Michael Giacchino serving as supervising composer and writing the music for the short he directed. | ||
| 2018 | Waco | Miniseries. Co-composed with Jordan Gagne |
| Santa Clarita Diet | Composed the 2nd and 3rd seasons. 1st season composed by John Debney | |
| 2019–2024 | The Umbrella Academy | |
| 2019–present | For All Mankind | |
| 2019 | The Act | |
| The InBetween | ||
| Treadstone | Original Bourne themes by John Powell. Co-composed with Jordan Gagne | |
| 2020–2023 | Star Trek: Picard | Composed the first two seasons. Arranged and conducted the title card music for the third and final one, with the score being composed by Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann |
| 2020 | Warrior Nun | |
| Cursed | Composed theme | |
| Brave New World | Co-composed with Jordan Gagne | |
| Utopia | ||
| 2020–2024 | Power Book II: Ghost | |
| 2021 | Clarice | |
| Oslo | Television film. Co-composed with Zoë Keating | |
| Brand New Cherry Flavor | Miniseries | |
| 2022 | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Composed the main theme |
| 2022–2025 | Bosch: Legacy | |
| 2023 | Love & Death | Miniseries |
| Mrs. Davis | ||
| High Desert | ||
| 2024 | Ripley | Miniseries |
| 2025 | Star Trek: Section 31 | Television film |
| Zero Day | Miniseries | |
| Alien: Earth | ||
| Ballard | ||
| Untamed | ||
| The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox | Miniseries | |
| Hostage | ||
| 2026 | Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | |
| :: |
Video games
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Studio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | What Remains of Edith Finch | Giant Sparrow | Nominated — BAFTA Game Award for Best Music |
| 2018 | Madden NFL 18 | Electronic Arts | Story mode Longshot |
| :: |
References
References
- "Jeff Russo Biography". Jeff Russo.
- Eric Molinsky. (October 27, 2022). "Songs in the Key of SF". Imaginary Worlds Ep. 210.
- "Interview: Composer Jeff Russo Talks About The Challenges Of Scoring 'Star Trek: Short Treks'".
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