Tommy Tallarico

Tommy Tallarico is a veritable video game industry icon. As one of the most successful video game composers in history, he has helped revolutionize the gaming world, creating unique audio landscapes that enhance the video gaming experience. He is considered the person most instrumental in changing the game industry from bleeps & bloops to real music now appreciated worldwide by billions of fans. As a well-recognized on-air television personality, live performer, show producer, creative director, game console CEO/President, sound designer and composer, Tommy brings his in-depth knowledge, years of experience, and love of cutting edge multimedia and pop culture to the masses. Tommy has worked in the gaming industry as a designer, product manager, producer, writer, hardware executive, games tester and heads of both music and video departments. He produced, co-created, wrote and co-hosted 3 internationally award-winning syndicated and network television shows as well as creating, producing and hosting the continuing worldwide touring sensation Video Games Live. Since 2010 he has become a highly sought after live show creative director/producer. Clients include Disney, MGM, Blizzard/Activision, Capcom and artists such as Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin & EDM artist BT. In 2018 he was named CEO/President of legacy video game company Intellivision Entertainment to help launch a brand new home video game system.

An accomplished musician, Tallarico has been writing music for video games for over 30 years. He has won over 50 industry awards and has worked on more than 320 game titles; to date, they total sales of more than 200 million units and over 10 billion dollars in revenue. No one in the history of the video game industry has ever worked on more titles and projects. In 2008, he was enshrined in the Guinness Book of World Records with a two page feature article and interview and currently holds 5 Guinness World Records including the person who has worked on the most commercially released video games and the largest symphony show ever seen live (over 752,000 people in China). In 2012 during the Game Developers Conference he received a Lifetime Achievement Award and is also in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. for his contributions to the game industry. In 2013 he was asked to speak at the TED Conference where he gave his very well received “Video Games – Art in Disguise” speech. In 1994, he founded Tommy Tallarico Studios, the multimedia industry’s largest audio production house. In video games, television, film, radio, soundtracks, toys and even on floats in the New Years Day Rose Parade in Pasadena CA, Tallarico’s music has been heard by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Tommy is a cousin of rock star legend Steven Tyler (nee Tallarico) and in 2002 Tallarico’s music was used as the opening song for Aerosmiths’ “Girls of Summer” world tour. His top titles include Earthworm Jim, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Disney’s Aladdin, Spider-Man and Metroid Prime as well as top selling popular game franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Guitar Hero, Madden Football, Mortal Kombat, Time Crisis, Unreal, Lineage, James Bond, Blitz Football, The 7th Guest, Knockout Kings, Test Drive, Scooby Doo, WWE & Twisted Metal. His score for Advent Rising has been noted as “one of the greatest musical scores of all time” by websites such as Yahoo, Gamespot and others.

Tallarico has been featured on numerous national and international television shows, appearing repeatedly on CNN, FOX and MTV. Tommy hosted, wrote and co-produced the top rated and very popular Reviews on the Run/Judgment Day television show as well as the longest running award-winning video game television show, The Electric Playground, which was on the air from 1997 – 2018. The show was syndicated worldwide and aired daily in prime-time. The Electric Playground won the 2001 Telly Award for “Best Entertainment Cable Program”. In 2006, Tommy hosted and helped to launch the worldwide Championship Gaming Series for DirecTV. His national television debut came in 1994 when he was featured and asked to guest host ABC’s “In Concert” television program which included artists Peter Gabriel and Todd Rundgren. From 1991 to 1994, he headed Virgin Interactive’s music and video division, and executive produced numerous video game green screen shoots for films including “Demolition Man” where he worked with Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes and Hollywood producer Joel Silver.

In 2002, Tallarico created the critically acclaimed Video Games Live (www.videogameslive.com), an immersive, audio and video concert experience celebrating video games. Video Games Live features music from the greatest video games performed by top orchestras and choirs around the world combined with synchronized video footage, lasers, lights, special effects, interactivity and live action to create an explosive and unique one-of-a-kind entertainment experience. Video Games Live is the first and most successful video game touring concert in the world having performed over 500 shows in 42 countries on 5 continents. The debut performance was launched on July 6th, 2005 at the world famous Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles with the LA Philharmonic.