Ben Decter

Biography

Ben Decter is an Emmy Award-winning composer and songwriter who has created a diverse body of music for television and film. Ben’s Emmy resulted from his score forthe Academy Award-nominated film Operation Homecoming. 

Ben currently scores Netflix’s Devil in LA series, Lucifer. Recent projects include Bless This Mess (ABC), Lethal Weapon (FOX), Shadowhunters (Freeform), and Shut Eye (HULU).

The range of his work includes the lush, orchestral score to the Shonda Rhimes ABC drama, Off the Map, the procedural drama, CSI: Cyber (CBS), the emotional soundtrack to Frontline’s Fast Times at West Philly High, the Latin-infused score to Sony’s Big Mike pilot, the quirky underscore to the WB’s Baby Blues, the dramatic underscores for Dick Wolf’s FEDS and Players and the long-running Silk Stalkings. 

In recent years, Ben’s music has been an integral part of NFL FILMS. He also scored the Emmy-nominated Peter Jennings/ABC News Special celebrating Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. 

Ben also co-created the score to “We Live in Public”, the 2009 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner. Another Big Day, Ben’s much-loved children’s CD (a collaboration with Dave Nachmanoff) received national recognition and critical praise.

Ben has also recorded as Paley Jones and as one-half of Emalazarus, a folk-electronica duo. In addition, Ben has composed for New York’s Cedar Lake Ensemble ballet company and created the music for dozens of commercials, including Honda, McDonald’s, Visa, and Lifesavers. 

Born in Manhattan, and raised in New Jersey, Ben graduated from Harvard University, where he majored in political science. Ben resides in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and MMA-loving daughter. His son has reversed this migration and is currently studying in New York.