57°
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, who owns a house in Bedford, turns 64 on Thursday.
Shaffer, a Canadian-American musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer, was born November 28, 1949, in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He has been David Letterman's musical director, band leader and sidekick since 1982.
Shaffer began his music career in 1972 when Stephen Schwartz invited him as the musical director for the Toronto production of Godspell, starring Victor Garber, Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin. He went on to play piano for the Schwartz Broadway show The Magic Show in 1974, then became a member of the house band on NBC's popular Saturday Night Live (SNL) television program from 1975 to 1980 (except for a brief departure in 1977).
Shaffer has appeared in a number of motion pictures over the years, including a small role (Artie Fufkin of Polymer Records) in Rob Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap, Blues Brothers 2000, a scene with Miles Davis in the Bill Murray film Scrooged and as a passenger in John Travolta's taxicab in Look Who's Talking Too. In addition, Shaffer lent his voice to Disney's animated feature and television series Hercules, as the character Hermes.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Bedford and receive free news updates.
