Ron Wasserman | |
|---|---|
 Wasserman at the 2023 WonderCon | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ronald Aaron Wasserman |
| Also known as | Aaron Waters The Mighty Raw |
| Born | September 2, 1961 Encino, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Heavy metal |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano, keyboard, drums, percussion, clarinet |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | Rawfish, Saban Music Group |
| Website | ronw |
Ronald Aaron Wasserman (born September 2, 1961), also known as Aaron Waters and The Mighty Raw, is an American musician who composed the original theme songs for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and X-Men: The Animated Series. He was also a member of the band Fisher.
Wasserman has been fascinated with music since he was three years old. His early music bands include Hollywood Headliners Betty Boop & the Beat, formed by SAG actress Lucrecia Sarita Russo. In 1983 (with Wasserman on keyboards), the group opened for Felony/Scotti Brothers records at the Florentine Gardens. Felony was fronted by Lucrecia's then-husband, Jeff Spry, who was receiving chart action with the KROQ-FM hit single "The Fanatic". In the mid-1980s, Ron started a rock band with present-day actress, E.G. Daily. In 1989, shortly after the band disbanded, he started working for Saban Entertainment. Wasserman filled in at Saban Entertainment one afternoon and eventually stayed there for six and a half years. Wasserman and Ron Kenan, once V.P. of Saban Entertainment/Music Production, met in the early 80's and played together in the popular new wave pop band,[citation needed] Betty Boop & the Beat.
While at Saban, Wasserman developed scores and co-wrote themes for several of their smaller series as well as the animated X-Men series, before he composed some of his most recognizable work, which was for the show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. One day, he was presented with the first footage of the show, was told to use the word "Go", and to have it finished by the next day. After two and a half hours, the song that resulted was the show's theme song, "Go Go Power Rangers".[1]
Several of his most popular songs and scores were eventually released on a successful concept album entitled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Album: A Rock Adventure, which linked his music around a variation on the opening episodes of season two of the television series.
All of his compositions for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series and various other Saban productions were credited to Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi (Haim Saban). This was so the pair could collect music royalties for Wasserman's work.[2][3] While working on the show, Saban asked Wasserman to come up with an artist name, as they did not want it to appear as though one person was doing all of the music. He came up with the name "Aaron Waters" because his middle name was Aaron and his surname Wasserman means "water carrier" in German. Saban later attached the additional alias "The Mighty RAW". While the reason behind it is unknown, it is assumed "RAW" is for his initials and "The Mighty" comes from the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers."[1]
Wasserman performed the Power Rangers in Space theme and music. His success with the Power Rangers soundtrack led to work on numerous other projects. Shows he contributed music to around this time include Sweet Valley High and VR Troopers. He was also hired to produce the musical score for FUNimation's first English dub of Dragon Ball Z, which was co-handled by Saban.[4][5] Wasserman left Saban in September 1995,[6][7] citing exhaustion.
After leaving Saban, Wasserman started a band with then-girlfriend Kathy Fisher, whom he later married.
Wasserman also began working on various video game titles with Pink Floyd producer, Bob Ezrin and contributed to DIC Entertainment. In 1998, Fisher contributed a song for the movie Great Expectations.
Wasserman returned to solo work in 2005, and even returned to the Power Rangers franchise in 2005, composing the theme song for the thirteenth Power Rangers season, Power Rangers S.P.D.. News of his involvement reached the fanbase and demo versions of the theme were leaked, upsetting Disney executives. According to Linkara in his "History of Power Rangers" show after contacting Wasserman he also submitted 2 demos for Power Rangers Mystic Force a rock theme and a rap theme, he had first submitted the rock theme and originally the producers at Disney approved of it, but later contacted him saying they were seeking something more of a rap genre thus leading him to creating and submitting a rap theme to them which they in turn rejected, although Wasserman admits that his rap theme wasn't very good. Since Disney were not going to be using the themes for the series he posted the demos online for the fans.[8]
Wasserman remains active with other television and commercial projects, including work for America's Next Top Model.
In 2010, Wasserman released two original songs with Ozone Entertainment as downloadable content on the Rock Band Network.[9]
| Power Rangers Redux | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by Ron Wasserman | |
| Released | October 22, 2012 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Length | 85:49 |
On August 28, 2012, Wasserman announced on both RangerBoard and RangerCrew that he would be re-cutting the original Power Rangers songs, to refresh their sound and use new technology to record them. During the process of recording the tracks, Wasserman posted a few unedited/unmixed sample clips.[10][11]
Despite being limited to songs that were commercially released on CD or cassette during the 90s, a large repertoire of his Power Rangers music still remained to create the new album. The tracks were released via Bandcamp on October 22, 2012, with CD Baby (covering Amazon, iTunes, etc.) coming thereafter. This new album includes an instrumental version of each song, making it the largest instrumental release of Power Rangers music thus far. A listing of the tracks is as follows:[12]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Go Go Power Rangers - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 3:58 |
| 2. | "Fight - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 3:58 |
| 3. | "Hope For the World - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 4:36 |
| 4. | "Combat - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 4:59 |
| 5. | "Cross My Line - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 3:14 |
| 6. | "Lord Zedd - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 2:40 |
| 7. | "We Need A Hero - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 5:36 |
| 8. | "Go Green Ranger Go - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 3:02 |
| 9. | "Unite - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 4:14 |
| 10. | "5-4-1 - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 2:24 |
| 11. | "I Will Win - Redux" | Ron Wasserman | Ron Wasserman | 5:34 |
| 12. | "Go Go Power Rangers - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 3:58 | |
| 13. | "Fight - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 3:56 | |
| 14. | "Hope For the World - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 4:36 | |
| 15. | "Combat -Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 4:58 | |
| 16. | "Cross My Line - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 3:15 | |
| 17. | "We Need A Hero - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 5:35 | |
| 18. | "Go Green Ranger Go - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 3:03 | |
| 19. | "Unite - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 4:14 | |
| 20. | "5-4-1 - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 2:24 | |
| 21. | "I Will Win - Instrumental Redux" | Ron Wasserman | 5:25 | |
| Total length: | 85:49 | |||
At an early age, Wasserman was adopted by parents of Russian-Jewish descent.[13] His sister was also adopted.[13] As a child, he was often mistaken as being from a different family, since he had blonde hair, while his parents and sister had red hair.[13]
He was formerly married to Kathleen Fisher (the namesake and Wasserman's bandmate in Fisher).[13] They had one son together, Aron, born in 2004.
In September 2018, Wasserman was involved in a mountain bike accident, requiring surgery afterwards.[13]