Film + TV Composers
Frederick Sargolini AKA FS Beatz
Fred Sargolini might be best known as the FS half of the experimental hip-hop infused electronic duo Ming + FS, but to know him only as such would mean that you were missing out on some of the best production work the music world has to offer.
Sargolini's music career goes all the way back to his early teens, when he established a reputation for producing tracks for local New York City artists while attending one of soon to be several prestigious music conservatories. His unrivaled production skills caught the attention of several jealousy-inducing record labels and he soon signed with Polygram/Universal Records and scored a publishing deal with Chrysalis Music Publishing all by the tender age of 16.
A few short years later, with the ink barely dry on his high school diploma, Sargolini was hired by Character Music to do remix and production work for the likes of Carl Thomas, Soul 2 Soul and Brandy.
Even though he was garnering innumerable accolades for his work, he still hungered to apply his talent to something a little more experimental. As if by fate he met Aaron Albano at a loft party and the two soon formed Ming + FS. As part of Ming + FS he co-founded the record label Madhattan Studios and released four full-length albums and over thirty 12" singles. While touring the world with their awe-inspiring four turntable electronic/hip-hop live set, Sargolini shared the stage with Sting, A Tribe Called Quest, St. Germain and The Roots. This is quite a lot of work for two people, but on his own Sargolini has kept himself equally as busy.
His music can be heard in a slew of today's hottest shows and movies including Weeds and several MTV shows. In late 2006 alone he composed original tracks for The L Word, CSI, Discovery Channel programming and the Steve Buscemi film "Delirious." This year Sargolini scored the Sundance award-winning short film "Airplanes," produced music for the Wu Tang Clan documentary "Rock the Bells" and collaborated with Northern League to create the gritty track "Gone in 60 Seconds" for the #1 film "Stomp the Yard." More of his illustrious production can be heard on an upcoming episode of "Entourage" and he will be scoring the theme for a yet another soon-to-be-titled show on the Discovery Channel.
This is not to say, however, that Fred has bowed out of the album production game. In 2006 he partnered with Kirsten Price to produce and co-write seven tracks off "5 Days Old," her forthcoming debut release on Columbia Records/Sony/Twist. Working with Diet Kong saw Sargolini comfortably slide into the director's chair for their "Much Love In The Evil Sound" music video, but only after producing and co-writing their self-titled debut album. Sargolini is not one to stand behind the curtain for too long and so will be dropping a highly-anticipated artist album in 2008 under FS Beatz on his own Patriarch Recordings, which will more closely reflect his hip-hop roots than previous releases.