Background
Haskell was born in Brooklyn, New New York
Haskell was born in Brooklyn, New New York
He entered the musical business through being hired to do arrangements with Imperial Records. He became the arranger of choice for Ricky Nelson and arranged such hits as "There"s Nothing I Can Say" (1964). In the late 1960s and early 1970s Haskell was the arranger of choice for The Grass Roots.
He also provided horn and string arrangements for Blondie"s 1980 album Autoamerican.
He entered the motion picture soundtrack industry in 1960 as an uncredited orchestrator for Dimitri Tiomkin"s The Alamo and composed his first score the following year Love in a Goldfish Bowl. His composition The Silly Song became the theme song of American television"s The Hollywood Squares.
In addition to composing and arranging, Haskell would often act as conductor and selected the musicians used. The Hollywood Squares (1965) (composer) Bewitched (1966) (composer) The Andy Williams Show (1968) (composer) The Doris Day Show (1968) (composer) Curiosity Shop (1971) Land of the Lost (1974) (composer) Silent Möbius (1998) (main composer with Suzie Katayama and Kenichi Sudo).