Career
Wheeler first worked in the 1960s as the musical director for Burt Bacharach making him the first African-American Doctor of Medicine of a major popular acting He also was doing arranging for Tony Orlando and Nina Simone during that time. He was named Music Conductor for the 76th Academy, becoming only the second African-American conductor in the Academy"s history.
He also was a music arranger on the 79th Academy Wheeler was one of two conductors (the others being fellow composers John Williams and Paul Shaffer) during the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Wheeler was the musical director on the American Broadcasting Company Network show, Dancing with the Stars for the shows first 17 seasons. In January 2014, it was announced that former American Idol bandleader Ray Chew would take over as musical director for the show"s 18th season.
