Alf Clausen

Alf Clausen, who won multiple Emmy Awards for his work as a composer for The Simpsons, died May 29, 2025, at his home in Los Angeles after a long struggle with Progressive Supernuclear Palsy (PSP) at the age of 84.

Clausen was already a success by the time he signed on to score a quirky, unknown animated series for the underdog Fox network. He'd already spent years as the composer for the hit show "Moonlighting," along with nearly 100 episodes of the sitcom "ALF." Getting on board with "The Simpsons" in 1990, however, changed his life – and changed television, too.

Clausen spent 26 seasons and nearly 600 episodes on the show. While he didn't compose its iconic theme song – that was Danny Elfman's work – he was responsible for almost every piece of music heard in the show over those 26 seasons. His work spanned many genres, from sultry jazz to humorous Broadway parodies to rock, rap, show tunes, country, folk, and more. He generally had just one week to write the music for any given episode. His work earned him 30 Emmy nominations, which is believed to be a record for composers, and he won two years in a row for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics. Clausen was let go from "The Simpsons" in 2017 after 27 years as its composer. He was replaced by a music agency.

"The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening summed up the impact of Clausen's work on Facebook: "Alf was the Man of a Thousand Music Cues - actually probably more than 10,000 - during his decades on The Simpsons. He was tireless, inspired, and always up for the musical challenges we threw at him. I called him our secret weapon."

By Eric San Juan

(Image: Vince Bucci / Invision for the Television Academy - AP Images)