The Sound of Music : Lorenzo’s Voice Is His Fortune

Just a few years ago, he didn’t know Garfield, the cat, from Charlie, the tuna.

Today, he is Garfield the cat--or at least the voice of Garfield.

Long before that, he was television’s occasionally heard but never seen Carlton the Doorman. And very soon, Lorenzo Music--that’s his honest-to-goodness name--expects his voice to make him a millionaire.

Music has that sort of silly, kind of dopey-sounding commercial voice that has attracted the ear of listeners and ad agencies nationwide. In a profession where you are what you say, Music is saying more than just about anyone.

His following, both inside and outside the industry, has reached near-cult proportions. His agent says she gets an average 25 requests for him each week--an astounding figure in the broadcast business. And when his ads hit the airwaves, some listeners are known to turn the volume up instead of down. The Hancock Park resident is in such demand that he is one of the few commercial voices in the advertising industry that must routinely turn down jobs.

“Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get so overexposed that no one will want me,” says Music, who is almost embarrassed by his success. “But it seems that the more you do in this business, the more people call you.”

Indeed, McDonald’s recently picked up the Garfield character in a national television and radio ad campaign. And currently, Music is the radio voice for a couple dozen advertisers, among them, Zeltzer Seltzer (where he speaks in pig Latin) and the Queen Mary.

Filed a Lawsuit

“Advertisers who are just getting into radio advertising all say the same thing: ‘I’ve got to have that guy,’ ” said Scott Montgomery, partner at the Santa Ana-based ad firm, Salvati Montgomery Sakoda, which has used Music in a number of spots for its clients. “He’s like the pet rock of radio advertising, except that the fad doesn’t seem to fade.”

So popular is his voice, in fact, that he recently filed an $800,000 suit in Los Angeles Superior Court to protect its use. A 1985 public service spot to promote seat belt use--in which he plays the voice of a crash dummy--was used in this summer’s Universal Pictures film, “Harry and the Hendersons.” Music recently settled out of court with Universal for using his voice in the film without his permission. Neither party, however, would reveal the amount of the settlement.

Because his voice has become associated with so many products, some advertisers are keeping their distance. “I don’t care if he’s the voice of God,” said an executive vice president at one large Los Angeles ad firm. “He’s talking out of so many sides of his mouth, nobody knows what product he’s pitching any more.”

In most cases, however, Music’s voice is music to the ears of advertisers. It is a voice that is most-often compared to that of his long-time buddy, Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers. “The first time I heard (Music’s) voice, I thought he was a 25-year-old, stoned hippie,” said Terry Walker, owner of Sound Services Inc., a Hollywood recording studio. “He sounds kind of cutely stupid.”

Face Doesn’t Match

Music insists on letting his voice speak for itself. That is, he refuses to let his face be directly photographed. “Anonymity works for me,” explained Music. “That way, I never grow old.”

Perhaps, also, some listeners would be somewhat disappointed to discover that the man behind their favorite voice is actually 50 years old, short, balding and has a scruffy beard.

But in his business, it’s the voice--not the face--that counts. For example, last month he spent about two minutes recording the voice-over for a new television ad for the Universal Studios Tour, and walked away with a check for $1,500--plus a 10% commission for his agent.

Where most commercial announcers must settle for the going rate of about $200 per radio spot, in many cases Music can earn twice that--or more. Top advertising industry executives estimate that Music is now earning between $300,000 and $400,000 annually.

And to earn that kind of money, sometimes all he has to do is utter a few lines--or even a few words. For the Universal Studios ad, for example, all he said was: “Hello adoring fans.” He might well have been speaking for himself. But when he said those words, Music was speaking for Garfield, who steps out of a limousine in the TV ad. Music was handed the three-word script when he arrived. “I don’t know what I’m going to say ahead of time,” Music said. “About all I know before I get to the job is the time of the taping, the location and how much I’m going to get.”

Why is he such a hit?

“People hear the real me,” Music said. “I tell people who I really am every time I open my mouth. “

Near Saturation Point

Those who work with him--and hire him again and again to record ads--say its his ability to improvise. “He brings more to the party than what you put in the script,” said Helen Erb, an executive producer at the Los Angeles office of Foote, Cone & Belding. “He’s more than a talking mouth.”

But some wonder how long the success can last.

“The radio is so flooded with his ads these days that we have consciously tried to do fewer with him lately,” said Montgomery, the ad agency creative director. Another corporate promotions director who has hired Music to record several ads said: “It seems like I hear the guy every time I turn on my radio. It’s driving me nuts.”

Music, however, rarely hears his ads. If he does, it’s usually by accident. The other morning, he was brushing his teeth when his 8-year-old son heard a TV commercial with a Music voice-over. His son came running into the bathroom shouting, “Daddy, daddy, you’re famous.”

All this is a far cry from 1960, when Music was a struggling, San Francisco folk singer in his early 20s. There, he was discovered by Smothers, who hired Music to write for his television show. Music won an Emmy for his writing, and eventually wrote for a handful of sitcoms, including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Rhoda.” It was with “Rhoda” that his voice became a national hit--all because the show’s creators couldn’t find the right person to play the voice of a dumb, never-to-be-seen--doorman. Some producers, who liked Music’s voice, suggested that he give it a go. He did, and soon the faceless doorman was speaking some of the best lines on the show.

After “Rhoda” was cancelled in 1978, an executive at Paramount Studios took Music aside and told him that he could make a mint doing radio spots. “People miss Carlton the Doorman,” he told Music.

That suggestion opened up a new career--and a new life. Since then, Music has recorded thousands of radio spots. Music says he doesn’t even remember what his first radio ad was for. He does, however, turn down some requests. A giant defense contractor recently asked him to do some ads. Music said no. “I just didn’t want to get involved with them,” he said.

But he will do ads for just about everyone else. And he’s not shy to say so.

“Advertising is the one point of contact between industry and people,” Music said. “It’s where the rubber meets the road.”