Randy Kaplan

Randy Kaplan (b. Randall Leigh Kaplan) is an American songwriter, playwright, poet, and performer. He gained renown for his “not-JUST-for-kids” music in the mid-aughts, first in Brooklyn, New York, and later nationwide. Dedicated members of his fan base call themselves FORKs (Fans of Randy Kaplan). He was signed with myKaZoo Music for his CD dedicated to Country Blues and Ragtime music (Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie), which Universal Music released.

Randy has released five not-JUST-for-kids CDs (with his sixth due out in late 2016): Five Cent Piece (2006), Loquat Rooftop (2008), The Kids Are All Id (2010), and Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (2012), and Jam on Rye (2014); and eight not-REALLY-for-kids CDs: Boyish Hips (1997), Reborn As Bees (1999), Lake Champions (1999), Miraculous Dissolving Cures (2001), Perfect Gentleman (2004), Ancient Ruins (2008), Durango (2008), and Songs For Old Lovers (2011).

Kaplan grew up in Dix Hills, Long Island around the corner from the landmark John Coltrane House. He studied philosophy, writing, and literature at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and at UCLA. He then trained in acting, improvisation, and writing with Scott Bernstein in Los Angeles. Randy’s theater credits include Spring Awakening, Fifty Minutes, and The Fresca Wars. He has also acted in films (Never Say Goodbye, Missing Parents) and on television shows such as Beauty and the Beast, Growing Pains, A Different World, and the short-lived Ferris Beuller.

Kaplan fronted the band “i” in Los Angeles for several years in the early 1990s. They performed at LA clubs such as The Troubadour, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, and The Roxy and at many other venues on the West Coast and in the Southwest sharing bills with bands and performers such as The Mother Hips, Chuck E. Weiss, Eleni Mandell, Dan Bern, and Andras Jones and the Previous.

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