Russell Lieblich

Russell Lieblich made a name for himself as an experienced game musician who was also a proficient programmer. He pioneered the genre of rhythm/music-based games with the C64 classics Web Dimension and Master of the Lamps.

Lieblich was born and raised in New York City. He went to college in Brooklyn, then studied music and physics at the University of California in San Diego. He finished with a Masters Degree in music. Lieblich played the piano and the saxophone.

After his studies, Lieblich spent some years at Los Angeles' Venice Beach, alternately writing music and surfing. When Russell lost his job in the course of a musician's strike in 1980, he applied for a job with Mattel's newly founded video games division. Lieblich was the fifth person Mattel hired for the Intellivision squad, which later grew to 200 people. Lieblich worked as a sound programmer for games such as Nightstalker and Astrosmash. He quit after half a year because he couldn't stand the department leader.

In fall 1982, Activision was hiring programmers with experience on the Intellivision system. Lieblich got the job. For Activision, he created the music-driven Web Dimension and the flying carpet game Master of the Lamps (programmed by Peter Kaminski).

During the 1980s and 90s, Lieblich created music for Activision classics such as Little Computer People, Aliens and MechWarrior. He later worked as a composer for projects such as EA's PGA Tour Pro or Atari's Duke Nuke Nukem: Time to Kill. At the same time, he returned to performing live at jazz gigs and in lounge clubs.

Russell Lieblich died on January 26, 2005 following a heart attack outside his home on Long island, New York, at the age of 53.