In 2004, singer/songwriter Ira Marlowe was finally "discovered" but not in the way he'd always imagined. After twenty years in the music business, he was singing in a small San Francisco café when a stranger approached him. This stranger turned out to be the creative director of The Learning Company, the world's leading producer of educational software for kids. Struck by the wit, imagination and storytelling craft of the songs, he hired Ira on the spot to pen a series of tunes for their upcoming Reader Rabbit release. The Learning Company wound up being so impressed with Ira's work for them that they enlisted him, over their own staff writers, to also write the Reader Rabbit Theme which now appears with every new Reader Rabbit product. Now Ira has founded Brainy Tunes Records! His first independent CD for kids, "The Teasing Bird and Other Stories", was released in December of 2005. It contains 13 songs, runs for over 60 minutes, and includes a 28-page illustrated lyric booklet. Solely on the basis of word-of-mouth, the CD sold out its first printing in less than two months. From the beginning, the goal has been to create music for kids that respects the musical tastes of parents. The arrangements are textured and dynamic, with some tracks featuring trumpet, clarinet, even Guatemalan marimba. The disc covers (and sometimes spoofs) a variety of styles--rock, reggae, jazz, folk, delta blues, techno---and is laced with musical jokes aimed at grown-ups, with asides to the Beach Boys, Bob Marley, Harry Belafonte, Muddy Waters, even the Ramones. Perhaps most importantly, Ira assumes kids to be creative, intelligent, and hilarious and refuses to condescend to them. Instead he prefers to challenge them, deliberately including bits of information just enough over their heads to trigger questions and curiosity. Fans have described The Teasing Bird and Other Stories as "Baby Einstein meets Schoolhouse Rock", and "the Sgt. Pepper of kids records". Ira has now released a sequel, "All the Colors", available in November 2006. Ira Marlowe was married last April and lives in San Francisco with his wife Elizabeth and their Cairn Terrier, Hope.