Andy Paley, BelovedSpongeBob SquarePantsSongwriter and Brian Wilson Collaborator, Dies at 72

Mar. 15, 2025

Andy Paley performs in Glendale, California on May 19, 2023.Photo:Scott Dudelson/Getty

Scott Dudelson/Getty

Andy Paley, an instrumental figure in both the music ofSpongeBob Squarepantsand the solo career ofBrian Wilson, has died. He was 72.

A rep for Paley’s band,Tom Kenny & The Hi-Seas, confirmed the news to PEOPLE. PerVarietyandDeadline, Paley died following a brief battle with cancer on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

“We were blessed to have had Andy,” Óscar Arce, manager for the Hi-Seas, tells PEOPLE in a statement. “He truly is the reason all thisSpongeBobjoy exists in music around the world. He gave us all a purpose and lots of infinite joy that Tom, myself and the band will continue to foster in memory of his gift to us and his musical legacy.”

Tom Kenny, Ethan Slater and Andy Paley at the ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ Broadway opening in 2017.Jim Spellman/WireImage

Jim Spellman/WireImage

By 1976, Paley and his brother Jonathan formed the Paley Brothers, a duo that would go on to sign to Sire Records and contribute to the Ramones’Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.

After working alongside the likes of Brenda Lee, Little Richard and Madonna, Paley found a musical spark with Brian Wilson when the pair teamed up for his 1988 self-titled solo debut and subsequent unreleased material throughout the ’90s.

Wilson’s officialFacebook pagehas since shared a statement about Paley’s death, calling the singer-songwriter “literally instrumental in Brian starting his solo career.”

“He co-wrote three of the songs, including ‘Rio Grande.’ Andy collaborated again with Brian on the legendary, unreleased ‘Wilson-Paley Sessions,’ counting more than 20 songs,” the statement read. “Brian always called him ‘The Genius Andy Paley.’ Love and mercy goes out to Andy’s family and friends.”

For a generation of Nickelodeon viewers, Paley is also widely known for his contributions to the musical universe ofSpongeBob Squarepants.

Together, Paley and theSpongeBobcrew created in-show hits such as “The Best Day Ever.” The partnership began in 2004, when lateSpongeBobcreator Stephen Hillenburg and others behind the series recruited a team of musicians to soundtrack the cartoon. Thanks to Paley, Wilson himself even sang backing vocals on the 2006Best Day Everalbum.

“Kenny and I started planning to make these SpongeBob records with every member of the cast — Squidward, Pearl, whoever it was,” Paley told this reporter, viaThe Daily Gazetteof Schenectady, in 2020. “We thought of it like the cartoons for the Monkees or Jackson 5 or the Beatles. We just thought, ‘Why not just do good pop songs and have SpongeBob and Patrick and Plankton and everybody sing?’”

Andy Paley and Jonathan Paley in 1978.Getty

Getty

In the years since his contributions toSpongeBob, Paley toured extensively alongside his friend Kenny as part of their genre-fusing big band, Tom Kenny & The Hi-Seas. In a statement toVariety, Kenny reflected on his friendship with his longtime bandmate.

“My friendship with Andy and our collaboration — writing songs and my fronting the band that he formed — is one of the greatest true joys I’ve ever experienced," he told the outlet. “He possessed not only encyclopedic knowledge of all pop music — especially rock ‘n’ roll and girl group — but was also astoundingly astute when it came to art and literature.”

source: people.com