10 things you need to know about Detroit 's Dan Yessian

Dan Yessian is one of Detroit's great natural resources. The composer has spent more than 40 years doing what comes naturally, which is creating countless songs and scores for commercials, TV shows and movies and developing his Farmington Hills-based company, Yessian Music, which has satellite offices in New York, Los Angeles and Hamburg, Germany.

Yessian, 71, will be celebrated with a distinguished achievement award at Friday's Detroit Music Awards at the Fillmore Detroit. It's a career honor that also will be granted officially that night to Kid Rock and the late  Al Abrams, who served as head press honcho and publicist for Motown Records.

Here are 10 things you need to know about the multifaceted Yessian, who followed his heart by going into music and has created several earworms that continue to play in our heads — like that jingle from  the  Dittrich Furs ads that have been airing, well, forever. "I did that about 30-plus years ago," says Yessian, recalling the early, leaner years. "I was so enamored with doing that one because it paid some money."

1. Yessian started his career as an English and speech teacher at Redford High way back in 1967. But after four years, he decided to focus on his love of music — he had formed his own jazz quintet — by launching Yessian Music. His first office? A former bait-and-tackle shop that cost him about $50 a month.

2. Yessian's archive of  musical contributions to commercials is large and varied, stretching from local spots to big manufacturers. Among his favorites?  Whirlpool's "We're making your world a little easier" theme and the "Dodge Boys Have More Fun" campaign, two national spots that still can transport listeners back to the first time they heard them in the 1980s.  Says Yessian: "There's a recollection (of music) that feeds into your consciousness. Music, dare I say, more than a piece of art or writing, has an emotion. It has such an influence and impact on our lives."

3. Yessian has composed music for children's television classics like "Sesame Street" (which he connected with through Detroit-born, Oscar-winning animator Ted Petok) as well as "Hot Fudge," the Detroit-made show that was nationally syndicated. One of his grooviest compositions was the "Electric Company" tune  that turned the suffix "-tion" into a funky R&B jam.

4. Just for fun, Yessian has contributed songs with humorous themes to local radio. For instance, "Monte's Song" was a little ditty on Monte Clark's losing reign in the late '70 and early '80s as the Detroit Lions head coach. Set to Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue," a sample lyric was, "Monte Clark, everybody knows one/Same old (censored) every week he blows one/Me and you always boo/But it's all in vain." He also did parodies like "Elizabeth Taylor Thighs," a "Bette Davis Eyes" twist during the movie star's battle with excess weight. "I was doing a lot of things at the time for Dick Purtan. It was a lark. We were trying to get exposure, but I don't know if that was the right kind of exposure," he remembers with a laugh.

5. Yessian collaborated with Detroit Tigers broadcasting great Ernie Harwell, writing the music for Harwell's ditty on the  1984 pennant race, "Tiger Tiger." It helped rev up fans with a chorus that went: "Tiger, Tiger baseball team, reaching for that pennant dream." He and Harwell also cowrote a song for Jose Feliciano called "Crowd Pleaser" that was recorded but not released. "Just like anybody else who carries that man's name on his lips, I can say only good things about Ernie. I loved him. If you wanted to model your life on someone, he was the guy," says Yessian.

6. Yessian Music has grown into a company that serves clients worldwide and provides a gamut of services including original compositions, music supervision, sound design, audio experiences for experiential settings and theme parks and postproduction audio work. Its clients have included iconic brands like Coke, Disney and McDonald's and TV series like "The Blacklist' and "Sunday Night Football."

7. Sons Brian and Michael Yessian are carrying on their father's tradition at his company. Their dad's pride is evident as he talks about their role in creating the immersive music and sound design experience for visitors to New York City's One World Trade Center and its observatory (the soaring  skyscraper close to where the Twin Towers stood before 9/11). Yessian's sons also have expanded the company's scope with Dragon Licks, the adjunct division of Yessian Music that focuses on  licensing, researching and negotiating publishing rights of music. One of its high-profile assignments was a 2012 Super Bowl ad for Budweiser that combined a Cult song, "She Sells Sanctuary," with one from rap star Flo Rida, "Good Feelin'."

8. In addition to creating music, Yessian has a huge appreciation for the talent of others. In 2006, he bought Burt Bacharach's  Steinway grand piano  for $32,000. The  instrument used for composing Bacharach hits like "The Look of Love" is still the one Yessian plays at home. "I compare Bacharach to Rogers and Hart. He was just that good," he says.

9. Recently, Yessian composed a very personal work, "An Armenian Trilogy," which debuted in 2015 at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts,  The piece for violin and piano marked the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide  of 1915, when an estimated 1.5 million  Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks. Yessian, who is of Armenian heritage, is in the midst of finishing an orchestral version of the piece. It's a lengthy process in part because, as he admits, he doesn't really read music. "I can read it, but it takes me a long time to decipher what it is. But my ear is phenomenal." says Yessian, who can play numerous instruments.

10. Yessian has met many music greats, from Eminem and Bob Seger to Quincy Jones, with whom he discussed the future of music over lunch. He's looking forward to meeting Kid Rock, his fellow awardee, for the first time at Friday's ceremony. Jokes the Detroit music veteran: "I want to ask him what he's smoking in those cigars."

This story was written and published before Kid Rock cancelled his appearance at the Detroit Music Awards.

Contact Detroit Free Press writer Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.