Born in Chicago, Illinois, to German immigrant parents and raised on a farm in Newaygo, Michigan, Nitzsche moved to Los Angeles in 1955 with ambitions of becoming a jazz saxophonist. While copying musical scores, he met Sonny Bono, with whom he wrote the song "Needles and Pins" for Jackie DeShannon, later recorded by the Searchers. His instrumental composition "The Lonely Surfer" entered Cash Box on August 3, 1963 and reached No. 37.\n', '

He became arranger and conductor for producer Phil Spector and orchestrated the Wall of Sound for the song "River Deep, Mountain High" by Ike and Tina Turner. Nitzsche worked with Earl Palmer, Leon Russell, Roy Caton, Glen Campbell, Carol Kaye and Hal Blaine in The Wrecking Crew, the backing band for many pop acts such as the Beach Boys and the Monkees. Nitzsche arranged the title song of Doris Day\'s Move Over, Darling that was a successful single on the pop charts of the time.\n', '

While organizing the music for the T.A.M.I. Show television special in 1964, he met the Rolling Stones and went on to play keyboards on their albums The Rolling Stones, Now! (The Rolling Stones No. 2 in the UK), Out of Our Heads, Aftermath and Between the Buttons as well as on their hit singles "Paint It, Black" and "Let\'s Spend the Night Together"; he also wrote the choral arrangements for "You Can\'t Always Get What You Want". In 1968 he introduced the band to slide guitarist Ry Cooder, a seminal influence on the band\'s 1969-1973 style.\n', '

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