The road to Congress
Marty O’Donnell has taken the road less traveled to running for Congress.
He earned his Master of Music Degree in Composition with honors from USC in 1981. Then, a few months later, Marty started his first career by founding the Chicago-based commercial music and sound production company O’Donnell/Salvatori Inc. He wrote and produced numerous film scores and the iconic Flintstones Kids and Mr. Clean jingles.
In 1997, Marty embarked on his second career, producing music and sound design for video games. He created sound design for Cyan’s Riven, the sequel to Myst, and all of the audio for Bungie’s award-winning Myth series.
In the spring of 2000, ten days after Marty accepted a position as Bungie’s Audio Director and Composer, Microsoft purchased the studio and moved them to Redmond so they could focus their efforts on developing Halo for the launch of the Xbox. The highly acclaimed Halo series became extremely successful, with Halo 3 shattering entertainment records for both single-day and first-week sales. The total number of Halo games played now tallied in the billions, and unit sales are in excess of eighty-one million.
The audio and music for the Halo series have received numerous honors and awards, including the Game Developers Choice Award, the Edge Award, Rolling Stone Magazine’s Best Game Soundtrack, and Best Sound/Music from the AIAS, IGDA, GANG, TEC, and Spike TV. The critically acclaimed soundtracks, produced in partnership with Nile Rodgers, are also best sellers.
In July of 2007, Marty helped lead Bungie to regain its independence. His final project with them, Destiny, featured music in collaboration with Sir Paul McCartney. The stand-alone soundtrack, Music of the Spheres, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. In addition to creating and overseeing sound design, music, and implementation, Marty also cast and directed all the voice acting for Bungie’s games. The music and audio from Destiny have won several awards, including Best Audio and Best Music from the AIAS. He was awarded GANG’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Marty is also co-founder and co-owner of Highwire Games. Their first title, Golem, an exclusive title for PlayStation VR, was released in 2019. He also composed and produced Echoes of the First Dreamer, the musical prequel to Golem.
More about Marty
Marty, now retired, is a composer with time on his hands. He’s looking to bring sanity back to Congress, stopping the government from being an impediment to our families and more of a champion for them.
Marty has been happily married since 1977 and has two daughters and three grandsons.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives write and vote on federal laws, including the federal budget. Each represents one district and serves a two-year term. Tax bills must start in the House, only the House can impeach federal officials, and members oversee federal agencies through their committees.