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Born into a musical family, Fred Schactler completed his first full-orchestra arrangement while still in high school. Fred served as an instructor at the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia, and spent the rest of his military service as arranger and director for the 21st Army Stage Band at Ft. Lewis, Washington.

Fred then launched a colorful rock-and-roll career, performing on keyboards in clubs throughout the Pacific Northwest. Early career highlights included arranging, directing, and performing in a national tour of Johnny Rusks Tribute to Elvis, and arranging and scoring A Tribute to Judy Garland for the London Palladium.

A move to New York City in 1988 opened new doors for Fred, employed as backup pianist for the musical A Chorus Line on Broadway and performing with music legends Little Anthony, Leslie Gore, and Bobby Rydelland as a regular at the Stage Door Canteen. Fred also recorded his first album in New York, a collection of piano solos.

For two seasons in the 1990s, Fred was music director for the Seattle Seahawks responsible for auditioning and hiring musicians, writing more than 20 new arrangements each week for the 11-piece band to play for the dance team, and coordinating on-field band performance with radio and television.

Fred has worked as music director/band master and featured artist, and written and scored stage shows for numerous cruise lines including American West Steamboat Company, Costa Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, P&O Australia, Princess Cruises, and Sundance Cruises.