Grant Kirkhope | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 10 July 1962 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Origin | Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England |
| Genres | Video game music |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
| Instruments | Keyboards, guitar, trumpet |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Website | www |
Grant Kirkhope (born 10 July 1962) is a British video game composer. Kirkhope has been nominated for various BAFTA, ASCAP, and IFMCA awards for his contributions to video game music.
Early life and education[]
Kirkhope was brought up in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire from the age of 5, and attended King James's School. Kirkhope played in various bands after leaving the Royal Northern College of Music, including Zoot and the Roots along with the saxophonist Snake Davis. Kirkhope also spent many years as part of "the Big Bad Horns" which were part of UK rock band Little Angels. At the age of 33, he was employed by Rare. Before joining Rare, in October 1995, he played for two bands called Syar and Maineeaxe where he played the guitar and already knew Robin Beanland, another Rare composer. Kirkhope's music featuring an electric guitar is played on an Ernie Ball/Musicman EVH given to him by Eddie Van Halen. Kirkhope's skills on guitar can be heard on Killer Instinct Gold, Perfect Dark, Star Fox Adventures and Grabbed by the Ghoulies.
Career[]
Kirkhope is a BAFTA, ASCAP and IFMCA nominated British composer who has created the soundtrack for video games that have sold in excess of 30 million copies.[citation needed] Kirkhope’s score for Viva Piñata was nominated by BAFTA in the Original Score category in its 2007 awards.[1]
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was nominated for Best Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media by the International Film Music Critics Association [2] and in the Cue Awards 2012 for Best Overall Score, Best Video Game Score and Grant was also nominated for Best Break Out Composer.[3]
He was nominated in the 2015 ASCAP Composer’s Choice Awards for his work on “Civilization: Beyond Earth” and also won the Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media 2015 from the International Film Music Critics Association for the same score.[citation needed] Civilization: Beyond Earth also won Best Score: Video Game at the Cue Awards 2015.[4] He was nominated in the 2016 ASCAP Composer’s Choice Awards for his work on Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide and was also nominated for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media 2016 from the International Film Music Critics Association for the same score. [2] Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide was also nominated for Best Score: Video Game at the Cue Awards 2016. [4]
Works[]
Composer[]
| Company | Title | Year | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| with Rare | Killer Instinct 2/Gold | 1996 | Arcade, Nintendo 64 | Performed live guitar and trumpet |
| Donkey Kong Land 2 | Game Boy | Conversion of David Wise's Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest soundtrack | ||
| Project Dream | Cancelled | Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64 | Revamped into Banjo-Kazooie | |
| GoldenEye 007 | 1997 | Nintendo 64 | With Graeme Norgate and Robin Beanland | |
| Banjo-Kazooie | 1998 | |||
| Donkey Kong 64[5] | 1999 | |||
| Perfect Dark | 2000 | With Norgate and David Clynick[6] | ||
| Banjo-Tooie | [7] | |||
| Star Fox Adventures | 2002 | Nintendo GameCube | Performed live guitar | |
| Grabbed by the Ghoulies | 2003 | Xbox | ||
| Viva Piñata | 2006 | Xbox 360, Windows | With Steve Burke. | |
| Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise | 2008 | Xbox 360 | ||
| Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts | With Beanland and Clynick | |||
| Freelancer | Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning | 2012 | Xbox 360, Windows, PlayStation 3 | With Mark Cromer |
| Fart Cat! | iOS | |||
| CityVille 2 | Browser | |||
| Desktop Dungeons | 2013 | Windows, OS X | With Danny Baranowsky | |
| Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse | Xbox 360, Windows, PlayStation 3 | Remastering of the original game's soundtrack by Shigenori Kamiya, along with original compositions | ||
| Puzzle Charms | 2014 | Browser | ||
| Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | |||
| Civilization: Beyond Earth | Windows | With Geoff Knorr, Michael Curran and Griffin Cohen | ||
| The Enchanted Cave 2 | iOS, Android, Windows | |||
| Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide | 2015 | Windows | With Geoff Knorr and Griffin Cohen | |
| Ghostbusters | 2016 | Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation 4 | ||
| Dropzone | 2017 | Windows | ||
| Macbat 64 | Windows | Did voice acting[8] | ||
| Yooka-Laylee | Xbox One, Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch | With David Wise and Steve Burke | ||
| Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle | Nintendo Switch | |||
| A Hat in Time | Xbox One, Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4 | Guest composer[9] | ||
| Tangledeep | Windows, OS X, Linux | Guest composer | ||
| Hex Heroes[10] | TBA | Wii U, Windows, OS X, Linux | ||
| Lobodestroyo | TBA | TBA | With Cooper Goodwin |
Voice acting[]
| Title | Year | Platform(s) | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banjo-Kazooie | 1998 | Nintendo 64 | Mumbo Jumbo, Bottles, and the Jinjos |
| Donkey Kong 64 | 1999 | Nintendo 64 | Donkey Kong[11][12] |
| Banjo-Tooie | 2000 | Nintendo 64 | Mumbo-Jumbo, Bottles, Jamjars, and the Jinjos |
| Grabbed by the Ghoulies | 2003 | Xbox | Cursed Mummy and Zombie Pirate enemies |
| Viva Piñata | 2006 | Xbox 360 | Barkbark, Cocoadile, Elephanilla, and the Rashberry piñatas |
Kirkhope was also involved in choosing which voices by the team at 4Kids would be used in the Viva Piñata cartoon.[13]
References[]
- ↑ "2007 Games Original Score | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Knorr, Cohen, Curran, Kirkhope receive IFMCA Award for Civilization: Beyond Earth | IFMCA: International Film Music Critics Association". filmmusiccritics.org. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "2012 Cue Award Nominees" (in en). THE CUE AWARDS. http://cueawards.com/post/42880947347/2012-cue-award-nominees.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "THE CUE AWARDS". THE CUE AWARDS. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "Donkey Kong 64 Video Game Music Compositions". Grant Kirkhope. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
{{cite web}}: ; deadurl - ↑ "Perfect Dark Dual CD Soundtrack".
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "Grant Kirkhope. Video Game Composer, Banjo Kazooie Video Games Music Compositions". Grantkirkhope.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
{{cite web}}: ; deadurl - ↑ Whitaker, Jed (2017-03-22). "Review: Macbat 64". Destructoid. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ Acosta, J.. "A Timeless Conclusion With the Man Behind A Hat in Time's Amazing Score" (in en-US). Talk Amongst Yourselves. http://tay.kinja.com/a-timeless-conclusion-with-the-man-behind-a-hat-in-time-1681316688.
- ↑ Schulenberg, Thomas (30 March 2014). "Hex Heroes is a five-player real-time strategy game for Wii U". Joystiq. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "Grant Kirkhope. Video Game Composer, Banjo Kazooie Video Games Music Compositions". Grantkirkhope.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
{{cite web}}: ; deadurl - ↑ "Grant Kirkhope. Video Game Composer. Donkey Kong 64 video game music compositions". Grantkirkhope.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
{{cite web}}: ; deadurl - ↑ "Interview with Grant Kirkhope". rare-extreme.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: ; deadurl
External links[]
- Official website
- Grant Kirkhope discography at MusicBrainz
- Grant Kirkhope at the Internet Movie Database