Harry Gregson-Williams | |
|---|---|
| File:Gregson Williams.png | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 13 December 1961 |
| Origin | Chichester, England, UK |
| Genres | Film scores, video game music |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, conductor, music producer |
| Instruments | Piano, guitar, percussion |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels | Wavecrest Music |
| Website | www |
Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer,[1] orchestrator, conductor, and music producer. He is best known for his film scores, of which he has composed using over sixty electronic music and orchestral pieces. He is also known for his collaborations with director Tony Scott, having scored all his films since the 1998 film Enemy of the State (for which Trevor Rabin received lead score credit), and for composing video game scores for the Metal Gear Solid series. Gregson-Williams is one of the most recognized film score composers and a highly-respected film score composer for his musical style, combining electronic music with orchestral and classic music elements.
Early life
Gregson-Williams was educated at The Prebendal School, before attending Stowe School. Early in his career, he held a position in the 1980s as a music teacher at the Amesbury School in Hindhead, Surrey, (his brother Rupert Gregson-Williams, also a film composer, also taught at Amesbury School during this period). Also, in the 1980s Harry was an estate agent for Palmer Snell in Wells, Somerset. He later taught music at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he had been a pupil, and also for a short period in Egypt and other African states.
Career
In addition to scoring a number of motion pictures including Kingdom of Heaven, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, The Rock, Shrek, Chicken Run, Antz, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Domino, and Team America: World Police, Gregson-Williams has also worked on the video games Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. His arrangement of the original Metal Gear Solid Main Theme was one of many works he created for the Metal Gear Solid productions that involved both orchestral and electronic textures.
In his score to the Ridley Scott film Kingdom of Heaven, he introduced a mix of Medieval and Renaissance polyphony with Middle Eastern themes. One track, Ibelin, was reprised as the closing credits theme with singer Natacha Atlas performing Arabic lyrics.
Gregson-Williams scored The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as the second instalment in the series, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. (David Arnold is under contract for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.) Gregson-Williams also composed the soundtrack for the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Gregson-Williams has also worked with the electronic music group Hybrid. In 2004, he produced a track called The Drop (Man On Fire Edit) for Hybrid Present Y4K. He and Kirsty Hawkshaw worked with Hybrid on their 2006 album, I Choose Noise.
Gregson-Williams is a prominent member of Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions (formerly known as Media Ventures) along with John Powell, Lisa Gerrard, Trevor Rabin, Geoff Zanelli, Klaus Badelt, and Mark Mancina. During his first years in Media Ventures, he was mentored by Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie-Smith with whom he is close. He is also good friends with fellow film composers and musicians Martin Tillman, Heitor Pereira, Klaus Badelt, John Powell (with whom he collaborated to compose the scores to Antz, Chicken Run, and Shrek), along with his musical assistants David Buckley, Stephen Barton, Welsh band Hybrid and producers and film directors Andrew Adamson and Tony Scott. He was a favourite of Hans Zimmer and considered as the most talented and prominent apprentice during his time in Media Ventures. Thanks to Zimmer's teachings and his own great creative ideas, Gregson-Williams began a close collaboration with Zimmer by making additional music and giving ideas for his music along of conducting many of his scores. Zimmer was so satisfied with the results that he decided to put Gregson-Williams in charge as conductor of both the orchestra and choir for many projects and became his protégé. Thanks to the experiences he shared with Zimmer, Gregson-Williams began mentoring several musicians such as Steve Jablonsky, Toby Chu, Stephen Barton, David Buckley and Marc Streitenfeld among others. He is also the first Media Ventures composer working in the video games industry and he stated that it was very different compared to his work but interesting and fun at same time. Now as an independent contractor he has his own studio called Wavecrest Music.
His most recent project was in the 2010 film The Town, directed by Ben Affleck which received widespread acclaim and extraordinary reviews for both story and original score. Gregson-Williams composed the score of the film Cowboys & Aliens directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Ana de la Reguera and Harrison Ford. It was also announced that Gregson-Williams will be in charge of composing the score for the upcoming film The Night Stalker, a film version of author Philip Carlo's book about the 1980s serial killer Richard Ramirez. James Franco will star and direct the film. The film's date for release is 2012.
Filmography
Television
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Champion Children | |
| 1999 | The Hunger | Episode: "Sanctuary" |
| 2002 | AFP: American Fighter Pilot | |
| 2007-2008 | The Riches | |
| 2007 | Shrek the Halls | TV special |
Film
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | White Angel | |
| Broken Heart | short film | |
| 1995 | Hotel Paradise | short film |
| Three Miles Up | TV movie | |
| Full Body Massage | TV movie | |
| 1996 | The Whole Wide World | |
| Witness Against Hitler | TV movie | |
| 1997 | Smilla's Sense of Snow | with Hans Zimmer |
| Deceiver | ||
| The Borrowers | ||
| 1998 | The Replacement Killers | |
| Antz | with John Powell | |
| Enemy of the State | with Trevor Rabin | |
| 1999 | Swing Vote | TV movie |
| The Match | ||
| Light It Up | ||
| Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? | ||
| 2000 | The Tigger Movie | |
| The Magic of Marciano | ||
| Chicken Run | with John Powell | |
| King of the Jungle | ||
| 2001 | Shrek | with John Powell |
| Powder Keg | ||
| Spy Game | ||
| 2002 | Passionada | |
| Phone Booth | ||
| The Hire: Beat the Devil | ||
| 2003 | Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas | |
| Veronica Guerin | ||
| The Rundown | ||
| 2004 | Man on Fire | |
| Shrek 2 | ||
| Return to Sender | ||
| Team America: World Police | ||
| Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | ||
| 2005 | Kingdom of Heaven | |
| Domino | ||
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | Golden Globe nominee | |
| 2006 | The Uninvited | short film |
| Seraphim Falls | ||
| Flushed Away | ||
| Déjà Vu | ||
| 2007 | The Number 23 | |
| Shrek the Third | ||
| Gone Baby Gone | ||
| 2008 | Em | |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | ||
| The Forbidden Kingdom | Score producer Main score by David Buckley | |
| Jolene | ||
| 2009 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | |
| The Taking of Pelham 123 | ||
| 2010 | Twelve | |
| Shrek Forever After | ||
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | ||
| The Town | With David Buckley | |
| Unstoppable | ||
| 2011 | I Am Bad | |
| Life in a Day | ||
| Cowboys & Aliens | ||
| Arthur Christmas | ||
| 2012 | Mister Pip | |
| Total Recall | ||
| Prometheus | Two tracks ("Life" and "We Were Right") Main score by Marc Streitenfeld | |
| 2013 | The East |
Video games
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | with Norihiko Hibino |
| 2004 | Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater | with Norihiko Hibino |
| 2006 | Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops | Main themes and samples only (uncredited) |
| 2007 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | Main Themes only and producer. Score by Stephen Barton |
| 2007 | Plasma Pong | |
| 2008 | Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots | with Nobuko Toda |
| 2010 | Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | Main themes and samples only (uncredited) |
Rides
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Shrek 4-D | At various theme parks around the world Based on Shrek film franchise |
Awards and nominations
Awards
- 1999 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Antz (with John Powell)
- 1999 BMI Film & TV Awards - Antz (with John Powell)
- 1999 BMI Film & TV Awards - Enemy of the State
- 2001 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Chicken Run (with John Powell)
- 2001 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music Score an Animated Feature Production - Shrek (with John Powell)
- 2001 BMI Film & TV Awards - Chicken Run (with John Powell)
- 2002 BMI Film & TV Awards - Shrek (with John Powell)
- 2005 BMI Film & TV Awards - Shrek 2
- 2005 BMI Film & TV Awards - Man on Fire
- 2005 Hollywood Film Award for Composer of the Year
- 2006 BMI Film & TV Awards - BMI Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement
- 2005 Satellite Award for Outstanding Original Score - Kingdom of Heaven
- 2009 BMI Film & TV Awards - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
- 2009 BMI Film & TV Awards - Eleventh Hour (with Graeme Revell and David E. Russo)
- 2009 Brooklyn International Film Festival Certificate of Excellence - Em (with Jim Jermanok, Jesse Biltz and Britt Napier)
Nominations
- 1997 Saturn Award for Best Music - The Rock (with Nick Glennie-Smith and Hans Zimmer)
- 1999 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production - Antz (with John Powell)
- 2001 Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Score - Chicken Run (with John Powell)
- 2002 Saturn Award for Best Music - Shrek (with John Powell)
- 2002 Golden Satellite Award for Best Original Score - Spy Game
- 2002 BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music - Shrek (with John Powell)
- 2004 Annie Award for Outstanding Music in an Animated Feature Production - Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
- 2004 World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year - Shrek 2
- 2004 World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year - Shrek 2
- 2005 Annie Award for Music in an Animated Feature Production - Shrek 2
- 2006 Golden Globe for Best Original Score - Motion Picture - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- 2006 World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written for Film - "Can't Take It In" from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (with Imogen Heap)
- 2007 Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- 2007 World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Score of the Year - Shrek the Third
- 2007 World Soundtrack Award for Film Composer of the Year - Déjà Vu, Shrek the Third, The Number 23 and Flushed Away
References
- ↑ "Harry Gregson-Williams". Screen International. 19 January 2012. http://www.screendaily.com/reports/one-on-one/harry-gregson-williams/5036513.article. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
External links
- Harry Gregson-Williams at the Internet Movie Database
- Artist profile at OverClocked ReMix
- Harry Gregson-Williams discography at MusicBrainz
- An interview with Harry Gregson-Williams
- Epicenter Games Interviews Harry Gregson-Williams, an interview with Harry Gregson-Williams regarding Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, from EpicenterGames
- Harry Gregson-Williams at scorereviews.com