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Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer, arranger, conductor, songwriter, and musician. He began his work as a pop and rock music arranger, notably for Pink Floyd, and was a member of the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble and the Roger Waters Band. Starting in the mid-1980s, he achieved further prominence as a composer of film scores.
Kamen's best known scores include the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon franchises, the Terry Gilliam films Brazil (1985) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Highlander (1986), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Don Juan DeMarco (1994), What Dreams May Come (1998), The Iron Giant (1999), X-Men (2000), and the television series Edge of Darkness, Tales from the Crypt, and Band of Brothers.
During his career, Kamen won four Grammy Awards, out of nine total nominations, and a BAFTA TV Award, and was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Song, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Michael Arnold Kamen was born in New York City, the second of four sons. His father, Saul Kamen, was a dentist and his mother, Helen, was a teacher. He was of Jewish heritage.
While attending the High School of Music & Art near Harlem in Manhattan, New York. Kamen became friends with Martin Fulterman (later known as Mark Snow), who later composed the theme music for The X-Files, among other projects. While studying oboe, Kamen formed a rock-classical fusion band called New York Rock & Roll Ensemble, together with classmates Fulterman and Dorian Rudnytsky, along with Clifton Nivison and Brian Corrigan of Toms River, New Jersey. The group released five albums from 1968 to 1972 (Self-Titled, Reflections, Faithful Friends, Roll Over & Freedomburger). They performed in white tie (not tuxedos), as typically worn by classical musicians. In the middle of their concerts, Fulterman and Kamen played an oboe duet. The group backed friend and classmate Janis Ian in a concert at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center in late 1967.[citation needed]
After graduating from high school, Kamen attended The Juilliard School in Manhattan. His early work concentrated on ballets before extending to Hollywood with the score for The Next Man in 1976, and then to pop and rock arranging, collaborating with Pink Floyd on their album The Wall.
Kamen became a highly sought-after arranger in the realms of pop and rock music. His contemporaries in this field included Academy Award winner Anne Dudley, Richard Niles, and Nick Ingman.
His successes include his work with Pink Floyd, David Gilmour and Roger Waters (he is one of the few people invited to work with both former Pink Floyd members, even after their acrimonious split), as well as Queen (orchestration on "Who Wants to Live Forever"), Roger Daltrey, Aerosmith (live orchestral version of "Dream On" for MTV), Kiss, Tom Petty, Bon Jovi, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Eurythmics, Queensrÿche, Rush, Metallica (on the song "Nothing Else Matters" and their live album S&M), Def Leppard, Herbie Hancock, Tim Curry, the Cranberries, Bryan Adams, Jim Croce, Coldplay, Sting, Guns N' Roses (on their performance of "November Rain" on the MTV Video Music Awards) and Kate Bush. For Bush, Kamen delivered an orchestral backing for "Moments of Pleasure" from The Red Shoes album, substantially building upon a simple piano theme Bush had composed. In this instance and many others, he conducted the orchestra personally for the recording. In 1984, two years after moving to London, Kamen had similarly heightened the effect of a pop recording for the Eurythmics "Here Comes the Rain Again", the score relied as much on his compositional skills as his arranging talents.
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer, arranger, conductor, songwriter, and musician. He began his work as a pop and rock music arranger, notably for Pink Floyd, and was a member of the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble and the Roger Waters Band. Starting in the mid-1980s, he achieved further prominence as a composer of film scores.
Kamen's best known scores include the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon franchises, the Terry Gilliam films Brazil (1985) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Highlander (1986), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Don Juan DeMarco (1994), What Dreams May Come (1998), The Iron Giant (1999), X-Men (2000), and the television series Edge of Darkness, Tales from the Crypt, and Band of Brothers.
During his career, Kamen won four Grammy Awards, out of nine total nominations, and a BAFTA TV Award, and was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Song, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Michael Arnold Kamen was born in New York City, the second of four sons. His father, Saul Kamen, was a dentist and his mother, Helen, was a teacher. He was of Jewish heritage.
While attending the High School of Music & Art near Harlem in Manhattan, New York. Kamen became friends with Martin Fulterman (later known as Mark Snow), who later composed the theme music for The X-Files, among other projects. While studying oboe, Kamen formed a rock-classical fusion band called New York Rock & Roll Ensemble, together with classmates Fulterman and Dorian Rudnytsky, along with Clifton Nivison and Brian Corrigan of Toms River, New Jersey. The group released five albums from 1968 to 1972 (Self-Titled, Reflections, Faithful Friends, Roll Over & Freedomburger). They performed in white tie (not tuxedos), as typically worn by classical musicians. In the middle of their concerts, Fulterman and Kamen played an oboe duet. The group backed friend and classmate Janis Ian in a concert at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center in late 1967.[citation needed]
After graduating from high school, Kamen attended The Juilliard School in Manhattan. His early work concentrated on ballets before extending to Hollywood with the score for The Next Man in 1976, and then to pop and rock arranging, collaborating with Pink Floyd on their album The Wall.
Kamen became a highly sought-after arranger in the realms of pop and rock music. His contemporaries in this field included Academy Award winner Anne Dudley, Richard Niles, and Nick Ingman.
His successes include his work with Pink Floyd, David Gilmour and Roger Waters (he is one of the few people invited to work with both former Pink Floyd members, even after their acrimonious split), as well as Queen (orchestration on "Who Wants to Live Forever"), Roger Daltrey, Aerosmith (live orchestral version of "Dream On" for MTV), Kiss, Tom Petty, Bon Jovi, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Eurythmics, Queensrÿche, Rush, Metallica (on the song "Nothing Else Matters" and their live album S&M), Def Leppard, Herbie Hancock, Tim Curry, the Cranberries, Bryan Adams, Jim Croce, Coldplay, Sting, Guns N' Roses (on their performance of "November Rain" on the MTV Video Music Awards) and Kate Bush. For Bush, Kamen delivered an orchestral backing for "Moments of Pleasure" from The Red Shoes album, substantially building upon a simple piano theme Bush had composed. In this instance and many others, he conducted the orchestra personally for the recording. In 1984, two years after moving to London, Kamen had similarly heightened the effect of a pop recording for the Eurythmics "Here Comes the Rain Again", the score relied as much on his compositional skills as his arranging talents.