Famous Like Me > Composer > E > Danny Elfman
Profile of Danny Elfman
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| Name: |
Danny Elfman |
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| Date of Birth: |
29th May 1953 |
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| Place of Birth: |
Amarillo, Texas, USA |
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| Profession: |
Composer |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953, in Amarillo, Texas) is a Jewish-American pop musician, composer and writer of film scores. His compositions are notable for their very offbeat and intense style, already distinct by the time of Forbidden Zone.
The fiercely creative Elfman got his start in the 1970's playing in two theater troupes started by his older brother Richard - Le Grande Magic Circus, and then The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. After eight years in the Mystic Knights as a singer, composer, guitarist, and trombonist, Danny Elfman pared the troupe down to a rock band, just as Richard Elfman was making Forbidden Zone, which captured the group in the middle of its tranformation to Oingo Boingo. Elfman's vocal range and manic stage presence led Oingo Boingo to a long series of recordings and a strong cult following.
Building on his experience scoring music for theater and independent film, Elfman's career took another big step when he composed the soundtrack for Pee-wee's Big Adventure, his first big budget project. This also began his long association with the film director Tim Burton, as Danny Elfman has scored many of his films, including Beetlejuice, Batman, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks!, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride. As a film composer, Elfman is recognizably influenced by Nino Rota, Bernard Herrmann, and Carl Stalling.
Burton and Elfman also collaborated on the modern film musical The Nightmare Before Christmas, for which Elfman contributed the singing voice of the main character, as well as writing the lyrics and composing the songs and score. Elfman's music for Burton films contains themes and elements such as a pipe organ and choirs, thus helping to create a fantasy-like gothic atmosphere in the films.
He has also scored many other films including Back to School, Chicago, Dick Tracy, Freeway, Good Will Hunting, Hulk, Midnight Run, both movies in the Men in Black series, Mission: Impossible, The Family Man, and Sam Raimi's Darkman, Army of Darkness, A Simple Plan, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2.
Elfman has also composed theme music for several television series, including The Simpsons, Sledge Hammer!, Tales from the Crypt, Dilbert, and the opening theme for Desperate Housewives, as well as the Xbox console game Fable. The song "This is Halloween" from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas also appeared in Kingdom Hearts.
On November 29, 2003, Elfman married Bridget Fonda.
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