12/28/2023 0 Comments Sophie howard james newton howard![]() ![]() However, dwindling sales forced him to continue to work as a session keyboardist, backing up the likes of 1970s songbirds Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, as well as ex-Beatle, Ringo Starr. Howard released his own self-titled album in 1974, a collection of instrumental jazz, rock and classical music much of it performed on a Yamaha synthesizer. He was hired on as a keyboard player for a band called Mama Lion in 1972 and began learning about emerging synthesizer technology of the time period, spending time with innovator Robert Moog, who had at one point planned to custom-build a modular system just for him. Howard toyed with the idea of becoming a piano recitalist, but sensed he was not good enough to fill concert halls instead redirecting his energies toward his love of pop music. Rounding out his insatiable music appetite was a steady diet of movie scores from Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein and Johnny Mandel.Īfter high school, Howard studied piano at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA and continued on at USC's music program, where his studies included piano performance, accompaniment and orchestration. But Howard's musical interests were far from limited to the classical like any other teenager in the 1960s, he fell in love with the music of The Beatles, devouring album after album, and moving on to other rock legends such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Led Zeppelin. He later reflected that it was his favorite period of musical life. His grandmother was a classical violinist, so young Howard grew up with music all around him, taking his first formal lessons at age four and attending symphonies and classical concerts through his childhood. But with his stated growing interested in more ambitious themes and unusual arrangements - coupled with his Oscar-nominated score for the George Clooney legal thriller "Michael Clayton" (2007) - many in the industry believed his best work was still yet to come. With sweeping scores drawing upon his early exposure to Beethoven and Bach, and melodies informed by his brief but potent career in pop rock, Howard's scores literally resonated with millions of moviegoers, even if household name recognition continued to elude him. ![]() Night Shyamalan and sometime director, Kevin Costner. Inspiring the loyalty of many prominent filmmakers, Howard enjoyed ongoing working relationships with Lawrence Kasdan, M. Howard - who first sat down at a piano at age two - went on to earn a degree in music and orchestration from the University of Southern California's School of Music, and could have, theoretically, dove right into movie scoring - except for a midstream diversion as a remarkable pop musician in the 1970s, playing keyboards for Elton John, Cher and Toto, among others. An incredibly prolific and versatile composer, James Newton Howard scored a dizzying array of popular and critically acclaimed films, beginning with "Pretty Woman" (1990), "The Prince of Tides" (1991), "The Fugitive" (1993) and "Wyatt Earp" (1994), through "The Sixth Sense" (1999) "Batman Begins" (2005), "King Kong" (2005) and "I am Legend" (2007).
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