James Newton Howard is an American film composer, orchestrator and music producer. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards.
Howard was born in 1951 in Los Angeles.[1] He is from a musical family; his grandmother was a violinist. His father was Jewish but he did not want his children to know he was, so he changed his last name from Horowitz to Howard.[2]
After Howard left college, he joined a short-lived rock band called Mama Lion. The band was led by Neil Merryweather (bass, backing vocals) and featured lead singer Lynn Carey, Coffi Hall on drums, and Rick Gaxiola on guitar. Mama Lion recorded two full-length albums. Members of Mama Lion also formed the band Heavy Cruiser with Merryweather now on lead vocals, recording two albums whose genre was closer to hard rock but also displayed psychedelic and progressive influences. He then worked for a couple of years as a session musician with artists including Diana Ross, Ringo Starr, and Harry Nilsson.[6] In the early 70s, he described himself as being "dirt poor", until his big break in 1975 when his manager got him an audition with Elton John.[7] He joined John's band and toured with them as keyboardist during the late 70s and early 80s. He was part of the band that played Central Park, New York, on September 13, 1980.[8] Howard also arranged strings for several of John's songs during this period including the hits "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", along with "Tonight" (featuring the London Symphony Orchestra). He played additional keyboards and synthesizers on studio albums including Rock of the Westies (1975), Blue Moves (1976), 21 at 33 (1980), and The Fox (1981).
In 1982, Howard was featured on Toto IV as the strings conductor and orchestrator for "I Won't Hold You Back", "Afraid of Love", and "Lovers in the Night". In 1984 the Sheffield Lab direct-to-disc album James Newton Howard and Friends, was released, which featured Toto's David Paich (keyboards), Steve Porcaro (keyboards), Jeff Porcaro (drums), and Joe Porcaro (percussion).[9]
In 1983, Howard was co-producer, musician (keyboards), and orchestrator of Riccardo Cocciante's album Sincerità.[10] He also created five arrangements for the album "Aznavour '83" by Charles Aznavour, which was recorded in California.[11]
In 1984, Howard composed his first piece of score for a film, receiving a co-writing credit with David Paich for the cue "Trip to Arrakis" in Toto's music for the David Lynch film Dune.[12]
After briefly touring with Crosby, Stills, and Nash, he took an opportunity brought to him by his manager to write a score for a film. This career move would lead to his becoming a successful film music composer.[citation needed] During this early foray into film music, Howard returned for a brief collaboration with Elton John on his Tour De Force of Australia in the fall of 1986. He conducted both his own and Paul Buckmaster's arrangements during the second half of the set, which focused on orchestrated performances of selected songs from the Elton John catalog.[13]
Howard debuted his work for symphony orchestra, I Would Plant A Tree, in February 2009 as part of the Pacific Symphony's annual American Composers Festival. The debut took place at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, California, with the Symphony under the direction of Carl St.Clair.[17]
After being replaced in later seasons, his original theme song for the hit TV show ER returned for the final episode of the series.[18]
2010s
In September 2010, he was appointed visiting professor of media composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London.[19]
From 2012 to 2015, James Newton Howard scored the music for the critically acclaimed Hunger Games franchise.
From 2014 to 2015, Howard saw major success with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 when he composed the score for the movie, which included "The Hanging Tree", featuring vocals from actress Jennifer Lawrence. The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest-charting single from The Hunger Games movies and both Howard's and Lawrence's first chart single.[20]
In 2015, James Newton Howard was named the new artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute (HMI) at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.[21]
On March 23–24, 2019, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra gave the world premiere of Howard's Concerto for Cello & Orchestra with LACO principal cello Andrew Shulman as the soloist. The Los Angeles Times described the work as having "an elegiac tone, along with thematic material from the beginning and closing titles of Red Sparrow" the score of which Howard was working on while first composing the concerto.[22]
Personal life
When delving into his family history, 25 years after the death of his father, Howard learned that his father was Jewish (the family's original surname was Horowitz). Although raised Protestant, Howard later became a practicing Reconstructionist Jew after learning that his father was Jewish.[23][24][25]
Howard was married to Rosanna Arquette in 1986; they are divorced. From 1990 to 1991, he was in a relationship with Barbra Streisand.[26] He is married to Sophie Howard, with whom he has a son.[27][28]
Piano for all tracks except "Standing Room Only" and "First Thing in the Morning, Last Thing at Night" Writer for "Sweet Creation" Arrangement for "Sweet Creation", "Night Hours", and "In Return" ARP synthesizer for "Sweet Creation" and "Standing Room Only" Mellotron for "Into Eternity" Organ for "Standing Room Only", "Keep Right On", and "In Return" Electric piano and strings for "Night Hours"
Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande with 13 minutes of score End title song composed with Alan and Marilyn Bergman One of the few James Newton Howard film scores to be conducted by the composer
Replaced John Barry Soundtrack released by Columbia Records with 44 minutes of score Includes song co-written by Howard and performed by Barbra Streisand not used in the film
Soundtrack released by Big Screen Records – cover erroneously credits Howard as the conductor (score actually conducted by Marty Paich); expanded edition later released by La-La Land
Replaced Mark Isham (who did only demos; his music box melody remains in the movie) Soundtrack released by MCA; complete score later released by La-La Land Records
"Flying" later used in commercials for Disneyland Paris 15th Anniversary's Anthem Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande 2-CD expansion released by Intrada Records
Score for part 6: "Mare Tranquilitatis" Soundtrack released by Epic Soundtrax with period pop songs and Michael Kamen's opening and closing theme music; no episode scores
^"UNE VIE CACHÉE". Orange Studio (in French). Orange Studio. Archived from the original on June 23, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019. bande originale : James Newton Howard
