The Best Music in Film

All musicians

John Luther Adams
(Composer from Alaska. Former percussionist with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and the Arctic Chamber Orchestra)
Barry Adamson
(Performed in the groups Magazine, Visage, and The Bad Seeds and contributed music to Lost Highway and The Beach)
David Arnold
(Composed the music for Independence Day, Zoolander)
Badly Drawn Boy
(Mercury Music prize winner Damon Gough composed the music for About A Boy)
Charles Bernstein
(Composed the music for A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Claude Bolling
(Composed the music for California Suite)
DJ Brahms
(House and techno DJ performing Big Beat)
Neil Brand
(Composer and silent film accompanist. Rescored South, Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic and Alfred Hitchcock's The Ring. Recently composed a new jazz score for E. A. Dupont's Piccadilly)
Joanna Bruzdowicz
(Frequent composer for Agnès Varda's films, including Vagabonde)
Gavin Bryars
(Minimalist British composer who composed scores for independent film-maker Stephen Dwoskin)

William Camilleri
Eliza Carthy
(Folk singer and fiddle player)
Cinematic Orchestra
(Rescored Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera)
Coldcut
(Coldcut are Jonathan More and Matt Black, DJs and remixers who are often credited with inventing 'Big Beat')
Carl Craig
(Detroit techno pioneer)
Luis de Pablo
(Composed the music for Víctor Erice's The Spirit of the Beehive)
Mamadou Diabaté
(Composed the music for Moussa Sène Absa's Madame Brouette)
Robert Farnon
(Composed the music for Raoul Walsh's Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.)
Simon Fisher Turner
(Composed the music for many Derek Jarman films, including Caravaggio, The Last of England and The Garden, and recently Mike Hodges' Croupier and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead)
Lisa Gerrard
(Composed music for The Insider, Gladiator, Ali and Whale Rider)
Christopher Gordon
(Composed the music for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World)
The Handsome Family
(Husband and wife alt-country stars Brett and Rennie Sparks. Provided additional music for Bullet on a Wire)
David Hirschfelder
Original music for Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth (1998) and Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom (1992)
David Holmes
(Composed the music for Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight)
Trevor Horn
(Former member of the groups The Bugles and Yes. Composed the music for Toys and Coyote Ugly, and was executive music producer on Mona Lisa Smile)
Klive Humberstone
(Part of Sheffield based band 'In The Nursery'. Started the 'Optical Music Series' to compose scores to silent movies)
Nigel Humberstone
(Part of Sheffield based band 'In The Nursery'. Started the 'Optical Music Series' to compose scores to silent movies)
Dick Hyman
(Regular music arranger for Woody Allen's films, including Sweet and Lowdown, Bullets over Broadway and Everyone Says I Love You)
Mark Isham
(Composed the music for The Hitcher, Point Break, Short Cuts and Quiz Show)
Fred Karlin
(Composed the music for Michael Crichton's Westworld )
Jan Kaspersen
(Danish composer who wrote the music for Den Blå Munk)
Kid Koala
(Chinese-Canadian DJ. Contributed to Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead)
Kris Kristofferson
(Country singer/songwriter. Composed music for The Last Movie and acted in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Heaven's Gate)
Borut Krzisnik
(Composer for theatrical productions who recently worked with Peter Greenaway on The Tulse Luper Suitcases)
David Mansfield
(Composed the music for Heaven's Gate and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood)
Branford Marsalis
(A regular saxophonist on Spike Lee's films, including Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing)
Marcus Miller
(Composed the music for Siesta (1987) with Miles Davis, Above the Rim and House Party)
Jeff Mills
(One of the biggest names in American techno. In 2000 composed an alternative soundtrack to Fritz Lang's re-edited Metropolis)
Angela Morley
(Composed the music for The Heart of a Man and Watership Down (1978). Frequently composed for television, including Hancock's Half-Hour)
Daniel Mudford
(With Pete Woodhead, composed the music for Shaun of the Dead)
Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian)
(Lead vocalist with Belle and Sebastian who contributed to the soundtrack for Todd Solondz's Storytelling)
Monty Norman
(Wrote the James Bond theme and composed the music for Dr. No (1962) and Terence Fisher's The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1959))
Will Oldham (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy)
(Singer songwriter, aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. Starred in Matewan)
John Ottman
(Composed the music for Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects and X2)
The Pastels
(Scottish indie band who composed the music for David MacKenzie's The Last Great Wilderness (2002))
Jocelyn Pook
(Worked on soundtracks for several Derek Jarman films and composed the music for Eyes Wide Shut and L'emploi du temps)
Zbigniew Preisner
(Composed the music for numerous Krzysztof Kieslowski films, from No End to Three Colours Red, Louis Malle's Damage and Charles Sturridge's Fairytale A True Story)
André Previn
(Composed the music for Bad Day at Black Rock, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Long Day's Journey into Night)
Alan Price
(British rock musician of the 60s and keyboard player with The Animals. Composed music for Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man! and Britannia Hospital)
A. R. Rahman
(Popular Bollywood composer. Composed the music for Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan)
Josh Ritter
(American folk singer who's work has featured in Six Feet Under)
Ryuichi Sakamoto
(Composed music for Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and Gohatto, and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor and The Sheltering Sky)
Lalo Schifrin
(Composed the music for Norman Jewison's The Cincinnati Kid, Peter Yates' Bullitt and many others)
Geoff Smith
(Recently conducted a live soundtrack on the hammered dulcimer to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
Tomasz Stanko
(Jazz musician and composer. Wrote the music for Michal Rosa's Cisza)
John Surman
(Jazz musician. Composed the music for Chimère and Respiro)
June Tabor
(British folk singer)
Neil Tennant
(Singer of the Pet Shop Boys, who contributed songs to Scandal and The Crying Game)
Linda Thomson
(British folk singer)
Dickon Hinchliffe Tindersticks
(Violinist and arranger with the band Tindersticks. Composed the music for Claire Denis' films Nenette et Boni and Vendredi soir)
David Boulter Tindersticks
(Member of Tindersticks)
Amon Tobin
(Producer and DJ on Ninjatune Records)
Colin Towns
(Composer and music arranger on films and television, most notably Our Friends in the North)
Jonny Trunk
(Musician who also runs Trunk Records. Has reissued several soundtracks including The Wicker Man and Dawn of the Dead)
Joseph Vitarelli
(Composed the music for The Last Seduction and She's So Lovely)
Debbie Wiseman
(Composed the music for Brian Gilbert's Tom and Viv and Wilde)
Pete Woodhead
(With Daniel Mudford, composed the music for Shaun of the Dead)
Otomo Yoshihide
(Avant-garde musician and composer for Japanese films)
Last Updated: 05 Sep 2006