CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Golden Globe-nominated composer Christopher Young has scored almost 100 successful features ranging across virtually every genre, all with strikingly original music. Never repeating himself, Young’s works extend from the spine-tingling “Hellraiser” showcasing his seminal upbringing in horror; to the new-techno sound of “Swordfish” and the resonant, genuine Celtic sounds of “The Shipping News.” With each successive Christopher Young crafted score, the composer continually stretches the bounds of his versatility. He is the major exponent of the innovative style “musique concrete” which works “sampled” sounds into scores and incorporates many unusual effects and altered chords into his music.

Born in Red Bank, New Jersey (birthplace of Count Basie), Young graduated from Massachusetts Hampshire College with a BA in music, and did post-graduate work at North Texas State University studying big band writing and classical composition before moving to Los Angeles in 1980. A jazz drummer at first, a cool looking cover led to the chance purchase of a record by composer Bernard Herrmann (“Vertigo,” “Citizen Kane”) eventually lead Young on a new career path. “That day when I bought that record and dropped that needle, I knew this guy was doing everything that I wanted to do,” says Young. “He became a role model very quickly.”

In love with music from the movies but unfamiliar with the world of film scoring, he enrolled at the UCLA Film School, studying with famed film composer David Raksin (“Laura”). There, he met a number of young filmmakers who would prove instrumental in his career. He first scored for one of these filmmakers, Stephen Carpenter, who wrote and directed the studio film, “The Dorm that Dripped Blood.” When the film became a New Image studio release, it provided Young with his first foray into Hollywood. Soon afterwards, Young’s abilities thrust him to the attention of major studios and directors, including Clive Barker. . He achieved early recognition in 1987 with his bone-chilling score to the Clive Barker horror tale “Hellraiser” and in 1988 added two more thundering horror scores to his resume: “Hellbound: Hellraiser II” and “The Fly II.” His talent was recognized with a Saturn Award (given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films) for his unsettling demonic orchestral-and-choral score for “Hellbound: Hellraiser II.”

Though Young had built a solid reputation scoring horror and science fiction pictures, Director Jon Amiel recognized that the composer’s talent transcended genre, hiring him to score Warner Bros.’ dramatic thriller “Copycat.” The film and score were successful, and Amiel requested the composer for his follow-up film, New Regency’s comedy, “The Man Who Knew Too Little.” The professional kinship endured, and they subsequently worked together again on the Fox feature, “Entrapment,” for which Young received a BMI Scoring Award.

The acclaim continued when Young provided the score to MGM’s box office sensation “Species,” for which he received a Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel nomination for his work. Next up for the multitalented composer was the resonant score for “Murder in the First,” marking the beginning of an era of major career turning points. Young turned his attention to television, scoring the first of four telefilms. In 1990, he received his first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Mini-Series, Movie, or Special recognizing the dramatic urgency of his music for the fall-of-Saigon film, “Last Flight Out.” In 1996, he was honored in the same category again but for a completely different style, the smoky jazz of the critically acclaimed HBO picture, “Norma Jean & Marilyn.”

When Academy Award winning director Norman Jewison hired Young to score Universal Pictures; “The Hurricane,” Young officially entered the pantheon of A-list composers. His composition was widely praised, impressing the legendary director, who exclaimed, “I love it…he captures the power and strength of what was happening onscreen.” This year, Jewison personally recommended Young to Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson for the MGM release, “Bandits.”

Immediately following “Bandits,” Young further displayed his versatility with the composition for Warner Bros.’ “Swordfish,” where he incorporated elements of DJ Paul Oakenfold’s hypnotic trance into the orchestral score. He went on in 2001 to score the Miramax romantic drama, “The Shipping News,” directed by Oscar nominee Lasse Hallstrom. Young received both a Critic’s Choice and Golden Globe nomination for this strikingly original work.

Young likes to say that he has two distinct sides: one side that is attracted to abstract ideas and 20th Century music, and the other that enjoys writing “the great American tune.” That dichotomy serves him perfectly as a film composer, where he may be called upon to write dissonant music for a suspense cue one minute and collaborate with a lyricist the next. Of the latter category, his resume includes the R&B collaboration “Give me a Reason” with Dave Hollister for “In Too Deep” and the love song “Against the Wind,” written with vocalist Lori Perri for “Set it Off.”

In 2007, Young reunited with director Curtis Hanson for “Lucky You” and two films based on Marvel Comic characters; Sony Pictures, “GhostRider,” starring Nicholas Cage, and the summer blockbuster, “Spider-Man 3.”

In addition to his busy film-composing schedule, Young is imparting his experience and knowledge to a new generation of film composers. He has been teaching at USC since the early Nineties. “When I moved out here in 1980, my situation was not too different than most of these men and women, “ Young says. “No ‘in’s’ in the industry, very little experience scoring films, and an insatiable desire to make it. I want to do what I can do to open up doors for these students.”

When not working, Young collects jack-o-lanterns, masks and autographs of many of the horror film stars of the past, a hobby paying tribute to his fruitful beginnings in the world of film music.