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Danny Elfman: Composer Danny Elfman
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One of Hollywood's most distinctive film composers, Danny Elfman is known for his dark, idiosyncratic scores, particularly those he has written for director Tim Burton's films. He is ... widely recognized for the music he has written for TV, particularly his theme song for The Simpsons. Born in Amarillo, Texas, on May 29, 1953, Elfman was the son of a schoolteacher and the novelist Blossom Elfman. He spent his childhood in Los Angeles and moved with his brother, Richard, to France at the age of 18. There he became involved with a theatre group and received an introduction to musical orchestration. He and Richard started the musical troupe Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo, which would later become known as the cult group Oingo Boingo.
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Danny Elfman is a much-sought-after film composer. His credits include the theme music for TV's The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives and scores for Beetlejuice, both Men in Black films, Batman - for which he won a Grammy - and the new remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Elfman grew up in L.A. and, at age 18, moved to France. With his brother, he formed the eclectic rock band Oingo Boingo. With his work on director Tim Burton's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Elfman made the transition from bandleader to film composer.
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Best known for his work in collaboration with director Tim Burton, composer Danny Elfman created one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary film music, bringing his talents to a dark fantasy world populated by superheroes, monsters and freaks. The son of novelist Blossom Elfman, he was born May 29, 1953 in Amarillo, Texas; raised in Los Angeles, he and brother Richard relocated to France in 1971, where he joined a theatrical group. Elfman subsequently moved on to Africa, returning to the U.S. only after battling a bout with malaria; he then reunited with Richard, who had directed the 1980 film The Forbidden Zone and asked Danny to compose the score. Assembling a band dubbed the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo, Elfman recorded the movie's soundtrack; abbreviated to simply Oingo Boingo, the group remained a going concern following the project's completion, later earning a significant cult following during the New Wave era. In 1985 Elfman met fledgling filmmaker Burton; after collaborating on the score to the hit Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, they reunited frequently in the years to come, with Elfman composing the music to later Burton projects including Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks! and the Grammy-winning Batman.
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Best known for his work in collaboration with director Tim Burton, composer Danny Elfman created one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary film music, bringing his talents to a dark fantasy world populated by superheroes, monsters and freaks. The son of novelist Blossom Elfman, he was born May 29, 1953 in Amarillo, Texas; raised in Los Angeles, he and brother Richard relocated to France in 1971, where he joined a theatrical group. Elfman subsequently moved on to Africa, returning to the U.S. only after battling a bout with malaria; he then reunited with Richard, who had directed the 1980 film The Forbidden Zone and asked Danny to compose the score. Assembling a band dubbed the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo, Elfman recorded the movie's soundtrack; abbreviated to simply Oingo Boingo, the group remained a going concern following the project's completion, later earning a significant cult following during the New Wave era.
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Danny Elfman was born in 1953 in Los Angeles, California, where he currently resides. Over the last 20 years, he has established himself as one of Hollywood's leading film composers. Elfman has written close to 50 film scores featuring his unique sound, including Batman, Spider-man, Men in Black, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Pee Wee's Big Adventure. In addition to these signature soundtracks, he has scored such diverse films as Big Fish, Good Will Hunting, Dolores Claiborne, Midnight Run, To Die For, Dead Presidents, Sommersby, and Chicago. For television, Elfman created the infectious themes to The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives. His honors include a Grammy and three Academy Award nominations.
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Danny Elfman is perhaps equally known as a film composer (particularly his work with Tim Burton), and as the frontman/songwriter for Oingo Boingo. His first soundtrack was Forbidden Zone, directed by his brother Richard. Oingo Boingo has been broken up for 10 years, although, he doesn't seem to have much interest in doing any more rock type music, with his occasional film-music forays into the genre seemingly being enough.
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Composer Danny Elfman