In Remembrance: Michael Kamen

     Academy Award nominated composer, conductor and arranger Michael Kamen has passed away on Tuesday November 18th, 2003. He was 55.

     Born in New York City on April 15, 1948 in New York City, Kamen growing up the son of liberal activist parents in Queens. He began studying music early, starting piano lessons at age 2 and later moving on to guitar and clarinet. Among his parents’ friends were musicians Huddie Ledbetter and Pete Seeger. He attended the High School of Music & Art in New York City where he played in the orchestra and led the school dance band. After graduation in 1965, he attended the Julliard School where he studied oboe.

     Following graduation from Julliard, Kamen and a few classmates formed the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble. The group would release four albums in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. It was his work with the Rock & Roll Ensemble that lead him to writing orchestral arrangements for Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall. He also collaborated with the band on the albums The Final Cut and The Division Bell.

     Kamen won three Grammy Awards over his career. The first was in 1992 for best pop instrumental performance for the theme music to Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He won a second Grammy in 1996 for best instrumental arrangement for his piece “An American Symphony”, which was based on his work for the Richard Dreyfuss drama Mr. Holland’s Opus. His final Grammy win was in collaboration with group Metallica in 2001 for best rock instrumental performance where he conducted the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in the band’s song “The Call of Ktulu.”

     Kamen has also worked with musicians Eric Clapton, Sting, Rod Stewart, Queensryche, David Bowie, Jeff Lynne and Kate Bush. His work with rock musicians would influence his film work score work.

     Kamen’s first film score was for the 1976 film The Next Man. He composed scores for several small films, including John Waters’ Polyester (1981); his first major film was Terry Gilliam’s futuristic cautionary tale Brazil (1985). Kamen would work for Gilliam on two more films- 1988’s The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen and 1998’s Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. He predominately composed for action and suspense films including the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon action franchises, Dead Bang (1989), Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991), The Three Musketeers (1993), X-Men (2000) and the James Bond franchise installment License to Kill (1989).

     Kamen would receive Academy Award nominations for best original song for his collaborations with Bryan Adams on “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” (from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) and “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman” (from Don Juan DeMarco).

     Inspired while working on the film Mr. Holland’s Opus, Kamen established the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation in 1997 to help raise money to supply musical instruments to school children.