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James Newton Howard
Composer Tributes



        Lingering close to the forefront of film score stardom, James Newton Howard's body of work during the 1990's is as diverse as any composer in Hollywood. Extensively trained in both the arts of orchestral and electronic music, Howard has made a living by avoiding a single typecast role in the industry. His talents have produced scores for genres including pop/rock, children's, horror, action, romance, and drama. First noticed by mainstream score collectors in 1991 for his Academy Award nominated score The Prince of Tides, Howard has scored over 60 large-budget, feature films since, gaining him numerous award nominations and wins for Emmys, Grammys, and Oscars. He has composed some of the best known television themes of the modern age, with his E.R. theme as the pinnacle of all. His collaborations with several of Hollywood's best directors, as well as pop icons Elton John and Cher, place him in a unique situation in the film scoring industry.

        One of Howard's very best attributes as a composer is his ability create a different style of music for every score he writes. He is the ultimate aural chameleon. While other composers' works can be instantly recognized in the theatre simply because of their orchestrations or thematic styles, Howard's scores are never easily identified as the products of his imagination. This ability has caused him to become one of the most highly sought composers, and his string of highly successful scores in the late 1990's has catapulted him into the "A" list of composers. He is a regular artist for films in which Julia Roberts stars, and with Dinosaur in 2000, he has become the next crown jewel of the Disney franchise for years to come. Directors have even been known to ask Howard to compose themes for a project before it even begins shooting. From the subtle, but powerful undertones of The Sixth Sense to the bombastic, exotic flight of Waterworld, Howard figures to be a key player in the film score arena during the first decade of the 21st Century.



"Composing is a natural fit. As far as the creative process goes, I'd rather do this than anything else, by far. Something different happened to me when I started to write music to images. It was a feeling of excitement and connection and a sense of being in the right place that I never had before."

        -- James Newton Howard, 2000




James Newton Howard's Credits:

James Newton Howard
Information about Howard's background:

Born in 1951, Jim Howard's youth was rooted in the study of classical music. With a grandmother who performed the violin with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Howard began lessons on the piano that would eventually culminate in a classical education at Santa Barbara's Music Academy of the West (with Reginald Stewart and Leon Fleischer) and at the USC School of Music. Though always fond of orchestral strings, Howard was drawn into the world of pop rock during the 1960's and 1970's. After performing keyboards with the Southern California band "Mama Lion" in the early 70's, Howard produced a few solo albums featuring the advancing technologies of Yamaha keyboards. It was during that time that Howard made a living as a session keyboard artist, often programming synthesizers for the likes of Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, and others.

Seeking a lucrative career with his talents, Howard expanded his name for publicity purposes to include the full James Newton Howard, partly because it sounded more distinguished and partly because there was already a James Howard in the industry (which causes problems when registering with a professional guild). In the mid-1970's, Howard was contacted by Elton John, and he soon became John's regular keyboardist. The collaboration included album performances through 1981, and eventually included a tour with John in 1986. While on tour, Howard began experimenting with other career avenues. He produced recordings for Cher and Valerie Carter, which led to similar deals with everyone from Barbara Streisand to Randy Newman. Howard had the opportunity to orchestrate and conduct Elton John's live performance in Australia. He became acquinted with the popular rock band Toto, fresh off of their cult score for Dune, and Howard's music is performed by Toto members to this day. His knack for superior string arrangements led to recordings for which he orchestrated and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra.

It was then, in the mid-80's, that Howard stumbled upon film scoring. His first score was for "Head Office" in 1986, and while the films he composed for over the next five years were extremely forgettable, Howard's name was beginning to filter to very well known Hollywood directors. His career skyrocketed in 1991, when he was nominated for an Academy Award for The Prince of Tides and also successfully scored Man in the Moon and Grand Canyon. He expanded his work to television, scoring many popular themes. His Emmy nominated theme for E.R. in 1994 has since given him a comfortable financial situation, earning him royalties for each episode. He has won and been nominated for other Emmys and Grammys, and has received Academy Award nominations for The Fugitive and My Best Friend's Wedding, as well as several songs. Howard's ongoing collaborations feature well-chronicled admiration from directors Ivan Reitman, Kevin Costner, and Lawrence Kasdan. He remains one of the versetile composers in Hollywood today. Residing in the Los Angeles area with his wife and two sons, Howard is a proud dog owner.




  2008
  • Mad Money

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

  • A Perfect Murder **
  • "From the Earth to the Moon" (Part VI) (TV)

1997

1996

  • Eye for an Eye
  • The Trigger Effect
  • Space Jam **
  • One Fine Day
  • Primal Fear
  • The Juror

1995

1994

  • Junior
  • Intersection
  • Wyatt Earp ***

1993

1992

  • American Heart
  • Night and the City
  • Diggstown
  • Glengarry Glen Ross

1991

  • Dying Young
  • Grand Canyon ***
  • Guilty by Suspicion
  • The Man in the Moon ****
  • My Girl
  • The Prince of Tides *** (Academy Award Nomination)
  • King Ralph

1990

  • Coupe de Ville
  • Flatliners ****
  • Marked for Death **
  • 3 Men and a Little Lady
  • Pretty Woman **

1989

  • The Package
  • Some Girls
  • Major League **
  • Tap

1988

  • Off Limits
  • Promised Land
  • Everybody's All-American

1987

  • Five Corners
  • Campus Man
  • Russkies

1986

  • Nobody's Fool
  • Tough Guys
  • Wildcats
  • 8 Million Ways to Die
  • Head Office




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Page created 12/7/00, updated 4/16/03. Version 3.3 (Filmtracks Publishing). Copyright © 2000-2003, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. The reviews, pictures, and notes contained in the filmtracks.com composer tributes may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications.