Danny Elfman

Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American musician, best known for composing music for television and movies, and leading the rock band Oingo Boingo as singer/songwriter from 1976 until its breakup in 1995. He is a frequent collaborator with long-time friend Tim Burton, and has scored all but three of his films. He was nominated for four Academy Awards and won a Grammy Award for Tim Burton's Batman and an Emmy Award for his Desperate Housewives theme. Elfman also wrote the theme for the video game Fable. He is also famous for creating The Simpsons main title theme, and his role as Jack Skellington's singing voice in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He is the Uncle in-law to actress Jenna Elfman.

Biography

Early career

Elfman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Blossom Elfman (n?e Bernstein), a writer and teacher, and Milton Elfman, a teacher who was in the Air Force. Elfman grew up in a racially mixed community in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. He spent much of his time in the local movie theatre, adoring the music of such film composers as Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman.

After dropping out of high school, he followed his brother Richard to France, where he performed with Le Grand Magic Circus, an avant-garde musical theater group. Violin in tow, Elfman next journeyed to Africa where he traveled through Ghana, Mali, and Upper Volta, absorbing new musical styles, including the Ghanaian highlife genre which would eventually influence his own music. Elfman contracted malaria during his one-year stay and was often sick. Eventually he returned home to the United States, where his brother was forming a new musical theater group, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. The group performed the music for Richard's debut feature film, Forbidden Zone. Danny Elfman composed his first score for the film and played the role of Satan. By the time the movie was completed, they had taken the name Oingo Boingo and begun recording and touring as a rock group.

Danny Elfman and Tim Burton

In 1985, Tim Burton and Paul Reubens invited Elfman to write the score for their first feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Elfman was apprehensive at first because of his lack of formal training, but with orchestration assistance from Oingo Boingo guitarist and arranger Steve Bartek, he achieved his goal of emulating the mood of such composers as Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann. In the booklet for the first volume of Music for a Darkened Theatre, Burton described the first time he heard his music played by a full orchestra as one of the most thrilling experiences of his life. Elfman immediately developed a rapport with Burton and has gone on to score all but two of Burton's major studio releases: Ed Wood, scored by Howard Shore, which was under production while Elfman and Burton were having a fight, and Sweeney Todd, an adaptation of the 1979 Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical.

Burton has said of his relationship with Elfman: "We don't even have to talk about the music. We don't even have to intellectualize ? which is good for both of us, we're both similar that way. We're very lucky to connect" (Breskin, 1997).

Musical influences

He recalls that the first time he became aware of film music was in his youth during a screening of The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951). The music was by Bernard Herrmann, and that, he has said, was where his love of film music began (Russell and Young, 2000). Elfman purposefully nodded towards Herrmann's The Day the Earth Stood Still score in Tim Burton's sci-fi spoof Mars Attacks!

Other film composers have also proven to be influential, such as Nino Rota and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the former in Elfman's playful music for Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the latter in his much grander work, Batman. Sometimes his music has a distinctly Russian feel, inspired by the likes of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky?s ballet music, while his frequent use of choirs reflects his love of choral music by the likes of Mozart and Carl Orff. Jazz and rock influences from his earlier career are evident in such films as Chicago and To Die For.

Hearing damage

When asked during a 2007 phone-in interview on XETRA-FM if he ever had any notions of performing in an Oingo Boingo reunion, Elfman immediately rejected the idea and stated that in the last few years with the band he had begun to develop significant and irreversible hearing damage as a result of his continuous exposure to the high noise levels involved in performing in a rock band. He went on to say that he believes his hearing damage is partially due to a genetic predisposition to hearing loss, and that he will never return to the stage for fear of worsening not only his condition but also his bandmates'.

Recent works

Elfman has recently started working in the classical world, beginning with Serenada Schizophrana for the American Composers Orchestra. It was conducted by John Mauceri on its recording and by Steven Sloane at its premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York City on February 23, 2005. After its premiere, it was recorded in studio and released onto SACD on October 3, 2006. The meeting with Mauceri proved fruitful as the composer was encouraged then to write a new concert piece for Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Elfman composed an "overture to a nonexistent musical" and called the piece "The Overeager Overture."

Filmography

This is a list of films where Elfman appears as an actor, or with Oingo Boingo:

Year
Film
Role
Notes
1980
Forbidden Zone
Satan
Directed by Richard Elfman
1981
Urgh! A Music War
Himself
Part of Oingo Boingo
1984
Good Morning, Mr. Orwell
Himself
Part of Oingo Boingo
1986
Back to School
Himself
Part of Oingo Boingo
1993
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Jack Skellington (singing), Barrel
Voice only
2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Oompa-Loompas
Voice only
Corpse Bride
Bonejangles
Voice only
2006
Finding Kraftland
Himself
Documentary directed by Elfman's agent, Richard Kraft

This is a list of films with scores composed by Elfman:

Year
Film
Director
Film Score/Soundtrack
1980
Forbidden Zone
Richard Elfman
Soundtrack (soundtrack with The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo)
1985
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
Tim Burton
Soundtrack (film score, rerecording paired with Back to School)
1986
Back to School
Alan Metter
(film score, rerecording paired with Pee-wee's Big Adventure)
1987
Summer School
Carl Reiner
Soundtrack(various artists)
Wisdom
Emilio Estevez, Robert Wise
1988
Beetlejuice
Tim Burton
Soundtrack (film score with Harry Belafonte)
Midnight Run
Martin Brest
Soundtrack released by MCA
Big Top Pee-wee
Randal Kleiser
Scrooged
Richard Donner
Suite included on Music for a Darkened Theatre, Vol. 1
1989
Batman
Tim Burton
Soundtrack (film score)
1990
Nightbreed
Clive Barker
Dick Tracy
Warren Beatty
Soundtrack (film score)
Darkman
Sam Raimi
Soundtrack (film score)
Edward Scissorhands
Tim Burton
Soundtrack
1992
Article 99
Howard Deutch
Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
Batman Returns
Tim Burton
1993
Sommersby
Jon Amiel
Army of Darkness
Sam Raimi
Soundtrack (theme only)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Henry Selick
(Golden Globe Nomination)
1994
Black Beauty
Caroline Thompson
Soundtrack (film score)
1995
Dolores Claiborne
Taylor Hackford
Dead Presidents
Alberl Hughes
Soundtrack (soundtrack with various artists)
To Die For
Gus Van Sant
1996
Mission: Impossible
Brian De Palma
Soundtrack (soundtrack with various artists)
The Frighteners
Peter Jackson
Soundtrack (film score)
Freeway
Matthew Bright
Extreme Measures
Michael Apted
Mars Attacks!
Tim Burton
1997
Men in Black
Barry Sonnenfeld
(Oscar Nomination)
Flubber
Les Mayfield
Good Will Hunting
Gus Van Sant
(Oscar Nomination)
1998
A Simple Plan
Sam Raimi
1999
Instinct
Jon Turteltaub
Soundtrack (film score)
Sleepy Hollow
Tim Burton
Soundtrack (film score)
2000
Proof of Life
Taylor Hackford
The Family Man
Brett Ratner
2001
Planet of the Apes
Tim Burton
2002
Spider-Man
Sam Raimi
Soundtrack (film score)

Soundtrack (soundtrack with various artists)
Men in Black II
Barry Sonnenfeld
Red Dragon
Brett Ratner
Chicago
Rob Marshall
Soundtrack (soundtrack with various artists)
2003
Hulk
Ang Lee
Big Fish
Tim Burton
(Golden Globe & Oscar Nomination)
2004
Spider-Man 2
Sam Raimi
Soundtrack (soundtrack with various artists)
2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Tim Burton
Soundtrack (film score)
Corpse Bride
Tim Burton
Soundtrack (film score with various artists)
2006
Deep Sea 3D
Howard Hall
Serenada Schizophrana
Nacho Libre
Jared Hess
Soundtrack (soundtrack with various artists)
Charlotte's Web
Gary Winick
Soundtrack (film score)
2007
Meet the Robinsons
Steve Anderson
Soundtrack (soundtrack with various artists)
Spider-Man 3
Sam Raimi
Soundtrack (themes only)
The Kingdom
Peter Berg
2008
Standard Operating Procedure
Errol Morris
Soundtrack (film score)
Wanted
Timur Bekmambetov
Soundtrack (film score)
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Guillermo del Toro
Milk
Gus Van Sant
(Oscar Nomination)
2009
Notorious
George Tillman, Jr.
Soundtrack (soundtrack with various artists)
Terminator Salvation
McG
Soundtrack (film score)
Taking Woodstock
Ang Lee
9
Shane Acker
2010
The Wolfman
Joe Johnston
Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton
2012
The Umbrella Academy
Alfonso Cuar?n

He has also written the theme music for several television series, including:

1986: Pee-wee's Playhouse (some episodes)
1986: Sledge Hammer!
1989: Tales from the Crypt
1989: Beetlejuice
1989: The Simpsons
1990: The Flash
1992: Batman: The Animated Series
1997: Perversions of Science
1997: The New Batman/Superman Adventures
1999: Dilbert
2004: Desperate Housewives
2005: Point Pleasant

His other work includes:

2004: The opening title theme of the 2004 video game Fable.
2008: Soundtrack to the 2008 video game Lego Batman: The Video Game (various tracks from the soundtrack of the movie: Batman).
2008: The opening title theme as well as major themes of the 2008 video game Fable II.
2009: The opening title theme as well as major themes and soundtrack of the 2009 video game Wanted: Weapons of Fate.

Awards and nominations

Award
Wins
Nominations
Academy Awards
0
4
Annie Awards
0
1
BMI Film & Television Awards
24
24
British Academy Film Awards
0
1
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
0
2
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
0
4
Emmy Awards
1
2
Golden Globe Awards
0
2
Grammy Awards
1
10
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
0
1
Satellite Awards
1
6
Saturn Awards
5
12
Sierra Awards
1
2
World Soundtrack Awards
0
2
Total
33
73
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Danny Elfman