James Compton (musician)

James Compton (born 1 December 1959 in North Tawton, Devon, England) is a British musician, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and actor.

Biography

Compton moved to London in 1980 and joined his first professional band, Darts, on his 21st birthday. Three years later the entire band was cast in Yakety Yak, a musical featuring the songs of Leiber and Stoller. The band split in 1986. Later that year he joined Microdisney, an Irish indie band, going on to contribute to three singles and five albums.

Throughout his career, Compton has produced six albums and co-produced ten singles.

In 1990 he returned to the stage and went on to become musical supervisor of sixteen more musicals, eight of which had successful West End runs. Compton was responsible for all the music and soundscapes in Morecambe (a tribute to the British comedian Eric Morecambe) which won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for its run at the Duchess Theatre in 2009. More recently he participated in an off-Broadway run of The City Club, a blues and boogie-woogie musical that he composed with Tony De Meur and Tim Brown. Compton also worked as composer on six motion pictures (including Dark Streets which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song), numerous television productions and various electronic media. Michael Caine is to be seen line dancing to Compton's guitar and piano work in the 2013 motion picture Mr. Morgan's Last Love.[1]

In 2005 he started studying for a Masters Degree in Electronic Arts at Middlesex University, specialising in interactive audio in computer games.

He is now working as a consultant for multimedia applications, websites and games, working to enhance narrative with sound and music.

Discography

Straight Eight 1981 Album Straight to the Heart
Darts 1981 Single Jump, Children, Jump co-producer
Darts 1981 Single Show us your Shoe co-producer
Darts 1981 Album Doo Wop Darts
Darts 1981 Album Darts – Across America
Darts 1983 Single The Mystery of Ragoula co-producer
Darts 1983 EP Yakety Yak co-producer
Darts 1983 Single Lorraine co-producer
Darts 1983 Single Can't Teach a Fool co-producer
Darts 1984 Single Groovin' co-producer
Darts 1984 Single Blow Away (co-written) co-producer
Alison Moyet 1984 B-side Hitch Hike co-producer
Microdisney 1987 Single Town to Town[2]
Microdisney 1987 Single Singer's Hampstead Home
Microdisney 1988 Single Gale Force Wind[3]
Microdisney 1987 Album Crooked Mile
Microdisney 1988 Album 39 Minutes
Microdisney 1995 Album Big Sleeping House
Microdisney 1999 Album The Peel Sessions Album
Microdisney 2007 Album Daunt Square to Elsewhere
The Railway Children 1988 Album Recurrence
Microgroove 1989 Album The Human Groove[4] producer
Cast Album 1992 Album Good Rockin' Tonite!
Cast Album 1998 Album Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens co-producer
Hank Wangford 1999 Album Wake Up Dead
Various 2000 Album Mother and Baby Relax producer
Peggy Seeger 2001 Album Love Will Linger On
Darrel Higham 2004 Album The Cochran Collection Vol.2
J Evans Band 2005 Album In the Wild Years producer
Soundtrack 2006 Album O Jerusalem songwriter
Soundtrack 2008 Album Dark Streets songwriter
Paul Ansell's Number 9 2011 Album Money and Lies
Paul Ansell's Number 9 2013 Album A Date with Paul Ansell's No. 9
Cast Album 2013 Album Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens 2 producer

Theatre

1983 Yakety Yak[5] musical director, actor, multi instrumentalist West End, Astoria Theatre and international tour
1990 Beehive; The Sixties Musical musical supervisor, instrumentalist Newcastle, Northern Stage
1991 Good Rockin' Tonite! musical director, actor, multi instrumentalist West End, Prince of Wales
1992 Leader of the Pack musical supervisor and arranger West End, Duke of Yorks
1993 Forever Plaid musical director, instrumentalist West End, Apollo Theatre
1994 The Queen and I[6] musical supervisor Royal Court & Vaudeville Theatre
1995 The Man of Mode musical supervisor, composer Tour
1995 Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat musical supervisor and arranger Lyric Theatre, Belfast
1996 Elvis: The Musical musical director, actor, multi instrumentalist West End, Prince of Wales
1997 Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens[7] musical director, composer, instrumentalist West End, Queens Theatre and tour
1998 Four Steps to Heaven musical director, multi instrumentalist West End, Piccadilly Theatre and tour
2001 Puppetry of the Penis musical supervisor, composer West End, Whitehall Theatre
2001–2004 Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens[7] musical supervisor, composer Saucy Jack's Bar, London
2006 The City Club[8][9] musical supervisor, actor, instrumentalist Edinburgh Festival
2009 Morecambe[10] musical supervisor, composer and sound designer West End, Duchess Theatre and tour
2011 Stop Dreamin' musical supervisor, instrumentalist Theatre Royal Windsor and tour
2012 The City Club musical supervisor, composer Minetta Lane Theatre, Manhattan

TV and multimedia

1983 Camel cinema advert co-producer
1984 Rubik's Cube video composer and producer
1989 Comic Asides arranger and actor BBC 2
1997 The Jack Docherty Show performer and composer Channel 5
1998 Back to the Future composer and producer of title music ITV
2000 Trigger Happy TV musician on soundtrack Channel 4
2001 The Tweenies Game composer for multimedia game Sonica
2002 The Magic Drum composer for multimedia game Sonica
2003 Maestromediaservices creator of audio content for sound library
2002 Guildband.com audio content creator website
2004 Gunfight audio content creator for animation Shagrat.net[11]
2004 Flight to Cancun audio content creator for animation Student Universehttp://www.shagrat.net/[12]
2005 Electronic Arts start Masters Degree in interactive audio Middlesex University
2007–2009 Top Rockers create backing tracks and sound design for animatronic rock and roll puppet shows Thorpe Park
2010 Plunderland sound designer and composer for game app JohnnyTwoShoes[13]

Film

2004 Film as Subversive Art[14] music editor and arranger Sticking Place Films
2006 O Jerusalem[15] songwriter Samuel Goldwyn Films
2008 Dark Streets lead composer for film-noire musical Samuel Goldwyn Films
2009 The Tournament songwriter AV Pictures
2009 The Ministers songwriter Allumbra Pictures
2010 Lullaby for Pi arranger Rezo Films
2013 Mr Morgan's Last Love musician on soundtrack Image Entertainment

References

  1. ↑ "Ausschnitt aus Mr Morgans Last Love: Tanzschule | TrailerSeite FILM.TV". Trailerseite.de. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  2. ↑ "Microdisney - Town To Town". YouTube. 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  3. ↑ "Microdisney Gale Force Wind". YouTube. 2010-11-07. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  4. ↑ "Microgroove - The Human Groove (Vinyl, LP, Album)". Discogs.com. 2010-04-05. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  5. ↑ monyc8. "Darts & The McGanns - Yakety Yak Live Show 1983 - Neighbourhood". YouTube. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  6. ↑ "Production of The Queen & I". Theatricalia.com. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  7. 1 2 "SJSV - Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens - The Official Site". Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  8. ↑ The City Club - Off-Broadway. "Broadway Buzz | The City Club - Off-Broadway". Broadway.com. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  9. ↑ "Theater Online". Theater Online. 2012-04-23. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  10. ↑ Culture Critics (2009-12-15). "Morecambe at the Duchess Theatre, review". Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  11. ↑ "Creative warrior". Shagrat.net. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  12. ↑ "Creative warrior". Shagrat.net. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  13. ↑ "JohnnyTwoShoes — Plunderland iPhone". Johnnytwoshoes.com. 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  14. ↑ "Film as Subversive Art". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  15. ↑ "O Jerusalem". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-01-15.

External links

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