Simon Webb (composer)
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| Born: | Bridgenorth |
|---|---|
| Occupation: | Composer Musical Director |
| Nationality: | British |
| Genres: | Theatre, film and television |
| Website: | http://www.simonwebb.co.uk |
Simon Webb is a composer, musical director, conductor, arranger and performer. He was born in Bridgenorth, in the UK, into an artistic family and began his musical life at a very early age. At the age of 8 he won a choral scholarship to St. Michael's College, Tenbury, and at 13, an organ scholarship to Worcester Royal Grammar School. He went on to read music at the University of York under music-guru Wilfred Mellers, specialising in composition and conducting. In a particularly stimulating musical environment, composers Bernard Rands and Liz Lutyens, and conductor Graham Treacher played a major role in Simon's musical development. Contemporary student composers included Vic Hoyland, Roger Marsh and Trevor Jones. Upon graduation he was appointed musical director of the York Theatre Royal by director Michael Winter, and subsequently wrote the music for many productions there including Dr. Faustus, The Devil's Law Case, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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[edit] Theatre
He has since worked in theatres (repertory and commercial) all over the UK, writing and directing music. In the West End his musical directing credits include The Who's Tommy at The Queen's Theatre, and conducting Cats at The New London Theatre. At The National Theatre, he wrote, directed and performed the music for Nicholas Hytner's productions of The Winter's Tale and Henry V, and Mark Ravenhill's Totally Over You.
He has written three musicals: Hannah Snell (for The Swan Theatre, Worcester), Ella's Fella (York Theatre Royal), and The Mantids of Nem (a sci-fi musical for The Northern Black Light Theatre).
[edit] Television
For television his writing credits include themes and scores for over a hundred British TV programmes for all the major producers (BBC, ITV, Disney, Channel 4, and Channel 5) including Night Network, Delia Smith's Summer and Winter Collections, Channel 4's Fragile Earth nature series and Streets Ahead dance series, Think Tank, The Big Stage, Members Only, Help Squad, Hodson Confidential, The Antiques Trail, Kick Off, The Juno Mission, You Bet!, Hale and Pace, Jobs For the Boys, Night Network, ITV Telethon, Lights!, Camera!, Magic!, Chef School, Treacle People, Taxi!, Mary Berry At Home, Monkey Business, The British Comedy Awards, Avenue of Stars and Casanova's Love Letters.
His TV musical directing credits include Wogan, Sunday Sunday, Friday Night Live, and Saturday Night Live. His arranging credits include The Paradise Club, Test the Nation, and Last Night of the Proms.
[edit] Film
He has worked on many films including Playing Away, (directed by Horace Ove and starring Norman Beaton, for Channel 4's Film on Four] for which he wrote the score; The Untitled, a film for television (directed by Mark Murphy and starring Ronald Pickup, for LWT) for which he also composed the score; Runaway Dreams, an American film, for which he was musical director and arranger of a rock score by Whitesnake's guitarist, Bernie Marsden; Riders of the Storm, a Hollywood film starring Dennis Hopper, for which he co-wrote the theme song with veteran songwriter Pierre Tubbs; Coast to Coast, a BBC 2 film starring Lenny Henry and John Shea, for which he was musical director, Tequila Sunrise (starring Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer) working as a programmer and keyboard player with Duran Duran's Andy Taylor, and Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson from Chic; and Heavenly Pursuits (directed by Charley Gormley and starring Helen Mirren and Tom Conti) arranging, conducting and musical directing a score by B.A. Robertson. His most recent film is a short directed by Michael Shark entitled Minus 1.
[edit] Musical Director
As a musical director, Simon has worked with many great creative talents including Pete Townshend, Elaine Page, Don Black, Phil Daniels, Imelda Staunton, Lenny Henry, Liz Dawn, B.A. Robertson, June Whitfield, Richard O'Brien, Jean Rigby, Bernie Marsden, Wanda Jackson, Wes McGhee, and Kevin Williams.
[edit] Albums
His album The Brain was released in 2006, and he is presently mixing the follow-up, A Leap Into The Light, a multimedia 5.1 project which he plans to release later in 2007.
