Danny Elfman

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Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman cropped.jpg
Elfman at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2010
BornDaniel Robert Elfman
May 29, 1953 (age 61)
Los Angeles, California, U.S
OccupationComposer, singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, voice actor
Spouse(s)Bridget Fonda (2003–present)
ChildrenLola (b. 1979), Mali (b. 1984), Oliver (with Bridget Fonda b. 2005)
Musical career
GenresNew wave, alternative rock, film music
InstrumentsTrombone, violin, guitar, percussion, vocals, piano, keyboard[1]
Years active1972–present
Associated actsOingo Boingo, James Newton Howard
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953)[2] is an American composer, record producer, and actor. He is known as the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Oingo Boingo, from 1976 to 1995 and later for scoring music for television and film and creating The Simpsons main title theme as well as the 1989 Batman film theme. He has scored the majority of his long-time friend Tim Burton's films.
Elfman re-entered the film industry in 1976, initially as an actor. He made his film scoring debut in 1982 for the film Forbidden Zone directed by his older brother Richard Elfman. He has since been nominated for four Academy Awards and won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for Tim Burton's Batman[3] and an Emmy Award for his Desperate Housewives[4] theme. Elfman was honored with the Richard Kirk Award at the 2002 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.[5]

Early life and career[edit]

Danny Elfman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Blossom Elfman (née Bernstein), a writer and teacher, and Milton Elfman, a teacher who was in the Air Force.[6] Elfman grew up in a Jewish family.[7] He was raised in a racially mixed community in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles.[8] He spent much of his time in the local movie theatre, adoring the music of such film composers as Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman. Stating that he hung out with the "band geeks" in high school, he started a ska band. After dropping out of high school, he followed his brother Richard to France,[9] 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.[citation needed]
He contracted malaria during his one-year stay and was often sick. Eventually he returned home to the United States, where he began to take Balinese music lessons at CalArts. During this time, he was romantically involved with Kim Gordon, who would later go on to form Sonic Youth. He was never officially a student at the institute; nonetheless, the instructor encouraged him to continue learning. Elfman stated, "He just laughed, and said, 'Sit. Play.' I continued to sit and play for a couple years."[10] At this time, his brother was forming a new musical theater group.

Oingo Boingo[edit]

Main article: Oingo Boingo
In 1972 Richard Elfman founded the American new wave band/performance art group, originally called The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. They played several shows throughout the 1970s until Richard Elfman left the band to become a filmmaker. As a send-off to the band's original concept, Richard Elfman created the film Forbidden Zone based on their stage performances. Danny Elfman composed his first score for the film and played the role of Satan (the other band members played his minions). By the time the movie was completed, they had taken the name Oingo Boingo and begun recording and touring as a rock group. From 1976 and on, it was led by Danny Elfman, until 1995 when they suddenly retired. The semi-theatrical music and comedy troupe had transformed into a ska-influenced new wave band in 1979, and then changed again towards a more guitar-oriented rock sound, in the late 1980s.[citation needed]

Elfman and Tim Burton[edit]

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.[11] In the booklet for the first volume of Music for a Darkened Theatre, Elfman 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[11] and has gone on to score all but two of Burton's major studio releases: Ed Wood which was under production while Elfman and Burton were having a serious disagreement,[12] and Sweeney Todd. Elfman also provided the singing voice for Jack Skellington in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and the voices of both Barrel and the "Clown with the Tear-Away Face". Years later he provided the voice for Bonejangles the skeleton in Corpse Bride.
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[edit]

Modern classicist composers, including Béla Bartók, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Carl Orff, Harry Partch, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky have influenced the style of Elfman's music.[13] Elfman cited his first time noticing film music being when he heard Bernard Hermann's score to The Day the Earth Stood Still as an eleven-year-old and being a fan of film music since then. Other influences based in film music include Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner, David Tamkin, and Franz Waxman.[13][14] Also, Nino Rota served as a significant influence and was the main inspiration for Elfman's score to Pee-wee's Big Adventure.[14]

Hearing damage[edit]

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 that of his band mates.

Recent works[edit]

Elfman recently composed the music for the Cirque du Soleil Show Iris, which was performed at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The production began on July 21, 2011, and ended on January 19, 2013.[15] This is Elfman's most significant non-film work since he composed 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 non-existent musical" and called the piece "The Overeager Overture". He also continues to compose his film scores in addition to these other projects. In November 2010, it was reported that Danny Elfman is writing the music for a planned musical based on the life of Harry Houdini.[16] But, as of January 2012, he was no longer attached to the project.[17]
In October 2013, Elfman returned to the stage to sing his vocal parts to a handful of Nightmare Before Christmas songs as part of a concert titled Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton.[18][19] He composed for the 2013 hit film Oz the Great and Powerful.
Elfman recently composed additional music for the Marvel superhero film Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Personal life[edit]

Elfman has three children: Lola, born in 1979; Mali, born in 1984; and Oliver, born in 2005. On November 29, 2003, Elfman married film actress Bridget Fonda. In 1997 he scored A Simple Plan – his only score for one of her films to date (although he did compose a cue for the film Army of Darkness, in which Fonda has a cameo). He is the uncle of actor Bodhi Elfman, who is married to actress Jenna Elfman.

Political views[edit]

Describing his politics during the 1980s, Elfman said, "I'm not a doomist. My attitude is always to be critical of what's around you, but not ever to forget how lucky we are. I've traveled around the world. I left thinking I was a revolutionary. I came back real right-wing patriotic. Since then, I've kind of mellowed in between."[20] In 2008, he expressed support for Barack Obama and said that "Sarah Palin was my worst nightmare."[21]

Discography[edit]

Main article: Danny Elfman discography

Awards and nominations[edit]

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman awards and nominations
AwardWinsNominations
Academy Awards
04
Annie Awards
11
BMI Film & Television Awards
2424
British Academy Film Awards
02
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
02
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
04
Emmy Awards
12
Golden Globe Awards
02
Grammy Awards
111
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
01
Satellite Awards
16
Saturn Awards
512
Sierra Awards
12
World Soundtrack Awards
02
Totals
Awards won33
Nominations75

American Film Institute[edit]

Elfman's scores for Batman and Edward Scissorhands were nominated for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores:

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Jump up ^ "Danny Elfman interview". Bluntinstrument.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  2. Jump up ^ "Daniel Robert Elfman - California, Birth Index". FamilySearch. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  3. Jump up ^ "Batman (1989) Awards, IMDB.com". Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  4. Jump up ^ "Composer Danny Elfman Scores First Emmy Award".
  5. Jump up ^ "Top Film, TV, Cable Composers Honored at BMI's Annual Film/TV Awards". bmi.com. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
  6. Jump up ^ "Danny Elfman profile at FilmReference.com". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  7. Jump up ^ "Interview: Danny Elfman | The Jewish Chronicle". Thejc.com. 2010-03-04. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  8. Jump up ^ "Elfman in L.A.". Elfman.filmmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  9. Jump up ^ "Buzzine". Buzzine. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  10. Jump up ^ "Video Entertainment Magazine interview, April 4, 1996". Boingo.org. 1996-04-04. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "Fanfare Article". Boingo.org. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  12. Jump up ^ Salisbury, Burton, pp.137-144
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Lustig, Jessica. "An interview with composer Danny Elfman". American Composers. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Florino, Rick (December 14, 2010). "Danny Elfman Talks Tim Burton Scores, Bernard Hermann's Influence and More". ARTIST direct. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  15. Jump up ^ "Cirque du Soleil website". Retrieved 2014-04-08.
  16. Jump up ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (November 2, 2010). "Aaron Sorkin writing Hugh Jackman's Houdini musical: Composer Danny Elfman has 'high hopes'". Popwatch.EW.com. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
  17. Jump up ^ Potts, Kimberly (January 4, 2012). "Hugh Jackman, Aaron Sorkin Teaming for 'Houdini' musical". thewrap.com.
  18. Jump up ^ Ng, David (September 18, 2013). "Danny Elfman concert of Tim Burton film music adds third performance". September 18, 2013. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
  19. Jump up ^ "Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton". BBC Concert Orchestra. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
  20. Jump up ^ "Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul". Boingo.org. 1955-05-29. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  21. Jump up ^ "Battling Our Greatest Fear". Huffington Post. 2008-10-30.

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