Horner, James (14th August 1953-22nd June 2015)

Classically-trained composer born in Los Angeles, California, whose film scores have become part of the musical landscape for an entire generation. His original intent was to write classical music and he studied under avant-garde composer Gyorgy Legeti at London’s Royal College of Music. It was a tutelage that would continue to shape his variegated musical style for years to come.

Horner was known for drawing on a wide array of influences, including his self-professed love for Irish music, and for using unusual instruments, such as the shakahuchi. His penchant for the electronic synthesizer helped him gain the early reputation as someone who could write quickly and with minimal instrumentation, which must have been attractive to B-movie mogul Roger Corman, who gave him his first shot at scoring a full-length motion picture entitled Humanoids of the Deep, followed by Battle Beyond the Stars. Although the films were drive-in movie fodder, the soundtracks were good enough to attract the attention of other filmmakers.

Oliver Stone hired him to work on The Hand, a cheesy Michael Caine horror film from 1981. The fledgling director said he wanted something that was a cross between Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams, which Horner reluctantly did, even though he later admitted he had not heard of either of them at the time. He was in no position to turn down work or question the caprices of directors, even an unestablished one like Stone, and he was beginning to get a reputation as a sci-fi/horrorcomposer.

That same year he got a chance to work on Albert Finney’s comeback film, Wolfen, which unlike most horror films actually garnered critical praise. It was an effective springboard for him to land his biggest film assignment to date, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This is regarded as the film that put him on the musical map. (He even made a cameo in the movie as a crew member.) Other mainstream films followed, including the mega-smash 48 Hrs. and such diametrically opposed films as Gorky Park and Brainstorm.

No longer pigeon-holed as a sci-fi guy, Horner was impressing audiences and directors alike with his versatility. In 1986, he composed scores for Ron Howard’s Cocoon, Don Bluth’sAn American Tail, and James Cameron’s Aliens. Cameron only gave him ten days to complete the score, including re-writes, and Horner avowed never to work with him again, words he would later eat. When Cameron directed Titanic, Horner approached him after reading the script. Cameron had been admiring Horner’s work from afar, particularly Apollo 13 and Braveheart, and both men were willing to sweep their old disagreements under the rug. It was a lucrative collaboration. Titanic won the Oscar for Best Picture, Cameron for Best Director, and Horner for Best Original Score and Best Original Song, “My Heart Will Go On”, which he co-wrote with Will Jennings. The Titanic soundtrack became the third-best-selling soundtrack in motion picture history, with only The Bodyguard and Saturday Night Fever in front of it.

The financial success of Titanic allowed Horner to pick and choose his assignments, and he passed over big films like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises in favour of projects he deems more interesting, like 2003’s House of Sand and Fog and Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. You can also hear his work every afternoon, Monday through Friday, on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, for which he wrote the theme.

In 2013 he won the Max Steiner Award for Extraordinary Achievement in the Field of Film Music at the Hollywood in Vienna Gala.

In June 2015 he was flying his plane solo when he was killed when he crashed in Los Padres National Forest near Ventucopa, California.

Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram recordings
Somewhere Out There (James Horner/Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil)

Sources:

Horner, James (14th August 1953-22nd June 2015)

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