| Danny Elfman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Daniel Robert Elfman May 29, 1953 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | composer, singer, record producer, actor, voice actor |
| Spouse(s) | Bridget Fonda (2003–present) 1 child |
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 of his films (with the exception of Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd). He has been 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 is famous for creating The Simpsons main title theme, and his role as Jack Skellington's singing voice in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He also sang for the character Bone Jangles in the movie Corpse Bride He is the uncle in-law to actress Jenna Elfman.
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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.[1] Elfman grew up in a racially mixed community in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles.[2] 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 nerds" in high school, he started a ska band. After dropping out of high school, he followed his brother Richard to France,[citation needed] 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] 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.
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.[3] 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.[citation needed] Elfman immediately developed a rapport with Burton[3] 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).
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.
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'.
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."
Elfman has three children, Lola, born in 1979, Mali, born in 1986, 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).
This is a list of films where Elfman appears as an actor, or with Oingo Boingo:
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | I Never Promised You a Rose Garden | Yri drummer | Also featured Richard Elfman |
| 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 (singing) | 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:
In addition, he has supplied the main themes - except where noted - for movies scored by others (names in brackets):
He has also written the theme music for several television series, including:
His other work includes:
| 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 |
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Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter who led the rock band Oingo Boingo from 1978 until its breakup in 1995, and has since gone on to become one of the most sought-after film score composers working in Hollywood today. He has written the scores for numerous films (including Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Nightmare Before Christmas) as well as composing themes to several TV shows, including The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives, and Tales From The Crypt.
Danny Elfman (May 29, 1953 in Los Angeles, California) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. He is famous for the music he wrote for many movies and television shows. From 1978 until 1995 Elfman was a member of the rock band Oingo Boingo. In 2003, he married actress Bridget Fonda and has one child with her.
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Elfmans has written music dozens of movies and for television. Some of the things he has worked on include:
In 1985, Elfman met director Tim Burton. Burton had seen Elfman perform as a member of Oingo Boingo. Burton asked Elfman to work with him on his first full length movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Elfman worked with Burton on all but two of Burton's movies. The movies he worked on include:
Elfman has been nominated for many awards in the music and movie business.
   | Danny Elfman's Music For A Darkened People - Danny Elfman 's Music For A Darkened People @ elfman.filmmusic.com - Terminator Salvation Soundtrack |
| | Filmtracks Danny Elfman Tribute - Filmtracks: Danny Elfman |
| | Danny Elfman podcast interview - Danny Elfman, September, 2006 | Synthesis Radio |
| | dannyelfman.info - A site by Danny Elfman fans - dannyelfman.info - A site by Danny Elfman fans - Home |
| | The Elfman Zone - The Elfman Zone - A Danny Elfman Site at Bluntinstrument |
| | Danny Elfman Interview With Entertainment Weekly - Danny Elfman: On the rise | Dick Tracy | Movie News | Movies | Entertainment Weekly | 1 |
| | Batman Cinema: Bat-Composers and pop artists - Danny Elfman - Danny Elfman: The one that composes ''Music for a Darkened People'' |
| | Danny Elfman at the SoundtrackINFO project - SoundtrackINFO: Danny Elfman |
| | a 2006 interview with KCRW's The Business (8:08 into the track) - Film Composers Keep Their Composure - The Business on KCRW |
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