Grant Kirkhope

Grant Kirkhope (born July 10, 1962) is a British BAFTA and IFMCA nominated composer, known for writing the soundtracks to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Viva Piñata, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, CityVille 2 and the remake of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.

Early life and education

Kirkhope was brought up in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire and attended King James's School (like his fellow trumpet player and good friend, Simply Red's Tim Kellett). Kirkhope played in various bands after leaving the Royal Northern College of Music, including Zoot and the Roots along with the saxophonist, Snake Davis. Kirkhope also spent many years as part of "the Big Bad Horns" which were part of UK rock band Little Angels. At the age of 33 he was employed by Rare. Before joining Rare, in October 1995, he played for two bands called Syar and Maineeaxe where he played guitar, and already knew Robin Beanland, another Rare composer. Kirkhope's music featuring an electric guitar is played on an Ernie Ball/Musicman EVH given to him by Eddie Van Halen. Kirkhope's skills on guitar can be heard on Killer Instinct Gold, Perfect Dark, Star Fox Adventures or Grabbed by the Ghoulies.

Career

When Kirkhope joined Rare, due to being the "new boy", he was assigned to convert the music of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest for Donkey Kong Land 2, he finished the conversion in December of the same year. He was later asked by Graeme Norgate to finish composing the music for GoldenEye 007 so that Norgate could focus on Blast Corps. Norgate taught Kirkhope how to get music and sound effects into the Nintendo 64. His work on the game eventually reached Tim Stamper and Gregg Mayles, who reassigned him to compose for Project Dream with David Wise, who left the project shortly after to work on Diddy Kong Racing.^[1]

On 14 July 2008, Kirkhope stated in his Myspace blog that he was resigning from Rare. He joined THQ studio Big Huge Games, as audio director.^[2]

Big Huge Games was acquired by 38 Studios in May 2009, the company founded by Curt Schilling. Kirkhope went on to compose both the music and sound effects for Big Huge Games's million selling role-playing game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which was released in February 2012.^[3]

On 24 May 2012, 38 Studios announced that it would be laying-off its entire staff, including Kirkhope and the employees of Big Huge Games, due to the effects of the financial downturn.^[4]

In June 2012, Grant Kirkhope played at several festivals with fellow members of the reunited band Little Angels. In 24 July, Kirkhope announced that he had composed music for the Zynga video game CityVille 2 with an announced release date of October.^[5][6]

He has since moved to Los Angeles to pursue his composing career and to work on Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. He is also working on Desktop Dungeons with Danny Baranowsky.^[7] It's also confirmed that he is involved with a small team of ex-Rare employees to plan a Banjo-Tooie spiritual successor, using Twitter to gauge interest.^[8]

In March 2013, Kirkhope was voted into the Hall of Fame of Classic FM, as the fourth highest new entry at 174 for his score to Viva Piñata.^[9]

On March 25, 2013, Grant appeared as a guest on webseries Game Grumps, becoming the first guest on the show, and only guest to appear on the channel. He was interviewed by the show's hosts Jon Jafari and Arin Hanson while playing through several of the games he composed, including Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye and Donkey Kong 64.^[10]

In June 2013 Kirkhope was signed to the prestigious The Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency, Inc. in Los Angeles.

Awards

• In 2013 Kirkhope was nominated for "Original Score" at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.
• In 2013 Kirkhope was nominated for "Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media" by International Film Music Critics Association for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
• In 2013 Kirkhope was nominated for "Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media" by Movie Music UK for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
• In 2012 Kirkhope was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement - Western Composer" at Square Enix Music's Annual Game Music Awards for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and CityVille 2.^[11]
• In 2012 Kirkhope was nominated for "Original Score" at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
• In 2007 Kirkhope was nominated for "Original Score" at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards for Viva Piñata.
• In 2004 Kirkhope was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement In Original Music Composition" at the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards Ceremony for Grabbed by the Ghoulies.
• In 2004 Kirkhope was nominated for "Best Interactive Score" at the 2nd Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards Ceremony for Grabbed by the Ghoulies.

Works

He also voiced several characters in the games he worked on, such as Mumbo Jumbo, Bottles, Jamjars and the Jinjos in the Banjo-Kazooie series, and Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong 64.^[14][15][16]

References

External links

• Official website
• Profile at MobyGames
• Grant Kirkhope discography at MusicBrainz
• Grant Kirkhope at the Internet Movie Database
• Artist profile at OverClocked ReMix

Reviews

• Reckoning Soundtrack Review by Daniel Schweiger at Film Music Magazine
• Reckoning Soundtrack Review at Original Sound Version
• Reckoning Review at XBOX World Australia
• Reckoning Soundtrack Review at KQEK

Interviews

• Gamespot Interview
• Game Soundtracks Interview
• Gamikia Interview about the music in Reckoning
• Reckoning interview with Square Enix Music Online
• Rare-Extreme interview after Rare
• IGN Composers To Watch