Simon Fisher Turner
Simon Fisher Turner | |
---|---|
Born | 21 November 1954 |
Origin | Dover, Kent, England, UK |
Genres | Indie pop, glam rock, experimental, ambient |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
Associated acts | The Gadget, the The, the King of Luxembourg, Loveletter, Bad Dream Fancy Dress, Deux Filles |
Simon Turner (born 21 November 1954) is an English musician, songwriter, composer, producer and actor.
After portraying Ned East in the 1971 BBC TV adaptation of Tom Brown's Schooldays and roles in films such as The Big Sleep (1978), Dover-born Simon Turner quickly rose to fame as a teenage star in Britain thanks to his mentor Jonathan King who released his first album Simon Turner in 1973 on UK Records. Turner was a member of the Gadget and also joined The The for a period of two years. He has used several names as a recording artist, including Simon Fisher Turner, the King of Luxembourg, Deux Filles and Simon Turner. He continues to record albums for Mute Records as Simon Fisher Turner.
He was a member of The Portsmouth Sinfonia Orchestra, and plays clarinet on their only live album, recorded at The Albert Hall.London.
In the 1980s, he released several singles on the él record label as the King of Luxembourg, many of them having been given airplay by BBC Radio DJ John Peel. In 1990 he released a solo album on Creation Records.
Turner also recorded film soundtracks, including for Derek Jarman's Caravaggio (1986), The Last of England (1988), The Garden (1990), and Jarman's final film Blue. He also composed the complete score for William Eggleston in the Real World (2005) as well as for the David Lynch-produced film, Nadja. Many of his soundtracks are released on CD, mainly on Mute Records, on which he issued three solo albums.
In 2002, Turner was a visiting professor at Braunschweig School of Art in Germany. In 2009, he joined Tilda Swinton on a new film essay shot in Berlin for The Invisible Frame (2009) directed by Cynthia Beatt. In the same year he produced Polly Scattergood's self-titled debut album, Polly Scattergood.
Turner completed music for sculptor, Alyson Shotz, at the Nasher Sculpture Centre, Dallas. In 2010 he composed the music for The Great White Silence a film by Herbert Ponting. It was restored by the British Film Institute, and released on Blu-ray/DVD. The soundtrack is available from Soleilmoon Recordings.
In 2011 Turner released a triple CD, "Soundtracks for Derek", on Optical Sound. It is music composed for an exhibition, "Super 8", by Jarman at the Julia Stoschek Foundation. Mute Records released an album made with the sounds supplied by Espen J. Jorgensen.[1] Also in that year, "Music for Films you should have seen" was released by Optical Sound. This includes music for the only film Jean Genet made, Un Chant D'amour. Turner continued to make music for commercials for water, supermarkets and cancer research.
In 2012 Turner worked with Shiro Takatani, artistic director of dumb type in Kyoto, the BFI in the UK and prepared new sounds. He played concerts in Europe performing both BLUE and THE GREAT WHITE SILENCE, live with the Elysian Quartet.[2]
During 2013 Turner provided the score for The Epic of Everest: a film made in 1924 by Captain John Noel. It was restored by The British Film Institute, and was released on Blu-ray.[3] A soundtrack album was released on Mute Records. This won him a coveted Ivor Novello Award.
2014/17. Simon continues to perform solo, and with various groups around the globe. Simon currently has a new LP available called "GIRAFFE" available on Editions Mego, a record label out of Vienna, and has already complete the music for a new film by Takashi Minako. "The Picture from Darkness." This will be available on Optical Sound in the spring. This label is based in Paris. He has just returned from Beijing, where he finalised the new minimal soundtrack for a film called "TRACING" by Li Xiaofeng. A bi/monthly sonic essay is available very two weeks @ Guerrilla Audio, through the touch label in the UK.This is compiled constantly by Simon, but the sound is deleted from the website and only written and photographic material is available to peruse.
Simon Turner lives with his wife and two children in London.
Actor
Television
- Tom Brown's Schooldays (1971 TV serial)
- The Long Chase (13 episodes, 1972)
- The Intruder (1972) TV series
- The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972)
- Village Hall (1974) TV series
- Who Killed Lamb? (1974) (TV)
- Kim & Co. (1975) TV series
- Lillie (1978) TV serial
- Neptune's Children (1985) TV series
Films
- The Big Sleep (1978)
- Caravaggio (1986)
- The Party: Nature Morte (1991)
- The 90 Days (Japan) (1992)
- Claire Dolan (1998)
- The Croupier (1999)
- The End of the Affair (1999)
- Hana wo tsumu shôjo to mushi wo korosu shôjo (2000)
Discography
As Simon Turner
- Shoeshine Boy/17 Single (UK Records UK 20) (1972)
- Baby (I Gotta Go)/Love Around Single (UK Records UK 32) (1972)
- Baby (I Gotta Go)/I Wanna Love My Life Away Single (UK Records UK 37) (1972)
- The Prettiest Star/Love Around Single (UK Records UK 44) (1973)
- California Revisited/Simon Talk Single (UK Records UK 52) (1973)
- She Was Just A Young Girl (No Way)/I'll Take Your Hand Single (UK Records UK 60) (1974)
- Sex Appeal/Little Lady Single (UK Records UK 74) (1974)
- I've Been A Bad Bad Boy / Little Lady Single (UK Records UK 104) (1974)
- New York / Hello I Am Your Heart Single (1975)
- Could It Really Be Single (Ariola Records 17800 AT) (1977)
- Simon Turner (UK Records UKAL 1003) (1973)
- Simon Turner (Creation Records) (1990)
- Sex Appeal (1992)
- The Many Moods of Simon Turner (1993)
- Revox (1993)
As the King of Luxembourg
- Sir/Royal Bastard (1988)
- Sex Appeal (1992)
- Sweets of Japan (Felicite Records) (2003)
As Simon Fisher Turner
- The Bone of Desire (1985)
- Caravaggio Original Soundtrack (1986–95)
- The Last of England Original Soundtrack (1987)
- Melancholia Soundtrack (1989)
- Edward II Original Soundtrack (1991)
- The Garden Original Soundtrack (1991)
- I've Heard the Ammonite Murmur (1992)
- Blue (1994)
- Live Blue Roma (The Archaeology of Sound) (1995)
- Nadja (1995)
- Shwarma (1996)
- Loaded Original Soundtrack (1996)
- Still, Moving, Light (1999)
- Oh Venus (1999)
- Eyes Open (1999)
- Travelcard (2000)
- Riviera Faithful (2002)
- Swift (2002)
- Lana Lara Lata (2007)
- Music From Films You Should Have Seen (2009)
- Soundtracks for Derek (2011) triple cd.
- The Great White Silence Original Soundtrack (2011)
- Berlin Soundscape recording made during the shooting days of the film The Invisible Frame (2012)
- Soundescapes (2012) by SFT and Espen J jorgenson
- The Epic of Everest Original Soundtrack (2014)
"Giraffe" A solo LP on Editions Mego 2017.
Film music not released on CD (selection)
References
- ↑ CDSTUMM330."SOUNDESCAPES
- ↑ See http://simonfisherturner.com for all archive photos and Soundcloud. He can also be followed on Twitter as IVFT
- ↑ "The Epic of Everest". British Film Institute. Retrieved 6 September 2015.