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Simon Franglen | |
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Birth name | Simon Franglen |
Genres | Film score, soundtrack, pop, electronic, ambient, adult contemporary, soft rock |
Occupation(s) | Film composer, record producer, songwriter, arranger, musician |
Instruments | Piano, keyboards, synthesizer, synclavier |
Years active | 1989–present |
Labels | Milan Records, Sony Classical, Lakeshore Records, Walt Disney Records, KPM Trailers, Bosworth & Co |
Website | www |
Simon Franglen is an English composer of classical and film music. He is also a record producer and former musician. His credits include four of the list of top grossing films and six of the list of best-selling albums of all time.
His film work includes a number of well-known movies, including Avatar , for which he received Golden Globe [1] and Grammy nominations for the theme song, and for being the producer of "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic , for which he won a Record of The Year Grammy Award. [2] Other film credits range from David Fincher's Seven , The Amazing Spider-Man , The Magnificent Seven , to arranging music for the James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre . [3]
Franglen has worked with Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, David Foster, Toni Braxton, The Corrs, Monica, Bee Gees, Luciano Pavarotti. [3] Currently[ when? ] there are over four hundred music credits to Franglen on AllMusic. [4]
After showing skill with synthesisers whilst working in London recording studios as a student, Franglen was hired by Trevor Horn as a Synclavier programmer, working on Yes, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Godley and Creme. He left Sarm West Studios to become an independent producer for acts like The Associates and a composer for commercials and TV. He composed the famous Direct Line jingle. [5]
Franglen was persuaded by engineer/producer Humberto Gatica to move to the US, where he became a top Los Angeles session musician and programmer. [3] Alongside his career on film music, Franglen has been involved in a huge number of singles and albums that have charted highly, since the early 1990s. [6] These include: "Un-Break My Heart" (Toni Braxton) "Change The World" (Eric Clapton) "For You I Will" (Monica) "I Swear" (All 4 One) "I Have Nothing" (Whitney Houston) "No Matter What" (Boyzone) and his remix of E.Y.C.'s "One More Chance" was the leading version on the single release [7] which peaked at number 25 in the UK charts. [8] He has produced a wide variety of material, from UK grime rappers such as Ironik and Chip to classical tenors including Rolando Villazon. [9]
Franglen moved into film music when he was introduced to the composer John Barry late in the production of the score for Dances with Wolves and collaborated on the soundtrack album. He continued to work with Barry for a number of years, including on Chaplin . Other long-term collaborations were with the film composers Alan Silvestri, James Horner, and Howard Shore, for whom he created the trademark dystopian electronica for Seven by David Fincher.
He worked with producer David Foster on the soundtrack for The Bodyguard and later, produced Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor's "Come What May" with Foster for director Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! , where he separately acted as vocal producer for the film songs. In 1997, he worked for the first time with James Horner on the score for Titanic, [3] for which he won a Grammy Award as producer of "My Heart Will Go On". He reconnected with Horner for Avatar , spending almost 11 months working on the score; he acted as Electronic Music Arranger and also co-wrote and co-produced the Golden Globe and Grammy nominated theme song. Horner and Franglen continued to work closely together from 2009 on films such as The Amazing Spider-Man , Franglen initially acting as arranger, then moving to score producer.
In 2016, a year after the death of his friend and colleague, James Horner, Franglen co-composed the score to The Magnificent Seven , which Horner had commenced. He won an ASCAP award for his work. 2016 also included original music for director Terrence Malick's film Voyage of Time .
In December 2016, he premiered a new fifteen minute 3-dimensional orchestral immersive work in what CNN called 'The World's Highest Art Space' [10] - a 240 speaker immersive experience featuring four separate complete orchestral parts, Chinese Solo instruments, choir and bells on the 2000 ft high 126th floor of the Shanghai Tower, Shanghai, China.
In early 2017, he worked with Pink Floyd at Abbey Road Studios, [11] producing 3D mixes of some of their best known tracks for an immersive installation room at the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition, Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains. Over 400,000 people visited the exhibition and the installation will tour around the world. [12]
Franglen was responsible for the production and further composition of the music throughout Pandora–The World of Avatar which opened at Walt Disney World in Florida in May 2017, taking over duties from James Horner in 2015. [13] In 2018, an album of selected music from the park was released by Walt Disney Music album. [14]
He scored Together, a film by director Terrence Malick which premiered at SXSW in late 2017 and at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. [15] [16] In 2018, he composed the scores to Peppermint directed by Pierre Morel, the MGM TV series The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by director Jean-Jacques Annaud.
In 2019, he premiered a new large scale orchestral and choral work for live performance, the oratorio "The Birth of Skies and Earth", based on the great Chinese creation myths. A ninety-minute work, with libretto in Mandarin Chinese, it premiered in Shanghai, with 176 musicians on stage, featuring a 90 piece orchestra, 80 voice choir, and six soloist singers. Subsequently, it toured around China. [17]
In late 2019, he composed the score to Xiaolong Zheng's Turandot, The Three Bracelets, a large-budget Chinese historical action fantasy for release in 2021.
In late 2020, he composed the score to the documentary film about the saving of the Timbuktu Manuscripts from Jihadists – The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu (based on the novel The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu ), directed by Otto Bell.
In early 2021, he will be composing the score to the mythological epic, Brahmastra , directed by Ayan Mukerji. In late 2022, he will premiere a new opera.
In 2019 it was announced that he had been hired to write new songs and music for Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash . [18]
Franglen accompanied Barbra Streisand for her first live performance in 27 years at the Inauguration of President Bill Clinton in Washington DC. He also toured with her for the subsequent come-back tour.
At the 21st edition of the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival in Italy, Franglen won the Ischia Film & Music Award. [19]
The composer and producer Nick Franglen is his brother. The musician and writer Hans Keller was his great uncle. [3]
The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. The instrument has been used by prominent musicians.
James Roy Horner was an American film composer. He worked on more than 160 film and television productions between 1978 and 2015. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements alongside traditional orchestrations, and for his use of motifs associated with Celtic music.
All the Way... A Decade of Song is the first English-language greatest hits album by Canadian singer Celine Dion. Released by Sony Music on 12 November 1999, it features nine previously released songs on most editions and seven new recordings on all editions. Dion worked on new tracks mainly with David Foster. Other producers include Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, James Horner, and Matt Serletic. It is the best-selling greatest hits album in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era. All the Way... A Decade of Song has sold over 22 million copies worldwide, including over nine million in the United States, five million in Europe, two million in Japan and one million units in Canada.
Let's Talk About Love is the fifteenth studio album and fifth English-language album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released on 14 November 1997 by Sony Music. The follow-up to the commercially successful Falling into You (1996), Let's Talk About Love showed a further progression of Dion's music. Throughout the project, she collaborated with Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, Luciano Pavarotti, Carole King, George Martin, Diana King, Brownstone, Corey Hart, and her previous producers: David Foster, Ric Wake, Walter Afanasieff, Humberto Gatica, and Jim Steinman. The album includes Dion's biggest hit, "My Heart Will Go On". Written by James Horner and Will Jennings and serving as the love theme for James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster film, Titanic, "My Heart Will Go On" topped the charts around the world and is considered to be Dion's signature song.
"My Heart Will Go On" is a song by the Canadian singer Celine Dion as the theme for James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic. The song was composed by James Horner, with lyrics by Will Jennings, and produced by Horner, Walter Afanasieff and Simon Franglen. "My Heart Will Go On" was released as a single internationally by Columbia and Epic on November 24, 1997, and was included on Dion's album Let's Talk About Love (1997) and the Titanic soundtrack.
Falling into You is the fourteenth studio album and fourth English-language album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released on 11 March 1996 by Sony Music. The follow-up to her blockbuster album The Colour of My Love (1993) and French-language D'eux (1995), Falling into You showed a further progression of Dion's music. Throughout the project she collaborated with Jim Steinman, who wrote and produced "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", among others. Several songs were produced by David Foster, including Diane Warren's "Because You Loved Me". In total, Dion worked on the album with fourteen producers and a variety of songwriters and musicians.
Unison is the ninth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion and her first English-language album. Released on 2 April 1990 by Columbia Records and Epic Records, it features a mix of dance songs and ballads influenced by 1980s soft rock. The album was produced by David Foster, Christopher Neil, Tom Keane and Andy Goldmark. Upon its release, Unison received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complimented Dion's voice and technique, as well as the album's content.
Celine Dion is the eleventh studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, and her second English-language album. It was released by Columbia Records and Epic Records on 30 March 1992, and features the Grammy and Academy Award-winning song "Beauty and the Beast", and other hits like "If You Asked Me To" and "Love Can Move Mountains". The album was produced by Walter Afanasieff, Ric Wake, Guy Roche and Humberto Gatica. It reached numbers one in Quebec and three in Canada, where it was certified Diamond for shipments of over one million copies. At the 35th Annual Grammy Awards, Celine Dion was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The album has sold over five million copies worldwide.
These Are Special Times is the seventeenth studio album and sixth English-language album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, and also her first English-language Christmas album. It was first released in Europe on 30 October 1998, by Columbia Records. In the United States, it was released on 3 November 1998 through Epic Records. The album features cover versions of popular Christmas songs and original material, including "I'm Your Angel" and "The Prayer". Dion worked with David Foster and Ric Wake, who produced most of the album. These Are Special Times was released after two of Dion's most successful third and fourth English albums, Falling into You (1996) and Let's Talk About Love (1997).
Incognito is the eighth French-language studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion and her first album on a major record label. It was released by CBS Records on 2 April 1987 in Quebec, Canada. The album features eight songs produced by Jean Roussel, Aldo Nova, and Pierre Bazinet. Six songs were released as singles in Quebec and all of them reached the top five on the Quebec Airplay Chart, including four number ones: "Incognito", "Lolita ", "Comme un cœur froid" and "D'abord, c'est quoi l'amour". Incognito was certified two-times Platinum in Canada and has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. It topped the chart in Quebec for five weeks.
"The Power of the Dream" is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released as a single in Japan on August 20, 1996. It was written and produced by David Foster, Linda Thompson, and Babyface for the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics. Dion performed it in front of more than 100,000 people, in addition to over three and a half billion television viewers. She gave away the money she received for the occasion to support Canadian athletes. USA Today listed it as the second best Olympics theme song of all time.
Flesh and Bone is the fifth studio album by singer/songwriter Richard Marx released in 1997 on Capitol Records.
Russ DeSalvo is an American producer, arranger, songwriter, and guitarist.
My Love: Essential Collection is the third English-language greatest hits album by Canadian recording artist Celine Dion. It was released by Columbia Records on 24 October 2008 as the follow-up to her previous English-language compilation, All the Way... A Decade of Song (1999). In the album's liner notes, she dedicated this collection of songs, recorded between 1990 and 2008, to her fans who supported her throughout the years. My Love: Essential Collection was released as a single disc, consisting of Dion's most successful singles, including: "My Heart Will Go On", "Because You Loved Me", "The Power of Love" and "It's All Coming Back to Me Now". The two-disc edition, entitled My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection, has been further expanded to include more hits and rare songs that have not previously appeared on her albums. Both editions include one new track, "There Comes a Time". The album was not released in Japan, where Sony Music Entertainment instead released Complete Best.
"I See You " is the official theme song recorded by British singer Leona Lewis for the 2009 film Avatar, directed by James Cameron, and its accompanying soundtrack (2009). It was written by James Horner and Kuk Harrell, with production done by Simon Franglen. A pop inspired ballad, the lyrics, which reflect the story line of the film, are about love, emotion and power. The song received multiple comparisons to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", which is the official theme song written by Horner for another film directed by Cameron, Titanic (1997). Lewis has performed the song on So You Think You Can Dance and Today, and it was included on the set list of her debut concert tour, The Labyrinth (2010). It peaked at number 47 on the Irish Singles Chart and number 24 on the US Adult Contemporary chart.
Jay Russell Oliver is an American jazz musician, composer, record producer, programmer and engineer. He began his professional music career at the age of 19 as the youngest member of Maynard Ferguson's band. His later credits include: Sheryl Crow, The Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Wynonna Judd, Glenn Frey, Peabo Bryson, Chick Corea, Dave Weckl, Russ Kunkel, Jay Graydon, AO Music, Celine Dion and many others.
Ren Klyce is a Japanese-American sound designer and sound mixer.
Intimate is a studio album by Smokey Robinson, released in 1999 on Motown Records. The album rose to No. 28 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Through the Fire is the sixteenth studio album by American singer Peabo Bryson. It was released by Columbia Records on June 14, 1994, in the United States and marked Bryson's first full-length album after the release of his number-one hit duets "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) and "A Whole New World" (1992). The singer reteamed with David Foster, Walter Afanasieff, and Dwight Watkins and consulted upcoming producers Keith Rawls, Keith Thomas and Marc Freeman to work with him on the majority of Through the Fire which was titled after Bryson's cover of the Foster-penned Chaka Khan song (1984).
Avatar: The Way of Water is the soundtrack album to the 2022 epic science fiction film Avatar: The Way of Water, directed and co-produced by James Cameron, a sequel to Avatar (2009). The album featured an original score composed by Simon Franglen and original music by Canadian singer–songwriter the Weeknd. Franglen, a friend of composer James Horner who previously composed the score for Avatar, had worked as a record producer and arranger for that film and afterwards, took on scoring duties for The Way of Water and the forthcoming sequels in Avatar franchise, following Horner's death in a plane crash in June 2015.