James Compton (musician)
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James Compton (born 1 December 1959 in North Tawton, Devon, England) is a British musician, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and actor.
Biography
[edit]Compton moved to London in 1980 and joined his first professional band, Darts, on his 21st birthday. Three years later the entire band was cast in Yakety Yak, a musical featuring the songs of Leiber and Stoller.[citation needed] The band split in 1986. Later that year he joined Microdisney, an Irish indie band, going on to contribute to three singles and five albums.[citation needed]
Throughout his career, Compton has produced six albums and co-produced ten singles.
In 1990 he returned to the stage and went on to become musical supervisor of sixteen more musicals, eight of which had successful West End runs.[citation needed] Compton was responsible for all the music and soundscapes in Morecambe (a tribute to the British comedian Eric Morecambe) which won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for its run at the Duchess Theatre in 2009.[citation needed] More recently[when?] he participated in an off-Broadway run of The City Club, a blues and boogie-woogie musical that he composed with Tony De Meur and Tim Brown.[1] Compton also worked as composer on six motion pictures (including Dark Streets which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song), numerous television productions and various electronic media.[citation needed] Michael Caine is to be seen line dancing to Compton's guitar and piano work in the 2013 motion picture Mr. Morgan's Last Love.[2]
In 2005 he started studying for a master's degree in Electronic Arts at Middlesex University, specialising in interactive audio in computer games.
He is now working as a consultant for multimedia applications, websites and games, working to enhance narrative with sound and music.[citation needed]
Discography
[edit]| Straight Eight | 1981 | Album | Straight to the Heart | |
| Darts | 1981 | Single | Jump, Children, Jump | co-producer |
| Darts | 1981 | Single | Show us your Shoe | co-producer |
| Darts | 1981 | Album | Doo Wop Darts | |
| Darts | 1981 | Album | Darts – Across America | |
| Darts | 1983 | Single | The Mystery of Ragoula | co-producer |
| Darts | 1983 | EP | Yakety Yak | co-producer |
| Darts | 1983 | Single | Lorraine | co-producer |
| Darts | 1983 | Single | Can't Teach a Fool | co-producer |
| Darts | 1984 | Single | Groovin' | co-producer |
| Darts | 1984 | Single | Blow Away (co-written) | co-producer |
| Alison Moyet | 1984 | B-side | Hitch Hike | co-producer |
| Microdisney | 1987 | Single | Town to Town[3] | |
| Microdisney | 1987 | Single | Singer's Hampstead Home | |
| Microdisney | 1988 | Single | Gale Force Wind[4] | |
| Microdisney | 1987 | Album | Crooked Mile | |
| Microdisney | 1988 | Album | 39 Minutes | |
| Microdisney | 1995 | Album | Big Sleeping House | |
| Microdisney | 1999 | Album | The Peel Sessions Album | |
| Microdisney | 2007 | Album | Daunt Square to Elsewhere | |
| The Railway Children | 1988 | Album | Recurrence | |
| Microgroove | 1989 | Album | The Human Groove[5] | producer |
| Cast Album | 1992 | Album | Good Rockin' Tonite! | |
| Cast Album | 1998 | Album | Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens | co-producer |
| Hank Wangford | 1999 | Album | Wake Up Dead | |
| Various | 2000 | Album | Mother and Baby Relax | producer |
| Peggy Seeger | 2001 | Album | Love Will Linger On | |
| Darrel Higham | 2004 | Album | The Cochran Collection Vol.2 | |
| J Evans Band | 2005 | Album | In the Wild Years | producer |
| Soundtrack | 2006 | Album | O Jerusalem | songwriter |
| Soundtrack | 2008 | Album | Dark Streets | songwriter |
| Paul Ansell's Number 9 | 2011 | Album | Money and Lies | |
| Paul Ansell's Number 9 | 2013 | Album | A Date with Paul Ansell's No. 9 | |
| Cast Album | 2013 | Album | Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens 2 | producer |
Theatre
[edit]| 1983 | Yakety Yak[6] | musical director, actor, multi instrumentalist | West End, Astoria Theatre and international tour |
| 1990 | Beehive; The Sixties Musical | musical supervisor, instrumentalist | Newcastle, Northern Stage |
| 1991 | Good Rockin' Tonite! | musical director, actor, multi instrumentalist | West End, Prince of Wales |
| 1992 | Leader of the Pack | musical supervisor and arranger | West End, Duke of Yorks |
| 1993 | Forever Plaid | musical director, instrumentalist | West End, Apollo Theatre |
| 1994 | The Queen and I[7] | musical supervisor | Royal Court & Vaudeville Theatre |
| 1995 | The Man of Mode | musical supervisor, composer | Tour |
| 1995 | Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat | musical supervisor and arranger | Lyric Theatre, Belfast |
| 1996 | Elvis: The Musical | musical director, actor, multi instrumentalist | West End, Prince of Wales |
| 1997 | Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens[8] | musical director, composer, instrumentalist | West End, Queens Theatre and tour |
| 1998 | Four Steps to Heaven | musical director, multi instrumentalist | West End, Piccadilly Theatre and tour |
| 2001 | Puppetry of the Penis | musical supervisor, composer | West End, Whitehall Theatre |
| 2001–2004 | Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens[8] | musical supervisor, composer | Saucy Jack's Bar, London |
| 2006 | The City Club[9][10] | musical supervisor, actor, instrumentalist | Edinburgh Festival |
| 2009 | Morecambe[11] | musical supervisor, composer and sound designer | West End, Duchess Theatre and tour |
| 2011 | Stop Dreamin' | musical supervisor, instrumentalist | Theatre Royal Windsor and tour |
| 2012 | The City Club | musical supervisor, composer | Minetta Lane Theatre, Manhattan |
TV and multimedia
[edit]| 1983 | Camel cinema advert | co-producer | |
| 1984 | Rubik's Cube video | composer and producer | |
| 1989 | Comic Asides | arranger and actor | BBC 2 |
| 1997 | The Jack Docherty Show | performer and composer | Channel 5 |
| 1998 | Back to the Future | composer and producer of title music | ITV |
| 2000 | Trigger Happy TV | musician on soundtrack | Channel 4 |
| 2001 | The Tweenies Game | composer for multimedia game | Sonica |
| 2002 | The Magic Drum | composer for multimedia game | Sonica |
| 2003 | Maestromediaservices | creator of audio content for sound library | |
| 2002 | Guildband.com | audio content creator | website |
| 2004 | Gunfight | audio content creator for animation | Shagrat.net[12] |
| 2004 | Flight to Cancun | audio content creator for animation | Student Universehttp://www.shagrat.net/[13] |
| 2005 | Electronic Arts | start master's degree in interactive audio | Middlesex University |
| 2007–2009 | Top Rockers | create backing tracks and sound design for animatronic rock and roll puppet shows | Thorpe Park |
| 2010 | Plunderland | sound designer and composer for game app | JohnnyTwoShoes[14] |
Film
[edit]| 2004 | Film as Subversive Art[15] | music editor and arranger | Sticking Place Films |
| 2006 | O Jerusalem[16] | songwriter | Samuel Goldwyn Films |
| 2008 | Dark Streets | lead composer for film-noire musical | Samuel Goldwyn Films |
| 2009 | The Tournament | songwriter | AV Pictures |
| 2009 | The Ministers | songwriter | Allumbra Pictures |
| 2010 | Lullaby for Pi | arranger | Rezo Films |
| 2013 | Mr Morgan's Last Love | musician on soundtrack | Image Entertainment |
References
[edit]- ^ Propst, Andy (18 September 2019). "NY Review: 'The City Club'". Backstage. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ "Ausschnitt aus Mr Morgans Last Love: Tanzschule | TrailerSeite FILM.TV". Trailerseite.de. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "Microdisney - Town To Town". YouTube. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "Microdisney Gale Force Wind". YouTube. 7 November 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "Microgroove - The Human Groove (Vinyl, LP, Album)". Discogs.com. 5 April 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ monyc8. "Darts & The McGanns - Yakety Yak Live Show 1983 - Neighbourhood". YouTube. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Production of The Queen & I". Theatricalia.com. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ a b "SJSV - Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens - The Official Site". Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ The City Club - Off-Broadway. "Broadway Buzz | The City Club - Off-Broadway". Broadway.com. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "Theater Online". Theater Online. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ Culture Critics (15 December 2009). "Morecambe at the Duchess Theatre, review". Telegraph. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "Creative warrior". Shagrat.net. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "Creative warrior". Shagrat.net. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "JohnnyTwoShoes — Plunderland iPhone". Johnnytwoshoes.com. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "Film as Subversive Art". IMDb.com. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "O Jerusalem". IMDb.com. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
