Marius de Vries
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| Marius de Vries | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | 1961 |
| Origin | London, United Kingdom |
| Associated acts | The Blow Monkeys |
Marius van Wyk de Vries (born 1961) is an English music producer and composer. He has been behind some of the key albums and soundtracks of recent times, gathering five Grammy nominations, two BAFTAs, and an Ivor Novello award along the way.
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[edit] Music Producer
De Vries began his music career playing keyboards for the English eighties pop-soul band The Blow Monkeys (with whom he has an ongoing creative relationship to this day), then spending the late eighties as one of the UK's most in-demand session keyboard-players/programmers and up-and-coming producers, working with artists such as Annie Lennox, The Sugarcubes, David Bowie, D Mob, Coldcut, Cathy Dennis, The Soup Dragons, Junior Reid, Brian Eno, U2, and Lisa Stansfield.
His work with The Sugarcubes led to a key role on Björk's "Debut", which marked the beginning of a long collaborative relationship with producer Nellee Hooper; the team were responsible for landmark recordings with Massive Attack, Björk, Madonna, The Sneaker Pimps, Tina Turner, and U2, and ultimately the soundtrack and score for Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet, for which de Vries - along with Hooper and co-composer Craig Armstrong - received the first of his two BAFTAs.
Since then de Vries has made records with, amongst others, Robbie Robertson, Neil Finn, Anja Garbarek, PJ Harvey, Melanie C, David Gray, Madonna, Perry Farrell, Skin, Darren Hayes, The Sugababes, Bebel Gilberto, Sophie Solomon, The Leaves, Elbow and Pet Shop Boys.
His best known work includes writing and production contributions to Björk's extended body of work, a professional relationship that has continued throughout the Icelandic singers career.
De Vries produced both of Rufus Wainwright's Want albums (Want One and Want Two), and appeared in the documentary, All I Want, discussing Wainwright's life. He is documented as saying that Wainwright's song, "I Don't Know What it Is", was one of the most complex production challenges he has ever faced, with its hundreds of layers of separate orchestral, choral, and vocal parts.
Most recently, De Vries has produced and written with Josh Groban on his multi-platinum 2007 release, Awake; mixed Rufus Wainwright's 2007 LP, Release the Stars; and produced the 2008 album A Piece of What You Need by English singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson. Thompson approached de Vries early on with the desire of them working together while de Vries was working on the Want albums with Rufus Wainwright, who is a friend of Thompson.
[edit] Composer/Film scores
De Vries was the Music Director for the 2001 film, Moulin Rouge! and worked with Nellee Hooper on the film soundtrack of Romeo + Juliet as co-composer, programmer, and co-producer. Both of these projects won de Vries BAFTA awards, and he was awarded an Ivor Novello Award for his compositional work on the former.
He also wrote the scores for Stephan Elliott's surreal thriller Eye of the Beholder as well as Elliott's adaptation of the Noel Coward comedy "Easy Virtue. The latter is notable musically for using the real singing voices of leading actors Ben Barnes, Jessica Biel, and Colin Firth[1] to great acclaim.[2]
In 2010, he co-wrote the score of Kick-Ass with John Murphy, Henry Jackman and Ilan Eshkeri. He co-produced (with Tyler Bates and Zack & Deborah Snyder) and performed on the soundtrack of Snyder's 2011 film Sucker Punch.
[edit] Composer/Other material
In 2008 De Vries created an hour-long modern-dance work with choreographer Rafael Bonachela titled "SquareMap of Q4," which premiered at the South Bank in London in February.
[edit] Personal
De Vries was born in London. He has a younger brother, Benjamin, and is related to South African music producer Piet van Wyk de Vries. He has two children, Ben and Ellie.
[edit] List of songs produced by Marius de Vries
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"11:11" by Rufus Wainwright[3] |
"My Very Best" by Elbow |
[edit] References
- ^ "Mad About the Boy - Music Video From the Easy Virtue Soundtrack". http://uk.movies.yahoo.com. http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/e/Easy-Virtue/trailers-7044979-10436689.html. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ "Compilation of reviews for "Easy Virtue" score". http://easyvirtuereview.blogspot.com. http://easyvirtuereview.blogspot.com/2009/03/easy-virtue-sounds-good-reviews-for.html. Retrieved 2009-03-167.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Liner Notes - Want One". AlbumLinerNotes.com. http://www.albumlinernotes.com/Want_One__2003_.html. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Liner Notes - Want Two". AlbumLinerNotes.com. http://www.albumlinernotes.com/Want_Two__2004_.html. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Liner Notes - A Piece of What You Need". AlbumLinerNotes.com. http://www.albumlinernotes.com/A_Piece_Of_What_You_Need.html. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
[edit] External links
- Marius de Vries interview: Brave New World
- Interview/Article
- Marius De Vries and Björk
- Easy Virtue soundtrack
- Mad About The Boy Music Video From the Easy Virtue Soundtrack
- Native Management
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