Simon Hale
| Simon Hale | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Simon Benjamin Hale[citation needed] |
| Born | 1964[citation needed] |
| Origin | Birmingham, England[citation needed] |
| Genres | Orchestral, alternative rock |
| Occupations | Composer, musician |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboards |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Associated acts | Duncan Sheik, Jamiroquai, Björk, Ian Brown, The Bays, Madness, Ray Davies, L.A.Noire |
| Website | www.simonhale.co.uk |
Simon Hale is a British composer, arranger and keyboard player in the recording industry.
Contents |
[edit] Life
Hale was born in Birmingham, England in 1964, being dually raised there and in South Manchester before moving to London,[citation needed] where he studied performance and composition[citation needed] at Goldsmiths College, University of London between 1982-85. He is married to Claire Moore.[1]
[edit] Work
He is best known for his arrangements on CDs for Jamiroquai, Björk, Duncan Sheik, Madness, Incognito, Supergrass, The Beautiful South, George Benson, Josh Groban, Charlotte Church and Robin Gibb. As well as arranging on Duncan Sheik's solo CDs, Simon has also done orchestrations on Duncan's songs for the film "A Home at the end of the world" and the Broadway Musical "Spring Awakening" which won 8 Tony awards in June 2007, including "Best Orchestrations" by Duncan and Simon. The original cast recording won the Grammy for Best Musical Show album in 2008. He has released one solo CD "East Fifteen", written for piano, trumpet/flugelhorn, tenor saxophone, percussion and strings. He appeared with The Bays at their performance as part of the Fresh Festival in Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall in January 2008. The concert was entirely improvised, including all the orchestral parts, written live on stage by Simon and John Metcalfe.[2] He orchestrated the Lincoln Center Theater production of the new musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (musical), that opened on November 4, 2010 at the Belasco Theater on Broadway.[3] This production was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations in May 2011.[4] He orchestrated and wrote choir arrangements for Ray Davies' performance at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Meltdown Festival in June 2011. He co-wrote (with Andrew Hale) the soundtrack of L.A. Noire as well as playing solo piano, orchestrating and conducting the recordings.[5]. He orchestrated a new production of Stephen Sondheim's "Company" at Sheffield Theatres at the end of 2011. [6]
[edit] Quotes
"I need to thank Simon Hale, who should be up here with me tonight because he did these amazing string arrangements for our show, and we worked together for ten years and he is awesome." Duncan Sheik acceptance speech for Tony Award "Best Orchestrations" on Spring Awakening 2007.[7]
"with the Middle-Eastern tonalities replaced by the swirling string arrangements of Simon Hale, which lends the album a melodramatic politicized tone akin to Curtis Mayfield's mid-Seventies work." Andy Gill, The Independent 23/9/2007[8]
[edit] Solo releases
"East Fifteen" EFZ Records 1994
[edit] References
- Simon Hale, full discography at Artist Direct
- Simon Hale, Allmusic
- ^ [1]
- ^ Wyse, Pascal (4 January 2008). "It's totally liberating. And scary as hell". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jan/04/jazz.urban.
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ Gill, Andy (21 September 2007). The Independent (London). http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article2984243.ece.
