Brian Crosby (composer)

Brian Crosby (born 12 June 1973) is an Irish musician / producer and award-winning composer.

Career

Crosby is a founding member of the Irish band Juniper along with Damien Rice and later of Bell X1 along with Paul Noonan, Dominic Phillips and David Geraghty. In 2006 Crosby devised, curated and produced The Cake Sale, a band featuring an eclectic and high-profile collective of musicians and writers, who combined to create an album of previously unrecorded material for the international charity Oxfam. Among the artists involved were Glen Hansard, Gary Lightbody, Paul Noonan, Lisa Hannigan, Damien Rice, Nina Persson, Gemma Hayes, Neil Hannon, The Frames and The Thrills. The album was released in Ireland on 3rd November 2006. It's success in Ireland exceeded expectations and so went on to be released in Europe and the USA in 2007 through Yep Roc Records. Later in 2007, it received further recognition when the song 'Some Surprise’, was featured on the ABC medical drama Greys Anatomy. The Cake Sale’s only live appearance to date was their performance of ‘Some Surprise’ at the 2008 Meteor Awards in Dublin. To date, the project has profited over €250,000 which is used to support Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign and their overseas programme work in countries such as Tanzania and Malawi. All the publishing royalties for The Cake Sale also go to Oxfam, an unusual occurrence for a charity album.

In 2006, Crosby and Nick Seymour wrote the music score for the short movie 'Silent City' directed by Academy-Award nominated Irish director Ruairí Robinson.

In 2007, Crosby won the Prix Europa Prize for his music score for the radio drama 'Mayday' written by Veronica Coburn, which was broadcast on Irish national broadcaster RTE Radio 1. The Prix Europa is the premier international prize for radio broadcasting. During this year he also produced 'Blackbird', the debut album for the band One Day International and composed the music for the TV series 'The Modest Adventures of David O’Doherty'.

In 2008, Crosby collaborated with Irish visual artist Paddy Jolley, and composed and recorded the music score for a number of his short films. 'Fall', shown at Darklight Film Festival and Cork Film Festival in 2008 features repetitions of both destructive and calm images underscored by Crosby’s dark, minimalist, unsettlingly moving music. 'This Monkey', filmed over a number of months in the Delhi area of India, confronts the spectator with disturbing images of mans close relative, the rhesus monkey, a subject made all the more provocative by the starkly minimal, yet evocative score. In 2008 Crosby also composed the score for the short movie ‘The German’, a world war two action short directed by Irish film maker Nick Ryan.

On October 2, 2008, Brian Crosby announced his decision to leave Bell X1 following their European tour. Having juggled his work with band life for some years, he announced he would like to concentrate on film scoring and producing in the future. Crosby said on his departure:

"It's been an extraordinary privilege to be in a band with your mates for more than 15 years. I'm really grateful for everything I got to do with Bell X1, for all the adventures we had and for the great support of our fans. It's been particularly wonderful to have connected with so many people and to have got to meet people all over the world doing what I love. I look forward to continue making those connections. At the same time I'll be applauding the boys continued success."

In February 2009, Crosby produced the song "A Year and a Bit' for the Dutch band Voicst.