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Anne Dudley

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For other people named Anne Dudley, see Anne Dudley (disambiguation).

Anne Dudley
Dudley on 30 March 2014
Dudley on 30 March 2014
Background information
Birth nameAnne Jennifer Beckingham
Born (1956-05-07) 7 May 1956 (age 68)
Beckenham, Kent, England
GenresElectronica, synthpop, new wave, pop, film score
Occupation(s)Composer, pianist
Instrument(s)Synthesizers, piano
Websitewww.annedudley.co.uk

Anne Dudley (born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. Dudley was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001.[1] Dudley has worked in both the classical and pop genres, but she is perhaps best known as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and as a film composer. In 1998, she won an Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score for The Full Monty. In addition to over twenty other film scores, in 2012 she also served as music producer for the film version of Les Misérables, [2] also acting as arranger and composing some new additional music.

Career

Dudley was born Anne Jennifer Beckingham, in Beckenham, Kent. Trained as a classical performer, she moved into the competitive commercial field as a session musician, where her professional relationship with Trevor Horn began. In 1982, Dudley made significant contributions to the Horn-produced The Lexicon of Love album by ABC. She went from fleshing-out keyboard parts to scoring the album's orchestrations (her first ever string arrangements according to Horn[3]) and also co-writing some of the songs. Her association with Horn, led on to working with musical artists such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Seal, Marc Almond, Rod Stewart, Robbie Williams and more recently with Siphiwo. She has co-written songs with Malcolm McLaren "Buffalo Gals", Cathy Dennis "Too Many Walls", and a 1930s-inspired song with Sting called "This Was Never Meant To Be".

As a producer, Dudley produced Tom Jones hit "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (1988) and a Debbie Harry single "Strike Me Pink" (1993). Dudley produced two tracks on the 2002 Opera Babes album "Beyond Imagination" (ranking No.1 on the UK classical charts for 11 weeks, and No.4 on the US billboard charts). In 2004 she produced the album Voice for Alison Moyet. The album, an eclectic collection of covers, reached No.7 in the UK charts.

Dudley was a founding member of the successful band Art of Noise, which helped pioneer the use of sampling within the pop genre. Stand-out hits include Beat Box (1984), Moments in Love (1985) and Kiss with Tom Jones (1988).

Dudley's work for orchestra includes "Northern Lights", a 14-minute reflection of Norway's Aurora Borealis for full orchestra, performed in 2005 and 2006 at the Royal Festival Hall and broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction programme in May 2005. Her first commission as Composer in Association with the BBC Concert Orchestra was "Music and Silence", music inspired by the novel of the same name by Rose Tremain, first performed at The Royal Festival Hall in 2002. Dudley arranged Bach's Chaconne from Partita in D minor for Piano trio and a recording by the Eroica Trio appears on their "Baroque" album. Her album "Ancient and Modern" was released in 1999 and is a modern take on some traditional hymns and Bach chorales. Dudley was the musical director for "Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra", first performed in Brighton then at The Royal Albert Hall in 2008, which was recorded and released as a DVD in December 2009. The show was toured in 2009 with 8 different regional orchestras joining the banter – the gags are surreal – the orchestra play the Nokia theme tune and a French Horn concerto turns into the theme from Coronation Street.

Dudley collaborated with Sam Taylor-Wood in producing the sound and video installation "Sigh" at the White Cube in 2008. This work featured the BBC Concert Orchestra on eight large projected screens, miming to Dudley's score.

Film scores

Dudley's career in film music has spanned 20 years and her film scores include:

Her TV music includes:

Session musician work

Dudley has worked as a session musician for many artists and her string and orchestral arrangements crop up on a diverse array of albums. These include:

In 2012, Dudley worked as a pianist, orchestrator, producer, and composer of additional music on the film adaptation of the musical Les Misérables.

Awards

In addition to Dudley's Academy Award for "The Full Monty", she has received a number of awards and nominations. Brit Awards:

  • She won a "Brit Award" for Best Soundtrack (1998), also for "The Full Monty".
  • Previously she was awarded a "Brit" for "Buster", Best British Soundtrack 1989.

Grammy Awards:

She was made a Fellow of The Royal College of Music in 2004. In July 2011 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent.

Personal life

Dudley lives in Hertfordshire, England, with her recording engineer husband Roger Dudley and daughter Angela.

Discography (not including work from Art of Noise)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Anne Dudley". BBC Concert Orchestra. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  2. ^ "Anne Dudley biography". imdb.com. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Trevor Horn". Red Bull Music Academy Lecture, Madrid 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
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