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Isabella Summers

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Isabella Summers
Summers in 2011
Summers in 2011
Background information
Birth nameIsabella Janet Florentina Summers
Also known asIsa Machine
Born (1980-10-31) 31 October 1980 (age 44)
Hackney, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
  • producer
  • composer
  • remixer
Years active2008–present
LabelsUniversal Publishing
Member ofFlorence + the Machine

Isabella Janet Florentina Summers[1][2] (born 31 October 1980)[3] is an English Emmy-nominated film Composer, songwriter/producer and musician. She is best known as the architect of the sound of the 6x Grammy nominated indie rock band Florence and the Machine and spent 14 years writing, producing, touring, and composing her cinematic sound before making the jump from pop music to composing for film and television.

Early life

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Summers lived her first nine years in Hackney, London.[4] When Summers was ten, her family moved to Aldeburgh, Suffolk. There Summers attended Woodbridge School,[5] had piano lessons and grew an interest in music, crediting some influence from mixtapes made by her father with "a very eclectic mixture of everything and anything from Beethoven to Bob Dylan, rarities, poetry, even the Shipping forecast".[6] Hip-hop was a preferred genre, as her neighbours gave her a tape with Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle (1993) and 6 Feet Deep (1994) by Gravediggaz, and she would also spend evenings with fishermen's sons "who smoked loads of weed and listened to hard American rap."[7][3]

Career

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Summers moved to East Dulwich,[6] back in London, where she would get a fine arts degree at Central Saint Martins. While there, she bought a set of DJ mixers to learn how to mix, while also doing side jobs such as being a courier for Top of the Pops and transcriptions and film digitizing for Alan Parker.[5] Soon she was working with Dan Greenpeace on his 'All City Show' radio show on XFM London, an experience that led Summers to buy her first MPC which was installed at the cupboard of her shared flat. With the help of a friend she started a studio in a former plastics factory at Crystal Palace, and began making hip hop.[7] During this time, Summers worked with, amongst others, Kashmere, The Iguana Man, IRS Crew, MBC Crew, Inja and The Last Skeptik. She met Florence Welch through art school and DJ work, as Welch was attending the Camberwell College of Arts.[8]

As Summers was hired to remix songs by the band Ludes, Welch became a more common sight at her studio given she was dating Ludes' guitarist Matt Alchin, and even impressed Summers with her singing. One day, as Summers got into a creative rut, which she described as getting "sick of boys telling me what to do", she thought of writing pop music with a woman, and invited Welch to make songs with her. Following a day joining Summers' beats with Welch's lyrics, they began writing demos together, which were produced by Summers by banging on the walls to make drum sounds and using the string sounds from her keyboard. It was also during this period that Summers saw a man on the street carrying a "coffin shaped box" and asked him what it was, it turned out to be Tom Monger carrying his harp, Summers suggested that he play on the demos that became 'Dog Days Are Over' and 'Between Two Lungs'. This led to their performing together for a time under the name Florence Robot/Isa Machine, the project was renamed Florence and the Machine. Summers had only thought of being a producer and songwriter on the project but ended up also as the group's keyboardist, with her second gig being the 2007 Glastonbury Festival. Summers has co-written and produced on Florence and the Machine's first three albums Lungs (2009), Ceremonials (2011) and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015).[9] As of June 2016, 'Dog Days Are Over' has had over 3,151,000 downloads in the United States alone. The track 'Dog Days Are Over' was used in Marvel's 2023 movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.[10] 'Dog Days Are Over' was referenced on Drake's track 'Rich Baby Daddy' featuring SZA and Sexyy Red from his 2023 album 'For All The Dogs'.[11]

Summers has also written, produced and remixed tracks for artists including Beyoncé, Juliette Lewis, Jennifer Hudson, Jasmine Thompson, Cara Delevingne, Chloe x Halle, Flux Pavilion, Rita Ora, Judith Hill, LP and The Game.[12][13][14][15]

Summers had created the main title song "Was It Love" for the Sky Atlantic series Riviera,[16] and provided her friend Sam Levinson the song "Rage" for his film Assassination Nation (2018),[17] when right after finishing the High as Hope Tour, that film's music supervisor Mary Ramos invited Summers for her first composing gig in a team-up with Mark Isham, scoring the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere,[18] which won her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.[19] Summers followed it by composing the score for the Prime Video series Panic alongside Brian H. Kim,[20] and Netflix's Sex/Life in another collaboration with Isham.[21] Her first solo composing gig was the Apple TV show Physical, whose 1980s setting led to a score full of "crazy synths and over-the-top guitar solos".[22] Afterwards Summers scored her first movie, Call Jane (2022),[23] and the Paramount+ show The Offer.[24] In 2022 Summers scored Sony's 3000 Pictures and Netflix film Lady Chatterly's Lover, directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and starring Emma Corrin and Jack O'Connell. In 2023 Summers scored the Apple TV+ adult animation series Strange Planet by Dan Harmon and Nathan W. Pyle released on August 9, 2023.[25] Following this she also scored the third and final season of Physical for Apple TV+ released on August 2, 2023.[26] In 2023, Summers scored the soundtrack for the Focus Features film Lisa Frankenstein, directed by Zelda Williams released February 2024. She also scored the film Breathe, directed by Stefon Bristol and starring Jennifer Hudson, which was released in April 2024. She wrote the original score for the Netflix show KAOS released in August 2024 and the animated comedy Hitpig! released in November of 2024. Forthcoming projects include making her documentary scoring debut on the upcoming feature Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. The film is directed by Jeremy O. Harris and follows the playwright as he deconstructs his Tony-nominated play Slave Play.

Summers was invited by the Cy Twombly Foundation in conjuncture with Gagosian Gallery to interpret Cy Twombly's sculptures into music for their 2019 London exhibition 'Cy Twombly Sculpture', the piece titled 'To Neptune, Ruler of the Seas Profound' was interwoven with quotations from poems and literary texts by authors who have served as muses or subjects for Twombly, including Homer, Stéphane Mallarmé, and William Butler Yeats. The performance expands on a composition Summers performed in Rome in May 2022 at the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio.[27] Furthermore Summers performed it a third time at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills in 2022 to a sold out audience.

In the summer of 2024 Isabella Summers performed at The National Gallery in collaboration with Pipeline. Summers responded in music and spoken word to two paintings by Caravaggio 'The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula' and 'Salome and the Head of John The Baptist'. The paintings made up the exhibition 'The Last Caravaggio', held at The National Gallery. In Autumn 2024 Isabella wrote the music for the soundtrack to the Vivienne Westwood Tunis Fashion Week 2024 show.


Discography

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Year Artist Album Track Role(s) Label Note
Writer Producer
2009 Florence and the Machine Lungs "Are You Hurting the One You Love" Yes Island Records
"Between Two Lungs" Yes Yes
"Cosmic Love" Yes Yes Also remixed with DJ Lexxx Remix
"Dog Days Are Over" Yes Yes
"Falling" Yes Yes
"Ghosts" Yes
"Hardest of Hearts" Yes
"Hospital Beds" Yes
"I'm Not Calling You a Liar" Yes Yes
2011 Ceremonials "All This And Heaven Too" Yes Island Records
"No Light, No Light" Yes
"Remain Nameless" Yes Yes Deluxe edition bonus track
Ivan Ink 'n' Isa Ivan Ink 'n' Isa - EP "Caught in Symmetry" Yes Yes Brink Records
"Lover's Kiss" Yes Yes
"Silver Or Lead" Yes Yes
"Standing on a Hill" Yes Yes
2012 Dia Frampton Red "Bullseye" Yes Yes Universal Republic
Florence and the Machine Snow White and the Huntsman "Breath of Life" Yes Yes Island Records
Sam Sparro Return to Paradise "Shades of Grey" Yes EMI
2013 Angel Haze Dirty Gold "Rose Tinted Suicide" Yes Yes Island Records
2014 LP Forever For Now "Forever For Now" Yes Yes Warner Bros. Records
"Some day" Yes Yes
"Road To Ruin" Yes Yes
Iggy Azalea Reclassified "Trouble" Yes Virgin EMI Records Featuring Jennifer Hudson.
The Game (et al.) Single "Don't Shoot" Yes Multiple labels Feat. Diddy, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, DJ Khaled, and others.
2015 Florence and the Machine How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful "Delilah" Yes Island Records
"How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful" Yes Yes
"Which Witch" Yes Yes
Flux Pavilion Tesla "Never See the Light" Yes Yes Circus Recordings Featuring Andrea Martin
Katharine McPhee Hysteria "Hysteria" Yes Yes eOne
"Burn" Yes Yes
"Lick My Lips " Yes Yes
"Don't Need Love" Yes Yes
Isa Machine and LP Rock the Kasbah "Torch" Yes Yes Varèse Sarabande
2017 Isabella Summers featuring Lena Riviera (TV Series Soundtrack) "Was It Love" Yes Yes Island Records
2018 Isabella Summers Assassination Nation "Rage" Yes Yes Lakeshore Records
2020 Isabella Summers and Mark Isham Little Fires Everywhere Entire score Yes Yes Hollywood Records
2021 Isabella Summers and Brian H. Kim Panic Entire score Yes Yes Milan Records
Tate McRae "The Darkest Hour" Yes Yes
Isabella Summers and Mark Isham Sex/Life Entire score Yes Yes N/A
Isabella Summers Physical Entire score Yes Yes Lakeshore Records
Paradise City Entire score Yes Yes Sumerian Records
2022 Call Jane Entire score Yes Yes N/A
The Offer Entire score Yes Yes Paramount Music
Lady Chatterley's Lover Entire Score Yes Yes Netflix Music
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Entire Score Yes Yes Self-published
Isabella Summers and Elise McQueen Devil in Ohio "The Gift of the Rose" Yes Netflix Music
2023 Isabella Summers Strange Planet Entire score Yes Yes N/A
Wild Sea Whole album Yes Yes Self-published
2024 Lisa Frankenstein Entire score Yes Yes Back Lot Music
Breathe Entire score Yes Yes N/A
Hitpig! Entire score Yes Yes Lakeshore Records
KAOS Entire score Yes Yes Netflix Music

References

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  1. ^ American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) IPI no. 565587995
  2. ^ "Isabella Janet Florentina Summers - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  3. ^ a b Extraordinary Machine: Isa Machine, Notion
  4. ^ literature, TIMOTHY HAN / EDITION | Inspired by. "Isabella Summers". TIMOTHY HAN / EDITION | Inspired by literature.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b Aldeburgh: Florence and the Machine writer set to release new music Archived 26 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, EADT
  6. ^ a b "15 questions | Interview | Isabella Summers | Queen of the Road". 15questions.net.
  7. ^ a b Shannon, Aideen. "Isabella Summers". 1883, June 2012
  8. ^ Howe, Zoe (2012). Florence + The Machine: An Almighty Sound. Music Sales Group. ISBN 9781780385136.
  9. ^ "Isabella Summers Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  10. ^ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (9 May 2023). "'Guardians of the Galaxy' fans are crying over that Florence + the Machine needle-drop—and so is Florence Welch". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  11. ^ Interviews, Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews &; ClashMusic (6 October 2023). "Drake - For All The Dogs | Reviews". Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews. Retrieved 6 October 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "Isabella Summers - Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  13. ^ "The Truth About Cara's Singing Career". British Vogue. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  14. ^ "The Songs In 'Little Fires Everywhere' Will Make You Want To Break Out Your Discman". Bustle. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Laura L P Pergolizzi and Isabella Summers of Florence and the Machine... | FilmMagic | 142749447". www.filmmagic.com. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Isabella Summers Writes Theme Song for TV Series Riviera". www.umusicpub.com. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  17. ^ Hemmert, Kylie (26 September 2018). "Interview | 'Assassination Nation' Composer Creates a Killer Score".
  18. ^ Grobar, Matt (17 August 2020). "'Little Fires Everywhere' Composers Mark Isham & Isabella Summers Talk Moment Of Creative Breakthrough On Hulu Miniseries". Deadline. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  19. ^ "Isabella Summers". Television Academy. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  20. ^ Central, Film Music (31 May 2021). "Isabella Summers". Film Music Central. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  21. ^ "Mark Isham & Isabella Summers Scoring Netflix's 'Sex/Life'". Film Music Reporter. 27 September 2021.
  22. ^ Ottewil, Jim. "Isabella Summers on Florence + the Machine to Emmy-nominated scores". composer.spitifreaudio.com. Spitifire Audio. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  23. ^ "ASCAP Screen Time Ep. 18 - Isabella Summers + Phyllis Nagy talk Call Jane". 24 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  24. ^ Sgammato, Greg (31 May 2022). "The Offer with Isabella Summers". Society of Composers and Lyricists.
  25. ^ Petski, Denise (6 July 2023). "'Strange Planet': Dan Harmon & Nathan Pyle's Adult Animated Series Gets Apple Premiere Date". Deadline. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  26. ^ Andreeva, Rosy Cordero,Nellie; Cordero, Rosy; Andreeva, Nellie (17 May 2023). "'Physical': Rose Byrne-Led Apple TV+ Series To End With Season 3; Premiere Date Set". Deadline. Retrieved 7 July 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ "Isabella Summers: To Neptune, Ruler of the Seas Profound". Gagosian. 25 November 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
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Media related to Isabella Summers at Wikimedia Commons

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