Michael J McEvoy
Encyclopedia
Michael J McEvoy is a screen composer
, orchestrator and multi-instrumentalist. He began studying music as a child but his music education developed quickly after his family relocated to London
, England in 1973. McEvoy attended the William Ellis Boys Grammar School in London and was a member of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra
, attending the Centre for Young Musicians Saturday music school studying Viola and Piano. McEvoy went to the Leeds College of Music
but left after one term, choosing instead to perform with saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, in his then band Big Chief.
on a range of projects including albums by Delta 5
, Orange Juice
, Scritti Politti
, and Ian Dury
. In 1988 he met the No.1 Pop group Curiosity Killed The Cat
and joined the group for their second album Getahead as a co-writer and keyboard player. In 1989 he scored his first feature film, Vroom, (Dir. Beeban Kidron, 1989) followed by Bearskin in 1990.
for their album Volume II: 1990 New Decade and soul diva Teena Marie
('Since Day One', Ivory (album)
. Throughout the 1990s McEvoy scored a number of long form documentaries and was the Musical Director on tours with Soul II Soul and Steve Winwood
, playing keyboards and guitar. During this period he recorded extensively in the studio, arranging strings on several Soul II Soul tracks and playing keyboards and guitar on the hit record by Mark Morrison
, Return of the Mack (1995). His involvement with Steve Winwood started when Winwood decided in 1994 to reform Traffic. One of the original musicians in the group, bass player Rosko Gee, recommended McEvoy.
In 2003, McEvoy attended The Royal College of Music
where he was the PRS Sir Arthur Bliss Memorial Scholar and gained a MMus in Composition for Screen. On graduating in July 2005 he was awarded the Joseph Horovitz Prize for Screen Composition, the first time it had been awarded since 2001. McEvoy then took on the role of Area Leader for the Screen Composition at The Royal College of Music, a post he held from September 2005 until August 2008.
In 2007 he worked closely as an orchestrator and co-writer with DJ and record producer Paul Oakenfold
on the score for an award winning Japanese anime feature film called Vexille
, directed by Fumihiko Sori
and the following year Nothing Like the Holidays directed by Alfredo De Villa. In 2008 Michael had the opportunity to work with filmmaker Richard Linklater
on Me and Orson Welles
. Michael wrote original music, coached Zac Efron
in ukelele and had an acting role playing Orson Welles' musical director for the Mercury Theater production of Caesar. Other credits include the title music theme for Series 3 (2009) of the British live music TV series Live From Abbey Road
.
In 2010 McEvoy scored two Independant UK features, Forget Me Not (2010, Dir. Alex Holt & Lance Roehrig) and Just Inès
.
Since 2010 TV work in the UK has included scores for a new 20 part Nickelodean TV series called Summer in Transylvania
and series 4 of the UK BAFTA nominated BBC series Dani's House
.
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
, orchestrator and multi-instrumentalist. He began studying music as a child but his music education developed quickly after his family relocated to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England in 1973. McEvoy attended the William Ellis Boys Grammar School in London and was a member of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra
London Schools Symphony Orchestra
The London Schools Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra with musicians drawn from students in London schools, and featuring professional conductors and soloists. It was founded in 1951. Its founder and original director was the late Dr Leslie Russell, at one time assisted by Niso Ticciati....
, attending the Centre for Young Musicians Saturday music school studying Viola and Piano. McEvoy went to the Leeds College of Music
Leeds College of Music
Leeds College of Music, located in Leeds’ Quarry Hill cultural quarter, is the largest music college in the United Kingdom, with over 1,000 full-time and 1,000 part-time students. The college is best known for its leading role in jazz education and started one of the first jazz degrees in Europe...
but left after one term, choosing instead to perform with saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, in his then band Big Chief.
1980s
He worked as an apprentice studio recording engineer at Matrix Studio in London where he came into contact with legendary African percussionist, Reebop Kwaku Baah (Jimmy Cliff, Traffic, Can). After much professional experience as a session musician and arranger, working with producer Adam KidronAdam Kidron
Adam Kidron is a British-born ex-music producer, serial entrepreneur, and the ex-Chief Executive Officer of Urban Box Office , a reggaeton and urban Latino record label based in New York City. He is currently the Managing Partner of 4food, a fast-healthy food concept launching in New York in 2009...
on a range of projects including albums by Delta 5
Delta 5
-Career:The original members of Delta 5, Julz Sale , Ros Allen and Bethan Peters , formed the band "on a lark", but soon became a part of the thriving Leeds post-punk scene, and later added Kelvin Knight on drums and Alan Riggs on guitar...
, Orange Juice
Orange Juice
Orange Juice was a Scottish post-punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes. The band...
, Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti are a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Although there have been various changes to the line-up, Cardiff-born singer-songwriter Green Gartside was the founding member of the band and the only member to have remained throughout the group's...
, and Ian Dury
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
. In 1988 he met the No.1 Pop group Curiosity Killed The Cat
Curiosity Killed the Cat
Curiosity Killed the Cat was a British pop band that found success in the UK Singles Chart in the late 1980s and early 1990s.-Career:The band tried to play soulful, jazzy, and funky pop music and was initially signed to Phonogram Records' Mercury imprint. They first came to notice of the UK music...
and joined the group for their second album Getahead as a co-writer and keyboard player. In 1989 he scored his first feature film, Vroom, (Dir. Beeban Kidron, 1989) followed by Bearskin in 1990.
1990s
He was signed to Sony Music Publishing as a songwriter from 1990-1994 during which time he wrote songs with Soul II SoulSoul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British group that was created in London in 1988. They are best known for their 1989 UK chart-topper and U.S. Top 5 hit, "Back to Life ".-Career:...
for their album Volume II: 1990 New Decade and soul diva Teena Marie
Teena Marie
Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, was an American singer, songwriter and producer...
('Since Day One', Ivory (album)
Ivory (album)
"Ivory" is the fifteenth maxi single by Dragon Ash; released in 2006. It was part of the countdown to Dragon Ash's tenth anniversary album Independiente released in 2007. The song's music video was captured in Saipan, CNMI.-Track listing:#"Ivory" – 4:30...
. Throughout the 1990s McEvoy scored a number of long form documentaries and was the Musical Director on tours with Soul II Soul and Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
, playing keyboards and guitar. During this period he recorded extensively in the studio, arranging strings on several Soul II Soul tracks and playing keyboards and guitar on the hit record by Mark Morrison
Mark Morrison
Mark Morrison is a British R&B singer. He was the most successful UK R&B singer of the mid-90s and the first black male solo artist to reach number one in the 90s. His single "Return of the Mack" became a #1 or Top 10 hit in several European countries in 1996...
, Return of the Mack (1995). His involvement with Steve Winwood started when Winwood decided in 1994 to reform Traffic. One of the original musicians in the group, bass player Rosko Gee, recommended McEvoy.
Film and TV work
Many of McEvoy's long form documentary work has been done with director Gary Johnstone. Documentaries with Johnstone and include ITN Factuals Battle of Hood and Bismarck and Einstein's Big Idea for the PBS series Nova series. Other notable documentaries include BBCs Storyville: French Beauty directed by Pascale Lamche.In 2003, McEvoy attended The Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
where he was the PRS Sir Arthur Bliss Memorial Scholar and gained a MMus in Composition for Screen. On graduating in July 2005 he was awarded the Joseph Horovitz Prize for Screen Composition, the first time it had been awarded since 2001. McEvoy then took on the role of Area Leader for the Screen Composition at The Royal College of Music, a post he held from September 2005 until August 2008.
In 2007 he worked closely as an orchestrator and co-writer with DJ and record producer Paul Oakenfold
Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...
on the score for an award winning Japanese anime feature film called Vexille
Vexille
is a 2007 Japanese CGI anime film, written, directed, and edited by famed Ping Pong director Fumihiko Sori, and features the voices of Meisa Kuroki, Yasuko Matsuyuki, and Shosuke Tanihara....
, directed by Fumihiko Sori
Fumihiko Sori
Fumihiko Sori is a Japanese film director and film producer. He received a nomination for the 'Best Director' prize at the Japanese Academy Awards for his directing debut, Ping Pong.-Director:*2002 Ping Pong*2007 Vexille*2008 Ichi...
and the following year Nothing Like the Holidays directed by Alfredo De Villa. In 2008 Michael had the opportunity to work with filmmaker Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater
-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
on Me and Orson Welles
Me and Orson Welles
Me and Orson Welles is a 2009 period-drama film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Zac Efron, Christian McKay, and Claire Danes. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to perform in Orson Welles's stage production of...
. Michael wrote original music, coached Zac Efron
Zac Efron
Zachary David Alexander "Zac" Efron is an American actor. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and became known with his lead roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, the WB series Summerland, and the 2007 film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray...
in ukelele and had an acting role playing Orson Welles' musical director for the Mercury Theater production of Caesar. Other credits include the title music theme for Series 3 (2009) of the British live music TV series Live From Abbey Road
Live from Abbey Road
Live from Abbey Road is a 12-part, one-hour performance series/documentary that began filming its first season during 2006 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Season 2 was filmed between 2007 and 2008, season 3 was filmed in 2009 and Season 4 was filmed in 2011...
.
In 2010 McEvoy scored two Independant UK features, Forget Me Not (2010, Dir. Alex Holt & Lance Roehrig) and Just Inès
Just Inès
Just Inès is a 2010 British film written and directed by Marcel Grant. The film follows Tom Jackson, played by renowned UK actor Daniel Weyman, through a period of redemption after a prison sentence for domestic violence...
.
Since 2010 TV work in the UK has included scores for a new 20 part Nickelodean TV series called Summer in Transylvania
Summer in Transylvania
Summer in Transylvania is a live action children's television programme currently showing on Nickelodeon . The programme, originally called Freaky Farleys, was renamed Summer in Transylvania and was filmed in Hendon, London...
and series 4 of the UK BAFTA nominated BBC series Dani's House
Dani's House
Dani's House is a UK BAFTA-nominated Series produced BBC children's sitcom, starring actress Dani Harmer. The series started broadcast on 26 September 2008, three series have now aired and a fourth is currently being broadcast on CBBC, it started on 16 September 2011. A fifth series was...
.
External links
- http://www.michaeljmcevoy.com Michael J McEvoy's personal site
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0568580 IMDB entry
- http://www.screenedmusic.co.uk/profile.aspx?UserListID=195
- http://www.ascap.com/playback/2005/summer/stepping_out/featured.html
- http://www.ascap.com/playback/2009/12/FACES_PLACES/LONDONCALLING/Rising_to_the_Challenge.aspx