Andrew John Skeet (born 1969 in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

) is an English musician, composer and music producer. He has written scores for television and film and worked with many well-known composers and artists as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor.

Biography

Andrew Skeet attended Trinity Boys School in Croydon where, as a boy singer, he appeared on soundtracks such as ''

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'', also known simply as ''The Meaning of Life'', is a 1983 British musical sketch comedy film written and performed by the Monty Python troupe, directed by Terry Jones. ''The Meaning of Life'' was the last f ...

'',

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

's '' Yentl'' and '' Another Country'' starring

Rupert Everett Rupert James Hector Everett (; born 29 May 1959) is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film '' Another Country'' (1984) as a gay pupil at an English public scho ...

as Guy Bennett and

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as Tommy Judd. Skeet then studied music at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

and at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

in London.

Professional life

Television and film commissions

With former

Howie B Howard Simon Bernstein (born 18 April 1963, Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish musician, producer and DJ who has worked with artists including Björk, U2, Tricky, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soul II Soul, Robbie Robertson, Elisa, Mukul Deo ...

collaborator Luke Gordon, Skeet established the production company Roxbury Music and their music has been used extensively on British television. Programmes which have featured music by Roxbury include ''

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'', '' Dispatches'', ''

Banged Up Abroad ''Banged Up Abroad'' (rebadged as ''Locked Up Abroad'' in Asia and the United States, and ''Jailed Abroad'' in India, for the National Geographic Channel) is a British documentary/docudrama television series created by Bart Layton that was pro ...

'', ''Britain's Lost World'', '' Freaky Eaters'', '' What Katie Did Next'', ''Gumball's 3000 Miles'', ''Kali'', a collaboration with

Mike Figgis Michael Figgis (born 28 February 1948) is an English film director, screenwriter, and composer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for his work on '' Leaving Las Vegas'' (1995). Figgis was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers' ...

for the

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

and ''Locked Up Abroad''. Their music has been heard all over the world with tracks released on a series of library albums for Universal on the Atmosphere label, Chappell and Bruton. Skeet has scored several feature-length documentaries including '' Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer'', ''Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web'', ''Destination Unknown'' and '' How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire'' and has released two acclaimed and highly successful albums of video game music with the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

Composer

Skeet was signed to Sony Classics in 2014 and released his first solo album, ''Finding Time''.

Collaborations

Skeet is a member of

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland. He is the founder and frontman of the chamber pop group the Divine Comedy, and is the band's only constant member since its inception in 1989. H ...

the Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest wor ...

and has worked as an arranger and orchestrator for artists such as

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

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and James Lavelle's

Unkle Unkle (often stylised as U.N.K.L.E. or UNKLE, occasionally known as UNKLE Sounds) is a British musical outfit founded in 1992 by James Lavelle. Originally categorised as trip hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a ...

. With Neil Hannon he has toured regularly as

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

and keyboard player of the Divine Comedy following the departure of

Joby Talbot Joby Talbot (born 25 August 1971) is a British composer. He has written for a wide variety of purposes, with a broad range of styles, including instrumental and vocal concert music, film and television scores, pop arrangements and works for dan ...

and has appeared on three albums as arranger and conductor; Hannon's ninth album '' Victory for the Comic Muse'', released in June 2006, 2010's '' Bang Goes the Knighthood'' and the 2016 release '' Foreverland''. In November 2010 Skeet collaborated with Grammy-award-winning artist

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap ( ; born 9 December 1977) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur. She is considered a pioneer in pop music, particularly electropop, and in music technology. While attending the ...

on an orchestral score played live to picture called ''Love the Earth'', which premiered at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. They also worked together on a choral commission for the Bird's Eye Festival at the BFI – an a cappella choral score to the first ever surrealist film ''

The Seashell and the Clergyman ''The Seashell and the Clergyman'' () is a 1928 French experimental film directed by Germaine Dulac, from an original scenario by Antonin Artaud. It premiered in Paris on 9 February 1928. The film is associated with French Surrealism. Synopsis ...

'' (

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, 1928) with the Holst Singers. Skeet regularly works with TV and film composer

Daniel Pemberton Daniel Pemberton (born 3 November 1977) is an English composer and songwriter. Primarily working in film, television, and video games, he is best known for composing the scores for the film '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' and its sequel ...

as orchestrator and conductor on many movies and TV shows including ''

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...

'', ''

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, and Illya Kuryakin, p ...

'', ''

All the Money in the World All or ALL may refer to: عرص Biology and medicine * Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer * Anterolateral ligament, a ligament in the knee * ''All.'', taxonomic author abbreviation for Carlo Allioni (1728–1804), Italian physician and pro ...

'', ''

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

'', ''

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'', ''

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

'', ''

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'', ''Occupation'', ''Hiroshima'', ''

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'', ''Money'' and the 2010 revival of '' Upstairs Downstairs''. He has worked with Welsh electronic music group

Hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

contributing orchestral and string arrangements to ''

Morning Sci-Fi ''Morning Sci-Fi'' is the second studio album by British electronic music producers Hybrid. The album includes a hidden track titled "Lights Go Down, Knives Come Out", which is hidden before the first indexed track and can be accessed by rewind ...

'' and '' Disappear Here''. Skeet has worked as an orchestrator on several feature films including

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...

's ''

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'',

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' ''

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'',

Basil Dearden Basil Dearden (born Basil Clive Dear; 1 January 1911 – 23 March 1971) was an English film director. Early life Dearden was born as Basil Clive Dear at 5 Woodfield Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex to Charles James Dear, a steel manufacturer, and the ...

's ''

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'' and as lead orchestrator and conductor on Nick Murphy's feature ''

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'' starring

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and

Imelda Staunton Dame Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton (born 9 January 1956) is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and appeared in various theatre pr ...

Compositions, arrangements, orchestrations and recordings

''This is a partial list.''

With the Divine Comedy

* 2006 – '' Victory for the Comic Muse'' (arranger, keyboards) * 2010 – '' Bang Goes the Knighthood'' (arranger, keyboards) * 2016 – '' Foreverland'' (arranger, keyboards) * 2019 – ''

Office Politics Workplace politics involves processes and behaviors in human interactions that include power and authority. It serves as a tool to assess operational capacity and balance diverse views of interested parties. Also known as office politics and organ ...

'' (arranger, keyboards)

With Hybrid

* 2003 – ''

'' (orchestrator, arranger) * 2010 – '' Disappear Here'' (orchestrator, arranger)

With Imogen Heap

* 2010 – ''

'' (arranger) * 2011 – ''Love the Earth'' (orchestrator)

With Anthony Phillips as Skeet & Phillips

* 2012 – ''Seventh Heaven'' (arranger, composer)

As composer

''The following are library albums for Universal; each album presented contains tracks by Skeet.'' *from The Piano Album (ATMOS289) *from Timeless Scenes for Orchestra Music: Music for Widescreen Drama and Documentary (with

Anthony Phillips Anthony Edwin Phillips (born 23 December 1951) is an English musician and composer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis, from 1967 to 1970. He left in July 1970 and learned to play more instruments, bef ...

) (ATMOS288) *from UPPM Sampler 5 (UNIPPMSAMP05)
Independent Film Score
(ATMOS281) This is the same as ATMOS281 (Independent Film Score), score was supported by Universal Publishing *from Summer Songs (ATMOS280) *from Little Pictures, Big Ideas (BIGS019) *from The Movie Soundtrack 2 (ATMOS274) *from Hope (ATV10B) *from The Orchestra Plugged (with Luke Gordon) (ATMOS249a and b) *from Create 04 (with Luke Gordon) (ATMOS248) *Seriously Quirky (with Luke Gordon) (CHAP328) *from Classical Remix (with Luke Gordon) (BR481) * 2007 – ''3000 Miles: Gumball 3000'' (with Luke Gordon) * 2011 – '' How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire'' (

City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech: ''Filharmonici města Prahy'') is a classical orchestra, predominantly composed of Czech classical, jazz and guest musicians. The history of the orchestra goes back to the Film Symphony Orchest ...

) * 2014 – ''Destination Unknown'' * 2014 – ''Finding Time'' (artist on Sony Classics)

As orchestrator

* 2005 – ''

The Movies A movie or a film is a work of visual art. Movie, Movies, The Movie, or The Movies may also refer to: Films * Feature film * Film adaptation * '' A Movie'' (1958), an experimental film * Movies@, a cinema chain in the Republic of Ireland * '' ...

'' (video game) (conductor: jazz and rock music, orchestrator) * 2007 – ''

Heroes and Villains "Heroes and Villains" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album ''Smiley Smile'' and their unfinished ''Smile (The Beach Boys album), Smile'' project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Wilson envisioned ...

'' * 2009 – ''

'' (with

) * 2010 – '' Upstairs Downstairs'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (arranger, orchestrator) * 2011 – ''

'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2013 – '' The Counsellor'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2014 – '' Cuban Fury'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2015 – '' Woman in Gold'' (with

Martin Phipps Martin Phipps (born 1 August 1968) is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. Early life and education He is the son of Sue Pears and Jack Phipps, an arts administrator who had previously founded a manageme ...

) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2015 – ''

'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2015 – ''

'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2016 – '' War & Peace'' (with Martin Phipps) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2016 – ''

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

'' (with Ruth Barrett) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2017 – ''

'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2017 – ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology series, anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Most episodes are set in near-future dystopias containing Science fiction, sci-fi technology—a type of speculative fiction. The series i ...

'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (orchestrator, conductor) * 2018 – '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' (with Daniel Pemberton) (orchestrator, conductor)

As conductor and producer

* 2011 – ''

The Greatest Video Game Music ''The Greatest Video Game Music'', performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, features classical orchestrations of video game themes including those from ''Super Mario Bros.'', ''Call of Duty'', ''Metal Gear Solid'', ''Final Fantasy'', ''Halo' ...

'' (

) (producer, conductor) * 2012 – '' The Greatest Video Game Music 2'' (London Philharmonic Orchestra) (producer, conductor)

References

External links

* *
Roxbury Music website

Video Interview about preparation for recording The Greatest Video Game Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skeet, Andrew 1969 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia Musicians from the London Borough of Croydon People from Croydon Boy sopranos English conductors (music) English composers English record producers