Clinton Darryl Mansell (; born 7 November 1963) is an English

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. He served as the

lead vocalist The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

alt-rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Pop Will Eat Itself Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a grebo act, they changed style to incorpo ...

. After the band's dissolution, Mansell moved to the United States and embarked on a career as a

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

composer. Mansell partnered with American filmmaker

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, dramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological realism. His accolades include a Golden Lion ...

and composed the scores for his films '' Pi'', ''

Requiem for a Dream ''Requiem for a Dream'' is a 2000 American psychological drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher McDonald, and Marlon Wayans. It is based on the 1978 novel of the same ...

'', '' The Fountain'', '' The Wrestler'', ''

Black Swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

'', and ''

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

''. Mansell is best known for the ''Requiem for a Dream'' soundtrack, particularly the film's composition " Lux Aeterna" and a re-orchestrated version titled "Requiem for a Tower" that was created for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' trailer, both of which have been featured in multiple advertisements, films, film trailers, video games and other media. He provided the scores for the

Ben Wheatley Ben Wheatley (born 1972) is an English filmmaker, film editor, and animator. Beginning his career in advertising, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and tele ...

films '' High-Rise'', '' Happy New Year, Colin Burstead'', ''

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

'', and '' In the Earth''. Other films featuring Mansell's scores include ''

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

'', ''

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

'' and '' Stoker''. He has also composed music for television and video games. Mansell was nominated for a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

for his work on ''The Fountain'', and was nominated for multiple

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

for his work on ''Black Swan''.

Early life

Mansell was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, England. His father worked for the electricity board and his mother was a preparer of school meals. Inspired by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's performance of " Starman" on the television series ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', he started to play guitar at the age of nine. His foray into

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

-inspired music was influenced by the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...

. In 2014 he told '' Beat Magazine'' "I heard the Ramones and punk rock changed my life." While living in

Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...

, Mansell played in rock bands as a youth, and at 19 years of age he joined the band that became

Career

Alt-rock career

From the band's inception in 1986 until their dissolution in 1996, Mansell was a member of grebo/alt-rock band

(PWEI). He served as the band's lead vocalist, guitarist and one of the band's main songwriters. The band was first introduced to computer-based music in 1988 while working with producer

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

on their album '' This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This!''. Their sound evolved to include sampling and

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, bringing influences from

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, industrial music and other

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

genres into their music. After the band was dropped by

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, PWEI were signed in 1994 to

Nothing Records Nothing Records was an American record label specializing in industrial rock and electronic music, founded by John Malm Jr. and Trent Reznor in 1992. It is considered an example of a vanity label, where an artist is able to run a label with som ...

, a label owned by

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He came to prominence as the founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. T ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

. Following PWEI's break-up in 1996, Mansell moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, where he hoped to start a solo career, but struggled creatively. He was invited by Reznor to move to an apartment in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

owned by Reznor, where Mansell lived for three years, prior to settling in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. It was there that Reznor mentored Mansell and introduced him to

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

. Mansell also performed backing vocals on Nine Inch Nails' 1999 album '' The Fragile''. Mansell reunited with PWEI in 2005 for their "Reformation" tour, which included performances in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Film score career

While still living in New York, Mansell was introduced to director

by a mutual friend. Aronofsky was unaware of Mansell's previous work with Pop Will Eat Itself, however the two men bonded over their love of hip hop and their belief that "film music at the time was terrible." Aronofsky suggested that Mansell write the opening title piece for '' Pi'', Aronofsky's

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

directorial debut. Aronofsky had intended to use pre-existing electronic music in the rest of the film, but due to a lack of funds, he found it difficult to acquire the rights to much of the music that interested him and Mansell was hired to provide music for the entire film. Mansell's score for the film won him the City of Birmingham award at the Birmingham Film Festival in 2000. Mansell wrote the score for Aronofsky's next film, ''

'', which became a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

hit. The film's primary composition " Lux Aeterna" became a favorite in its own right. A re-orchestrated version of the song, titled "Requiem for a Tower", was arranged by composers Simone Benyacar, Dan Nielsen and Veigar Margeirsson for the trailer of '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers''. Both "Lux Aeterna" and "Requiem for a Tower" have been used in multiple forms of media, including the film trailers for ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is “the best-selling American novel of all time.” Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon—the first was his 2000 novel '' Angels & Demons''� ...

'', '' I Am Legend'', '' Sunshine'' and '' Babylon A.D.''; trailers for the video games ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is a historical fiction, historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil (game engine), Anvil and its m ...

'' and '' Lord of the Rings: Return of the King''; advertising campaigns for such products as

Canon PowerShot PowerShot is a line of consumer and wikt:prosumer#Etymology_2, prosumer grade digital cameras, launched by Canon (company), Canon in 1996. () In 1996 the first model was introduced to the market, the PowerShot 600, which came shortly after Canon ...

cameras, Molson Canadian beer; and on television such as in the series ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is an American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distributed by) and ...

'', '' So You Think You Can Dance'' as well as a promo spot the series '' Flash Forward''. In 2006, Mansell provided the score for the film '' Smokin' Aces'' and he received a BMI Film & TV Award for his work on the film ''

'' that same year. The following year, his score for the Aronofsky film '' The Fountain'' was awarded Best Original Film Score of the Year and the Public Choice Award at the 7th World Soundtrack Awards. ''The Fountain''s score was also nominated for Best Score in a Motion Picture at the 2007

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...

. Mansell's score for Aronofsky's ''

'' garnered him multiple nominations and awards. He was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is an honor presented to a composer (or composers) for an original score created for a film, TV show or series, or other visual media at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was establishe ...

as well as Best Original Soundtrack (for ''Black Swan''), and Soundtrack Composer of the Year (for ''Black Swan'', '' Last Night'' and '' Faster'') at the 11th World Soundtrack Awards. The score was deemed ineligible for the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by ...

due to its use of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

's original music from

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

. Mansell created the film score for ''

'',

Duncan Jones Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971) is a British film director, film producer and screenwriter. He directed the films ''Moon'' (2009), ''Source Code'' (2011), '' Warcraft'' (2016), and '' Mute'' (2018). For ''Moon'', he won the BAFT ...

s feature film directorial debut. Mansell won Best Technical Achievement at the British Independent Film Awards for ''Moon''s score. In 2011 Mansell was hired to provide the score for '' The Iron Lady'', but he was later replaced by composer

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is best known for his film scores, earning accolades of six Grammy Award, Grammy Awards, an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award, two British Academy F ...

. Nevertheless, Mansell's music from the film ''Moon'' was used in the film's trailer and was also used in the 2012 trailer of the computer game '' Aliens: Colonial Marines''. Mansell provided the scores for the films '' Stoker'' (also featuring music by

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

) and '' Filth'', which were both released in 2013. Filmmaker

, who was a fan of Mansell's music for the films ''Requiem for a Dream'' and ''Moon'', approached Mansell about providing the score for his 2015 film '' High-Rise''. Mansell also provided the music for Wheatley's subsequent works '' Happy New Year, Colin Burstead'' (2018) and ''

'' (2020) and '' In the Earth'' (2021). Mansell's film scores have been sampled by such musical artists as

Lil Jon Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971), better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, DJ, and record producer. Regarded as a progenitor of the club-oriented hip-hop subgenre crunk, his production and voice presence were inst ...

A$AP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a member of the hip hop collective ASAP Mo ...

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...

and

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (; born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Ma ...

. Having no formal training in

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

, Mansell constructs his film scores using the method he employs for writing rock music — drums, bass, guitar and vocal lines — in addition to employing an

orchestrator Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

. Some of his influences include

, Trevor Jones, David Holmes, and bands such as Death in Vegas,

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwa ...

and

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 ...

Symphonic performances

Mansell has performed some of his film compositions live with the Sonus Quartet in the US, the UK and Australia. The

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

, who performed "Lux Aeterna" for the ''Requiem for a Dream'' soundtrack, have also performed some of Mansell's work live.

Publishing deal

In February 2019, Mansell signed a publishing deal with Decca Publishing, a division of

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. This deal brought his catalogue of more than 650 original pieces, including his Pop Will Eat Itself work, under a single umbrella for the first time.

Awards and nominations

Discography

with Pop Will Eat Itself

* '' Box Frenzy'' (1987) * '' This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This!'' (1989) * '' Cure for Sanity'' (1990) * '' The Looks or the Lifestyle?'' (1992) * '' Dos Dedos Mis Amigos'' (1994)

Live albums

* ''Weird's Bar and Grill'' (Live) (1993) UK No. 44 * ''The Radio 1 Sessions 1986-87'' (1997) * ''Reformation: Nottingham Rock City 20.01.05'' (2005) * ''Reformation: Birmingham Carling Academy 22.01.05'' (2005) * ''Reformation: Birmingham Carling Academy 23.01.05'' (2005) * ''Reformation: London Shepherds Bush Empire 24.01.05'' (2005) * ''Reformation: London Shepherds Bush Empire 25.01.05'' (2005)

Film scores and soundtracks

Film

Television

Video games

Short films

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mansell, Clint 1963 births Living people British indie rock musicians English rock singers English alternative rock musicians English industrial musicians English film score composers English male film score composers Musicians from Coventry Pop Will Eat Itself members Varèse Sarabande Records artists Rykodisc artists Nonesuch Records artists