Nicholas Pike is an English film and television music composer. He was born in Water Orton,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and is known for featuring unique sounds and instrumentation. He started his music career at the age of 7 at the prestigious Canterbury Choir School and subsequently moved to Cape Town, South Africa at the age of 10 where he continued in music becoming Head Chorister at St George's Grammar School, Cathedral choir as well as playing the flute with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15. He was also a member of the iconic rock band Hammak and toured the country with this and other bands. At age 17 he left to study flute and composition in Boston at the Berklee School of Music after which he moved to New York City, where he recorded and performed with his band FluteJuice featuring Bill Frisell,

Billy Hart Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drumming, jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well as with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest (b ...

Kenny Werner Kenny Werner (born November 19, 1951) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 19, 1951, and then growing up in Oceanside, Long Island, Werner began playing and performing at a young ...

, and

Hank Roberts Hank Roberts (born March 24, 1954, Terre Haute, Indiana) is an American jazz cellist and vocalist. He plays the electric cello, and his style is a mixture of rock, jazz, avant-garde, folk, and classical influences. He emerged with the downtown Ne ...

among many others. He also recorded and released the album ''Waterlilies'' with Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos and guitar virtuoso Bill Connors. Before embarking on his film scoring career he conducted and recorded his suite "Master Harold and the Boys" with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

which was based on

Athol Fugard Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard (; 11 June 19328 March 2025) was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director. Widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright and acclaimed as "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaki ...

's apartheid era play of the same name. As a film composer he has written for projects ranging from Stephen King's ''The Shining'' to Disney's ''Captain Ron'' as well as animated films such as Disney's ''

The Prince and the Pauper ''The Prince and the Pauper'' is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States. The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. The plot conce ...

''. Awards include the Elmer Bernstein Award for his score to ''Love Object'' at the Woodstock Film Festival, the Best Music Award from the Sitges Cinema Fantastic Festival for his score to ''Critters 2'' and the Emmy for original music for the HBO documentary ''In Tahrir Square'' about the beginnings of the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

. He has also written music for large-scale music videos including

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's "Ghost" and "

You Rock My World "You Rock My World" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his tenth and final studio album, '' Invincible'' (2001). It was released as the lead single from the album on August 22, 2001, by Epic Records. "You Rock My World" peaked at ...

MC Hammer Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American rapper known for hit songs such as "U Can't Touch This", "2 Legit 2 Quit", and "Pumps and a Bump", flashy dance movements, e ...

's "Too Legit to Quit" and "Here Comes The Hammer" and

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...

's " Wild Wild West". He was hand-picked by actress/comedian and talk show host

Bonnie Hunt Bonnie Lynn Hunt (born September 22, 1961) is an American actress and comedian. Her film roles include ''Rain Man'', ''Beethoven (film), Beethoven'', ''Beethoven's 2nd (film), Beethoven's 2nd'', ''Jumanji'', ''Jerry Maguire'', ''The Green Mile ( ...

to create and lead the first-ever daytime talk show live band for '' The Bonnie Hunt Show'' which aired on the NBC network. Pike also composed the music for the show. He recently wrote and produced the song "On Ghost Ridge" for the documentary ''100 Years: One Woman's Fight for Justice'' chronicling the epic battle between Blackfoot Indian Elouise Cobell and the US government. The song was performed by Malaysian pop star Yuna and was submitted for an Academy Award Nomination. Most recently he arranged, produced, and composed the score for the first episode of

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

's series ''

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'', as well as composing and producing an operatic piece performed by Ana María Martínez for the upcoming documentary ''Viva Verdi''. 1 In 2023, Pike appeared as a guest at Kingvention, the annual Michael Jackson fan convention held in London.

Filmography

Film Television

References

External links

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Official Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pike, Nicholas Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English composers Musicians from Warwickshire Varèse Sarabande Records artists