Simon Hale is a British composer, arranger, and keyboardist.
Life
Hale was born in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
in 1964, being dually raised there and in South Manchester before moving to London, where he studied popular music at
Goldsmiths College,
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...
from 1982 to 1985. He is married to
Claire Moore.
His father is Tony Hale, formerly Head of Music and Programming at Capital Radio.
Work
He is best known for his arrangements on CDs for
Jamiroquai,
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
,
BT,
Duncan Sheik,
Madness
Madness or The Madness may refer to:
Emotion and mental health
* Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat
* Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns
* ...
,
Incognito,
Supergrass,
The Beautiful South,
George Benson
George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...
,
Josh Groban,
Charlotte Church and
Robin Gibb. As well as arranging on Duncan Sheik's solo CDs, Simon has also done orchestrations on Duncan's songs for the film "
A Home at the End of the World" and the
Broadway musical ''
Spring Awakening'', which won 8
Tony Awards
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
in June 2007, including "Best Orchestrations" by Duncan and Simon. The original cast recording won the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
for Best Musical Show Album in 2008. He has released one solo CD, ''East Fifteen'', written for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
,
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...
/
flugelhorn,
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
and
strings. He appeared with
The Bays at their performance as part of the Fresh Festival in
Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall in January 2008. The concert was entirely improvised, including all the orchestral parts, written live on stage by Simon and
John Metcalfe. In 2009, he orchestrated ''
Songs of Love & Loss
''Songs of Love & Loss'' is the seventh studio album, and first cover album, by Australian singer and songwriter Tina Arena, released on 1 December 2007. The album was Arena's first full length English language recording in six years and her ...
'', the seventh studio album and first cover album, by Australian singer and songwriter
Tina Arena. He orchestrated the
Lincoln Center Theater production of the new musical ''
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'', that opened on 4 November 2010 at the
Belasco Theatre
The Belasco Theatre is a Broadway theater at 111 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Originally known as the Stuyvesant Theatre, it was built in 1907 and d ...
on
Broadway. This production was nominated for a
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...
for Outstanding Orchestrations in May 2011. He orchestrated and wrote choir arrangements for
Ray Davies' performance at the
Royal Festival Hall as part of the
Meltdown Festival
Meltdown is an annual festival held in London, featuring a mix of music, art, performance and film. Meltdown is held in June at Southbank Centre, the arts complex covering and including the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The ...
in June 2011. He co-wrote (with Andrew Hale) the soundtrack of ''
L.A. Noire'' as well as playing solo piano, orchestrating and conducting the recordings. The score won a
BAFTA for Original Music. He orchestrated a new production of
Stephen Sondheim's ''
Company'' at
Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres is a theatre complex in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It comprises three theatres: the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse. These theatres make up the largest regional theatre complex outside ...
at the end of 2011. He orchestrated ''
Finding Neverland'' at the
American Repertory Theater in Boston in the summer of 2014 and again for the Broadway production on 2015. He received a Grammy nomination in 2015 for his contribution to the
Sam Smith album ''
In the Lonely Hour
''In the Lonely Hour'' is the debut album by English singer and songwriter Sam Smith. It was released in the United Kingdom on 26 May 2014 via Capitol UK and Method Records. In the United States, it was released on 17 June 2014 through Capito ...
'' and also arranged and orchestrated ''
Writing's on the Wall'', the theme song for the
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...
film ''
Spectre''. He worked in string arrangements of Japanese-American superstar
Hikaru Utada albums ''
Fantôme'' and ''
Hatsukoi''.
In 2019 Hale was nominated in the Best Orchestrations category for his work on the musical
''Tootsie'' at
73rd Tony Awards.
Solo releases
1994: ''East Fifteen'' (EFZ Records)
References
External links
*
Myspace page full discography at Artist Direct
*
Simon Haleon
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Simon
1964 births
Living people
British composers
English classical musicians
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
British music arrangers
Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London
BAFTA winners (people)
Tony Award winners