Michael Kamen (April 15, 1948 — November 18, 2003) was a particularly versatile musician, composing scores for TV, film and even rock bands and ballets.
He was also the mentor for composers Ilan Eshkeri, Edward Shearmur and Marius de Vries.
Kamen provided music for:
- Venom (1981)
- X-Men (2000 film)
- The Iron Giant
- Event Horizon
- 101 Dalmatians (1996)
- Mr. Holland's Opus
- The Three Musketeers (1993)
- Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (part of the opening music would be adapted for the logo theme of the movie's production company, Morgan Creek)
- Licence to Kill
- Last Action Hero (with Buckethead)
- The first three Die Hard films
- All of the Lethal Weapon films (with Eric Clapton and from the first sequel David Sanborn)
- Highlander (1986 film)
- Thereby working with Queen in the process, especially on "Who Wants to Live Forever"
- Brazil
- Jack
- The Last Boy Scout
- The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
- Boo, Zino & the Snurks/Back To Gaya (completed by a team led by Andy Brown after Kamen's untimely passing, but solely credited to Kamen)
- First Daughter (completed by Blake Neely; this and Back To Gaya are dedicated to him)
For television:
- Animals, Animals, Animals
- Band of Brothers
- Edge of Darkness (with Eric Clapton)
- Free Willy (the theme for the Animated Adaptation)
- From the Earth to the Moon (the main theme and three episode scores)
Kamen is also known for his work as an arranger for pop and rock bands.
- He provided arrangements for David Bowie's live album David Live, his first job for a rock act.
- He worked with Pink Floyd on both The Wall and The Final Cut (filling in for the fired Richard Wright alongside Status Quo member Andy Bown) and was one of the few artists to work with both David Gilmour and Roger Waters after the band broke up.
- He provided orchestrations for much of Queensrÿche's debut album The Warning, arranged cellos and Ominous Latin Chanting for their break-out Rock Opera Operation: Mindcrime, and added a symphony to their Top Ten song "Silent Lucidity".
- He composed and conducted the symphony for Metallica's live concert album S&M.
- He also worked with such diverse artists as Eurythmics, Bryan Adams, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Rush, and Kate Bush. One of his final projects before his death was providing string arrangements for Bush's 2005 album Aerial.
As far as we know, he was not a Rider.
