Daniel Robert Elfman is an American composer, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He first became well known as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. He has since garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.
About Danny Elfman in brief
Daniel Robert Elfman is an American composer, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He first became well known as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. He has since garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall. Elfman has frequently worked with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, with notable achievements including the scores for 16 Burton-directed films Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, and Dumbo. He wrote music for all of the Men in Black and Fifty Shades of Grey franchise films, the songs and score for the Burton-produced animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas, and themes for the popular television series Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons. Among his honors are four Oscar nominations, two Emmy Awards, a Grammy, six Saturn Awards for Best Music, the 2002 Richard Kirk Award, the 2015 Disney Legend Award, and the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in 2017. He is the son of Blossom Elfman, a writer and teacher, and Milton Elfman, a teacher who was in the Air Force, and a brother of Richard Elfman. He was raised in a racially mixed affluent community in Baldwin Hills, California, where he spent much of his time at the local movie theater discovering classic sci-fi, fantasy and horror films. In his early school days, Elfman exhibited an aptitude for science with almost no interest in music, and was even rejected from elementary school orchestra for having no propensity for music.
He then embarked on a ten-month, self-guided tour through Africa, busking and collecting a range of West African percussion instruments until a series of illnesses forced him to return home. In the early 1970s, Elf man was asked by his brother Richard to serve as musical director of his street theatre performance art troupe The Mystic Knights of the OingoBoingo. He also composed original pieces and helped build instruments unique for the group, including an aluminum gamelan, the ‘Schlitz celeste’ made from tuned beer cans, and a \”junkyard orchestra\” built from car parts and trash cans. As a send-off to the group’s original concept, Richard created the film Forbidden Zone based on the Mystic Knights’ stage performances. In 1985 Elfman penned Dead Man’s Party, which Elfman also composed for the movie Back to School School. He appeared as the character Satan, who performs a reworked version of Calloway’s \”Minnie the Moocher\” with ensemble members playing backup henchmen. In 1986 Elfman appeared as lead-writer in the short film Dead Man’s Party, with the band performing their single “Dead Man” in a permanent hearing damage from the movie of the same name. In 1994 Elfman shifted the band to a more guitar-oriented rock sound in the late 1980s, which continued through their last album in 1994.
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