Andrew John Skeet (born 1969 in Croydon) is an English musician, composer and music producer. He has written scores for television and film and worked with many well-known composers and artists as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor.

Biography

Andrew Skeet attended Trinity Boys School in Croydon where, as a boy singer, he appeared on soundtracks such as ''

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'', also known simply as ''The Meaning of Life'', is a 1983 British musical sketch comedy film written and performed by the Monty Python troupe, directed by Terry Jones. ''The Meaning of Life'' was the last f ...

'', Barbra Streisand's '' Yentl'' and '' Another Country'' starring Rupert Everett as Guy Bennett and Colin Firth as Tommy Judd. Skeet then studied music at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

and at The Royal College of Music in London.

Professional life

Television and film commissions

With former Howie B collaborator Luke Gordon, Skeet established the production company Roxbury Music and their music has been used extensively on British television. Programmes which have featured music by Roxbury include ''The Apprentice'', ''Dispatches'', ''Banged Up Abroad'', ''Britain's Lost World'', ''Freaky Eaters'', ''What Katy Did Next'', ''Gumball's 3000 Miles'', ''Kali'', a collaboration with Mike Figgis for the London Film Festival and ''Locked Up Abroad''. Their music has been heard all over the world with tracks released on a series of library albums for Universal on The Atmosphere label, Chappell and Bruton. Skeet has scored several feature-length documentaries including '' Don’t F**k with Cats '' ''Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web, Destination Unknown &'' ''How To Re-establish A Vodka Empire'' and has released two acclaimed and highly successful albums of video game music with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Composer

Skeet was signed to Sony Classics in 2014 and released his first solo album, ''Finding Time''.

Collaborations

Skeet is a member of

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for t ...

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

and has worked as an arranger and orchestrator for artists such as

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was fir ...

& James Lavelle's Unkle. With Neil Hannon he has toured regularly as

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

and keyboard player of The Divine Comedy following the departure of

Joby Talbot Joby Talbot (born 25 August 1971) is a British composer. He has written for a wide variety of purposes and an accordingly broad range of styles, including instrumental and vocal concert music, film and television scores, pop arrangements and wo ...

and has appeared on three albums as arranger and conductor; Hannon's ninth album ''Victory for the Comic Muse'', released in June 2006, 2010's ''Bang Goes the Knighthood'' and the 2016 release ''Foreverland.'' In November 2010 Skeet collaborated with Grammy-award-winning artist

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at ...

on an orchestral score played live to picture called '' Love The Earth'' which was premiered at the Albert Hall. They also worked together on a choral commission for the Bird's Eye Festival at the BFI – an a cappella choral score to the first ever surrealist film ''The Seashell and the Clergyman'' (Germaine Dulac, 1927) with the Holst Singers. Skeet regularly works with TV and film composer

Daniel Pemberton Daniel Pemberton (born 3 November 1977) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning English composer and songwriter. Life and career In 1994, at the age of 16, Pemberton recorded his debut album, ''Bedroom'', on a multitrack cassette recor ...

as orchestrator and conductor on many movies and TV shows including ''Steve Job''s, ''Man from U.N.K.L.E., All the Money in the World, King Arthur,'' ''Molly's Game'', ''Gold'', ''Desperate Romantics, Occupation, Hiroshima, Monster Moves, Money'' and the 2010 revival of ''Upstairs Downstairs''. He has worked with Welsh electronic music group

Hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

contributing orchestral and string arrangements to ''Morning Sci-fi'' and ''Disappear Here''. Skeet has worked as an orchestrator on several feature films including Ridley Scott's ''

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...

'', Garth Jennings' ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...

'', Basil Dearden's ''

The League of Gentlemen ''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives o ...

'' and as lead orchestrator and conductor on Nick Murphy's forthcoming feature ''The Awakening'' starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.

Compositions, arrangements, orchestrations and recordings

''This is a partial list'' With

:
2006–

Victory for the Comic Muse ''Victory for the Comic Muse'' is the ninth studio album by Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 2006 by EMI. The title derives from the E.M. Forster book ''A Room with a View'' ("I have won a great victory for the comic muse") ...

(arranger, keyboards)
2010–

Bang Goes the Knighthood ''Bang Goes the Knighthood'' is the tenth studio album by Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released on 31 May 2010 by Divine Comedy Records. Track listing Personnel Personnel adapted from liner notes included in ''Venus, Cupi ...

(arranger, keyboards)
2016–

Foreverland ''Foreverland'' is the eleventh studio album by Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released on 2 September 2016 by Divine Comedy Records. Accolades Track listing Personnel Personnel per liner notes included in ''Venus, Folly, Cup ...

(arranger, keyboards)
2019–

Office Politics Workplace politics is the process and behavior that in human interactions involves power and authority. It is also a tool to assess the operational capacity and to balance diverse views of interested parties. It is also known as office politics and ...

(arranger, keyboards) With

2003–

Morning Sci-Fi ''Morning Sci-Fi'' is the second studio album by British electronic music producers Hybrid. The album includes a hidden track titled "Lights Go Down, Knives Come Out," which is hidden before the first indexed track and can be accessed by rewin ...

(orchestrator, arranger)
2010– Disappear Here (orchestrator, arranger) With

2010– The Seashell and the Clergyman (arranger)
2011– Love the Earth (orchestrator) With

Anthony Phillips Anthony Edwin Phillips (born 23 December 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, producer and singer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis, from 1967 to 1970. He left in July 1970 and learned to play mo ...

as Skeet & Phillips:
2012- Seventh Heaven (arranger, composer) As Composer:
''the following are library albums for Universal; each album presented contains tracks by Andrew Skeet'' *from The Piano Album (ATMOS289) *from Timeless Scenes for Orchestra Music: Music for Widescreen Drama and Documentary (with

) (ATMOS288) *from UPPM Sampler 5 (UNIPPMSAMP05)
Independent Film Score
(ATMOS281) This is the same as ATMOS281 (Independent Film Score), score was supported by Universal Publishing *from Summer Songs (ATMOS280) *from Little Pictures, Big Ideas (BIGS019) *from The Movie Soundtrack 2 (ATMOS274) *from Hope (ATV10B) *from The Orchestra Plugged (with Luke Gordon) (ATMOS249a and b) *from Create 04 (with Luke Gordon) (ATMOS248) *Seriously Quirky (with Luke Gordon) (CHAP328) *from Classical Remix (with Luke Gordon) (BR481) 2007– 3000 Miles: Gumball 3000 (with Luke Gordon)
2011– How To Re-Establish a Vodka Empire (City of Prague Philharmonic) 2014- Destination Unknown 2014– Finding Time (Artist on Sony Classics) As Orchestrator
2005–

The Movies ''The Movies'' is a business simulation game created by Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and ported to Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. Players run a Hollywood film studio, creating films that can be exported from the game. ''The Movies'' wa ...

(video game) (conductor: jazz & rock music, orchestrator)
2007–

Heroes and Villains "Heroes and Villains" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album ''Smiley Smile'' and their unfinished ''Smile'' project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Wilson envisioned the song as an Old West-themed ...

2009–

Desperate Romantics ''Desperate Romantics'' is a six-part television drama serial about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, first broadcast on BBC Two between 21 July and 25 August 2009. The series somewhat fictionalised the lives and events depicted. Though heavily ...

(with

)
2010– Upstairs, Downstairs (with

) rranger, orchestratorbr /> 2011– The Awakening (with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2013– The Counsellor (with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2014–

Cuban Fury ''Cuban Fury'' is a 2014 British romantic comedy film directed by James Griffiths, written by Jon Brown, and starring Nick Frost, Rashida Jones and Chris O'Dowd. The film was a minor box office success but received mixed reviews from critics. P ...

(with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2015– Woman in Gold (with

Martin Phipps Martin Phipps (born 1 August 1968) is a British composer, who has worked on numerous film and television projects. Life and career He is the son of Sue Pears and Jack Phipps, an arts administrator who had previously founded a management agen ...

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2015–

The Man From UNCLE ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a sec ...

(with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2015–

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...

(with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2016–

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

(with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2016–

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

(with

Ruth Barrett Ruth Barrett (born 1976) is a British film score composer. Her film score credits include '' Harry Brown'','' Twenty8k'', and '' City of Tiny Lights.'' Her television score credits include '' The Sister'', ''Bloodlands'', '' Bodyguard'', ''Th ...

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2017–

All the Money in the World ''All the Money in the World'' is a 2017 biographical crime thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa. Based on John Pearson's 1995 book ''Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul ...

(with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2017–

Molly's Game ''Molly's Game'' is a 2017 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (in his directorial debut), based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Molly Bloom. It stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Mi ...

(with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2017–

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fictio ...

(with

) rchestrator, conductorbr /> 2018– Spiderman:Into The Spider-verse (with

) rchestrator, conductor As Conductor and producer:
2011–

The Greatest Video Game Music ''The Greatest Video Game Music'', performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, features classical orchestrations of video game themes including those from ''Super Mario Bros.'', ''Call of Duty'', ''Metal Gear Solid'', ''Final Fantasy'', ''Halo ...

(

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

) (Producer, Conductor)
2012–

The Greatest Video Game Music 2 ''The Greatest Video Game Music'', performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, features classical orchestrations of video game themes including those from ''Super Mario Bros.'', '' Call of Duty'', ''Metal Gear Solid'', ''Final Fantasy'', ''Ha ...

(

) (Producer, Conductor)

References

External links

Andrew Skeet website
*
Roxbury Music website

Video Interview about preparation for recording The Greatest Video Game Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skeet, Andrew 1969 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia People from Croydon Boy sopranos English conductors (music) English composers English record producers