Christian Henson

Christian Henson (born 25 December 1971) is a British composer, primarily working on television and film soundtracks. He has also soundtracked video games, and is the co-founder of Spitfire Audio with fellow composer Paul Thomson. Henson has been nominated for a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello Award for his music.

Early life

Henson is the older son of actors Una Stubbs and Nicky Henson. His younger brother Joe Henson is also a composer, as is his half-brother Keaton Henson. His uncle was the farmer and television presenter Joe Henson and Adam Henson is his cousin. His great-uncle was the cricketer Geoffrey Howard. His great-great-grandfather was Sir Ebenezer Howard, founder of the garden city movement and the first garden cities Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City. His paternal grandfather was the English actor and comedian Leslie Henson, who was perhaps best known for founding the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) during the Second World War.

As a child, Henson acted in the 1980 film ''Never Never Land''. After attending Holland Park Comprehensive in the 1980s, in his youth Henson worked for three years as a baker, with a home studio that he used in his spare time. He suffered a brain haemorrhage at 25, gave up his bakery job and moved into music and voiceover producing and engineering full time, as well as making music for porn videos.

Composing

In the early 1990s, Henson worked on drum and bass and breakbeat music with acts such as LTJ Bukem and the Freestylers.

From 1997-2001, he worked as an assistant for composers Anne Dudley, Harry Gregson-Williams, Rupert Gregson-Williams and Patrick Doyle. Henson cannot read music, and taught himself how to orchestrate soundtracks.

Awards and nominations

Henson gained a 2007 Ivor Novello Awards nomination for 'Best Original Movie Score' for his work on the 2006 film ''Severance''. He received 2004 World Soundtrack Awards " Soundtrack Composer of the Year" and "Discovery of the Year" nominations for '' Les fils du vent''.

Henson was nominated, along with fellow composers Jerry Goldsmith and The Flight (his brother Joe Henson and Alexis Smith), for a BAFTA for the music of the '' Alien: Isolation'' video game in 2015.

Spitfire Audio

Henson founded the British music technology company Spitfire Audio with fellow composer Paul Thomson in 2007. The company is a producer of musical "virtual instruments", and has collaborated with noted film composer Hans Zimmer, as well as Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Olafur Arnalds, Roger Taylor of Queen, Eric Whitacre, and most recently with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
In 2018, Henson launched a website called Pianobook, dedicated to creating and sharing sampled instruments for free. It is run by a small group of volunteers, but anyone could share and use sounds, for free.

Henson has since stepped away from Spitfire Audio on September 5 2022 following a tweet supporting Graham Linehan and J. K. Rowling’s posted on his personal Twitter account, which he temporarily deactivated afterwards.

Personal life

Henson is married to Scottish singer and songwriter Dot Allison. They live in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Selected works

Films

*2002 ''Cybermutt''
*2002 '' Biggie & Tupac''
*2004 ''Chasing Liberty''
*2004 '' Les fils du vent''
*2005 ''Animal''
*2006 ''Severance''
*2006 ''Opal Dream''
*2006 ''It's a Boy Girl Thing''
*2007 ''Scorpion''
*2008 ''Miss Conception''
*2008 '' Summer Heat''
*2008 ''The Secret of Moonacre''
*2008 ''A Bunch of Amateurs''
*2009 ''Pandemic''
*2009 ''Triangle''
*2009 '' Malice in Wonderland''
*2010 '' Black Death''
*2010 '' The Round Up''
*2010 ''Huge''
*2011 '' Chalet Girl''
*2011 ''The Devil's Double''
*2011 '' Wild Bill''
*2011 ''Up There''
*2011 '' Hysteria''
*2012 '' Grabbers''
*2012 '' Storage 24''
*2013 '' Trap for Cinderella''
*2013 '' Believe''
*2013 ''Soulmate''
*2014 ''Terroir''
*2014 ''Robot Overlords''
*2015 ''The Go-Between''
*2016 '' Tommy's Honour''
*2022 '' This Is Christmas

Television

*2001-2009 ''Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps''
*2002-2004 ''Top Gear''. Dickey Betts (arr. by Christian Henson)
*2002 '' SAS: Are You Tough Enough?''
*2002 '' Scream Team''
*2002 ''Full Metal Challenge''
*2003 ''Wreck Detectives''
*2005 ''Diameter of the Bomb''
*2008 ''Lost in Austen''
*2009-2013 ''Poirot''
*2009 ''Richard Hammond's Blast Lab''
*2011-2016 '' Fresh Meat''
*2011 ''Kidnap and Ransom''
*2012 '' Sinbad''
*2014–Present ''Inside No. 9''
*2016 ''Wolfblood''
*2016 ''Tutankhamun''
*2018 ''Trauma''
*2018 ''Urban Myths''
*2019 '' Home''

Video games

*2008 '' Zubo''
*2013 '' Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag''
*2014 '' Alien: Isolation''

References

External links

*

Henson on Twitter

Video of Henson overseeing a real-time recording session in Air Studios for the ''Tutankhamun'' soundtrack
*
''Gramophone'' article about the video

2017 interview with Henson

2018 interview with Henson

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henson, Christian
1971 births
English television composers
English male composers
Living people
English film score composers
English male film score composers
People educated at Holland Park School