James Compton (born 1 December 1959 in

North Tawton North Tawton is a small town in Devon, England, situated on the river Taw. It is administered by West Devon Council. The population of the electoral ward at the census 2011 was 2,026. History Romans crossed the River Taw at what is now Newla ...

, Devon, England) is a British musician, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and actor.

Biography

Compton moved to London in 1980 and joined his first professional band,

Darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

, on his 21st birthday. Three years later the entire band was cast in ''

Yakety Yak "Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Coasters and released on Atco Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on the R&B charts and a week as number one on the Top 100 pop list. This ...

'', a musical featuring the songs of

Leiber and Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such Crossover music, crossover hit songs ...

. The band split in 1986. Later that year he joined

Microdisney Microdisney were an Irish rock band formed in Cork in 1980. They were founded and led by songwriters Cathal Coughlan (keyboards, vocals) and Sean O'Hagan (guitar). Originally typeset as Micro Disney, the band had become Microdisney by the tim ...

, an Irish

indie band Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

, going on to contribute to three singles and five albums. Throughout his career, Compton has produced six albums and co-produced ten singles. In 1990 he returned to the stage and went on to become musical supervisor of sixteen more musicals, eight of which had successful West End runs. Compton was responsible for all the music and soundscapes in ''Morecambe'' (a tribute to the British comedian

Eric Morecambe John Eric Bartholomew, (14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984), known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's de ...

) which won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival and won the

Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Family Show is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976 ...

for its run at the Duchess Theatre in 2009. More recently he participated in an off-Broadway run of ''The City Club'', a blues and boogie-woogie musical that he composed with Tony De Meur and Tim Brown. Compton also worked as composer on six motion pictures (including '' Dark Streets'' which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song), numerous television productions and various electronic media.

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

is to be seen

line dancing A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each other.Knight ...

to Compton's guitar and piano work in the 2013 motion picture '' Mr. Morgan's Last Love''. In 2005 he started studying for a master's degree in Electronic Arts at

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...

, specialising in interactive audio in computer games. He is now working as a consultant for multimedia applications, websites and games, working to enhance narrative with sound and music.

Discography

Theatre

TV and multimedia

Film

References

External links

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Compton playing at the 100 Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Compton, James British film score composers British male film score composers British music arrangers Alumni of Middlesex University 1959 births Living people Musicians from Devon People from the Borough of West Devon Microdisney members