Christopher Young

What makes a movie watch-worthy? The actors acting, the intensity they bring, the plot, the drama, the suspense, and apart from all of it, there’s another ground, the music, be it the soundtracks or the dramatic set-up background music. A renowned music composer in the Hollywood, for both the big screen and the television, is Christopher Young.

Christopher was born on 29 April and belongs to Red Bank, New Jersey. A keen fan of the horror movies, he has dedicated a huge part of his life making music for the same genre. Instances include Hellraiser, Tales from the Hood, Urban Legend, Murder in the First, Drag Me To Hell and much more. He once enunciated his love for horror films stating that in his younger days, he often used to take himself alone to places not known. There, he liked to feel the quietness in the surroundings and to take notice of small little changes around. Being alone in such environment does give goosebumps, but he recommends it to every budding music scorer who wants to live up the same dream.

Christopher went to the Manhattan School of Music while he graduated with a Degree Of Bachelor in Arts in music. Academics were always a priority. After completing his Bachelor degree, he went on to pursue a Post-Graduate degree from the North Texas State University. Even that wasn’t the end. Before stepping into the music industry, he went to UCLA Film School too. So there it is, a person with great literature and artistic skills is Christopher Young.

Having started his career as a Jazz Drummer, people often wonder what led him to be a music composer. The answer to that came when in an interview he spoke about the works of Bernard Herrmann. He was the one to have inspired him, back in the 1980’s. Young said that he saw Bernard doing, what he always wanted to do and ever since then, he fell in love with music.

His first work was seen on the screens when The Dorm That Dripped Blood, released in 1982. Young also happens to have shared classrooms with David Raksin at UCLA, another famous music composer, who criticized him thoroughly for his first written music in the class. But criticizing was not all, Raskin helped him to rejuvenate back to his work after the failure. Recovering back and biting the pain, he moved forward and never looked back.

He built a solid reputation with a Saturn Award for his infernally scary music in Hellbound: Hellraiser II. Though he had a personal taste for horror thrillers, he agreed to John Amiel's offer to compose for his movie ‘Copycats.’ The film received abound applause for its music. Following it, Bill Murray He is known to be one of the legendary actors in H >> Read More... signed him for music in his comedy-drama ‘The Man Who Knew Too Little,’ after which they became close pals and worked together in ‘Entrapment’ and ‘The Core.’ Young proved that he wasn’t a one-genre-man, and by listening to any plot, he could sink deep and bring out the pearl of music best suited.

Speaking of the prestige that Young has won throughout his career, he was awarded the Richard Kirk award back in 2008, at the BMI Film and TV Awards. In 2001, for scoring ‘The Shipping News,’ critics spoke highly of him. Later, he got nominated for a Golden Globe award too. Strikingly, this man does not only hold trophies to showcase the respect that he gets. The gentleman in the past has been the President of The Film Music Society for two long years and also the President of the Madrid Film Music Festival in Spain.

Making music is one side of his career, while the other side is teaching the same. Students of Thornton School Of Music consider them lucky to have him as their guide. The best way to move ahead progressively is to have your work speak for yourself. Ever since ‘The Dorm That Dripped Blood,’ the directors who have worked with Young have recommended him to others, and he went on to keep his dignity high.