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Christopher Young

{{Short description|American composer}}

{{About|the American composer|other persons named Christopher Young|Christopher Young (disambiguation)}}

{{BLP sources|date=April 2024}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Christopher Young

| image = Young 3.png

| caption = Young in 2022

| image_size =

| birth_name =

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|4|28}}

| birth_place = Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.

| occupation = {{hlist|Composer|orchestrator}}

| instrument = Piano

| genre = Film score

| years_active = 1982–present

| website = {{URL|http://officialchristopheryoung.com}}

}}

Christopher Young (born April 28, 1958) is an American composer of film and television scores.{{cite news|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/person/78140/Christopher-Young/filmography|title=Christopher Young : The New York Times review|work=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104055314/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/78140/Christopher-Young/filmography |access-date=April 28, 2024|archive-date=2012-11-04 }}

Many of his compositions are for horror and thriller films, including Hellraiser, Species, Urban Legend, The Grudge, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Drag Me to Hell, Sinister, Deliver Us from Evil and Pet Sematary. Other works include Rapid Fire, Copycat, Set It Off, Entrapment, The Hurricane, Swordfish, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man 3, and The Shipping News, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

Young was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 2008 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.{{cite web|url= http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/536623|title=BMI Film & Television Awards Tout Composers of Year's Top Film and Television Music|date=22 May 2008 |website=Bmi.com|access-date=2010-10-21}}

Early life and education

Young was born in Red Bank, New Jersey.{{cite web |title=Bio |url=http://officialchristopheryoung.com/bio |website=OfficialChristopherYoung.com |access-date=10 December 2020}} He graduated from Hampshire College in Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts in music, and then completed his post-graduate work at the University of North Texas.

Career

In 1980, he moved to Los Angeles. Originally a jazz drummer, when he heard some of Bernard Herrmann's works he decided to become a film composer. He studied at the UCLA Film School under David Raksin. He teaches at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California.{{Cite web|url=https://music.usc.edu/christopher-young/|title=Christopher Young|date=March 20, 2013|website=Music.usc.edu|access-date=April 28, 2024}}

Works as composer

=Film=

==1980s==

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

rowspan="1"| 1981

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Minstrel’s Song

| Chris Hopkins

| Short film

rowspan="2"| 1982

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Dorm That Dripped Blood

| Stephen Carpenter
Jeffrey Obrow

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Highpoint

| Peter Carter

| Replacement score

rowspan="1"| 1983

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Robby

| Ralph C. Bluemke

| Replacement score – Music for the 1983 VHS release (original release: 1968)

rowspan="2"| 1984

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Power

| Stephen Carpenter
Jeffrey Obrow

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Oasis

| Sparky Greene

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="7" | 1985

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Avenging Angel

| Robert Vincent O'Neil

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Def-Con 4

| Paul Donovan

| Replacement score

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Barbarian Queen

| Héctor Olivera

| Tracked music – Credit shared with James Horner

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Wizards of the Lost Kingdom

| Héctor Olivera

|Tracked music – Credit shared with James Horner

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Godzilla 1985

| R.J. Kizer
Koji Hashimoto

| Tracked music (US release); part of Young's score from Def-Con 4 appears in several scenes, including Godzilla's attack on the Soviet submarine, the scene where the SDF armored division arrives in Tokyo Bay, and Okumura's near-death experience during the helicopter extraction in Tokyo.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Wheels of Fire

| Cirio H. Santiago

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

| Jack Sholder

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="4"| 1986

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Getting Even

| Dwight H. Little

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Torment

| Samson Aslanian
John Hopkins

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Invaders from Mars

| Tobe Hooper

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Trick or Treat

| Charles Martin Smith

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="4"| 1987

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Hellraiser

| Clive Barker

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans

| Jim Wynorski

| Additional music – Tracked music

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Flowers in the Attic

| Jeffrey Bloom

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | U-Boats: The Wolfpack

| Patrick Griffin
Richard Jones

|Short films – “Rommel” / “Secret Weapons of WW2” / “U Boats: The Wolf Pack” / “B17 The Flying Fortress” / “Luftwaffe – The Air Weapon” – Tracked music

rowspan="4" | 1988

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Telephone

| Rip Torn

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Bat*21

| Peter Markle

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Haunted Summer

| Ivan Passer

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Hellbound: Hellraiser II

| Tony Randel

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="2"| 1989

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Fly II

| Chris Walas

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Hider in the House

| Matthew Patrick

| {{N/A}}

==1990s==

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

rowspan="3"| 1990

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back

| Joe Finley

| Tracked music – Direct-to-video

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Exorcist III

| William Peter Blatty

| Incomplete unused replacement score

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Bright Angel

| Michael Fields

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="1"| 1991

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Five Heartbeats

| Robert Townsend

| Additional music

rowspan="4"| 1992

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Vagrant

| Chris Walas

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Jersey Girl

| David Burton Morris

| Unused

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Rapid Fire

| Dwight H. Little

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Jennifer 8

| Bruce Robinson

| Replacement score

rowspan="3"| 1993

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Dark Half

| George A. Romero

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Sliver

| Phillip Noyce

| Additional music

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Dream Lover

| Nicholas Kazan

| {{N/A}}

1994

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale

| Xavier Koller

| Incomplete unused score

rowspan="5"| 1995

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Murder in the First

| Marc Rocco

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Tales from the Hood

| Rusty Cundieff

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Species

| Roger Donaldson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Virtuosity

| Brett Leonard

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Copycat

| Jon Amiel

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="3"| 1996

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Unforgettable

| John Dahl

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Set It Off

| F. Gary Gray

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Head Above Water

| Jim Wilson

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="2"| 1997

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Murder at 1600

| Dwight H. Little

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Man Who Knew Too Little

| Jon Amiel

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="6"| 1998

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Hard Rain

| Mikael Salomon

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Hush

| Jonathan Darby

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Rounders

| John Dahl

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Judas Kiss

| Sebastian Gutierrez

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Urban Legend

| Jamie Blanks

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Playing by Heart

| Willard Carroll

| Additional music

rowspan="4"| 1999

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Entrapment

| Jon Amiel

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | In Too Deep

| Michael Rymer

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Big Kahuna

| John Swanbeck

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Hurricane

| Norman Jewison

| {{N/A}}

==2000s==

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

rowspan="3"| 2000

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Wonder Boys

| Curtis Hanson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Bless the Child

| Chuck Russell

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Gift

| Sam Raimi

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="7"| 2001

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Madison

|William Bindley

|Themes only – Score by Kevin Kiner

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Sweet November

| Pat O'Connor

| Replacement score

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Swordfish

| Dominic Sena

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Scenes of the Crime

| Dominique Forma

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Glass House

| Daniel Sackheim

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Bandits

| Barry Levinson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Shipping News

| Lasse Hallström

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="3"| 2002

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Dragonfly

| Tom Shadyac

| Incomplete unused score

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Country Bears

| Peter Hastings

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Tower

| E. Gedney Webb
Jim Elliott

| Short film

rowspan="4"| 2003

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Core

| Jon Amiel

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | ''[[Shade (film)|Shade

]]''

| Damian Nieman

| European release only

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Runaway Jury

| Gary Fleder

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Something’s Gotta Give

| Nancy Meyers

| Additional music

rowspan="2"| 2004

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Spider-Man 2

| Sam Raimi

| Additional music

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Grudge

| Takashi Shimizu

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="5"| 2005

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Hide and Seek

| John Polson

| Incomplete unused score

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Beauty Shop

| Bille Woodruff

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

| John Pasquin

| Additional music – Tracked music

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Exorcism of Emily Rose

| Scott Derrickson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | An Unfinished Life

| Lasse Hallström

| Unused

rowspan="3"| 2006

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Ask the Dust

| Robert Towne

| Incomplete unused score

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Grudge 2

| Takashi Shimizu

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Dark Ride

| Craig Singer

| Themes only – Score by Kostas Christides

rowspan="4"| 2007

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Ghost Rider

| Mark Steven Johnson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Spider-Man 3

| Sam Raimi

| Also appears in a cameo role (“Music director”); Themes by Danny Elfman

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Lucky You

| Curtis Hanson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Shortcut to Happiness

| Alec Baldwin (credited as "Harry Kirkpatrick")

|Co-composed with Ramin Djawadi

rowspan="3"| 2008

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Untraceable

| Gregory Hoblit

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Sleepwalking

| William Maher

| Replacement score

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Informers

| Gregor Jordan

| Replacement score

rowspan="4"| 2009

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Uninvited

| The Guard Brothers

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Drag Me to Hell

| Sam Raimi

|Also appears in a cameo role (“Pedestrian with cupcake”)

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Creation

| Jon Amiel

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Love Happens

| Brandon Camp

| {{N/A}}

==2010s==

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

rowspan="3"| 2010

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | When in Rome

| Mark Steven Johnson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Gone with the Pope

| Duke Mitchell

| Additional music

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Black Tulip

| Sonia Nassery Cole

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="3"| 2011

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Priest

| Scott Stewart

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Rum Diary

| Bruce Robinson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Faces in the Crowd

| Julien Magnat

| Themes only – Score by John McCarthy

rowspan="5"| 2012

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Sinister

| Scott Derrickson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Tall Man

| Pascal Laugier

| Themes only – Score by Todd Bryanton

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Box of Shadows

| Mauro Borrelli

| Themes only – Score by José J. Herring

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Baytown Outlaws

| Barry Battles

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Scary or Die

| Bob Badway

| Segment "Re-Membered"

rowspan="6"| 2013

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Saving Norman

| Hanneke Schutte

| Short film produced by Kevin Spacey

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Smile Man

| Anton Lanshakov

| Short film produced by Kevin Spacey

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Love’s Routine

| Shirlyn Wong

| Short film produced by Kevin Spacey

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Killing Season

| Mark Steven Johnson

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Gods Behaving Badly

| Marc Turtletaub

| Unreleased film

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | A Madea Christmas

| Tyler Perry

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="3"| 2014

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Monkey King

| Cheang Pou-soi

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Single Moms Club

| Tyler Perry

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Deliver Us from Evil

| Scott Derrickson

| {{N/A}}

2016

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Monkey King 2

| Cheang Pou-soi

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="2"| 2018

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | One by One

| Jeffrey Obrow

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Tales from the Hood 2

|Rusty Cundieff
Darin Scott

| Themes only – Score by Frederik Wiedmann

rowspan="2"| 2019

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Pet Sematary

| Kevin Kölsch
Dennis Widmyer

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Fanboy

|Gillian Greene

| Short film

==2020s==

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

2020

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Empty Man

| David Prior

| {{N/A}}

2022

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Offering

| Oliver Park

| {{N/A}}

rowspan="4"| 2023

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

| Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau

| New score (original release: 1922)

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Piper

|Erlingur Thoroddsen

| {{N/A}}

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Pursued

|Jeffrey Obrow

| Themes only – Score by Max Blomgren and Jung J Lee

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Bentobox

|Olivia Owyeung

| Short film – Themes only – Score by Matthew Rosales

=Television=

class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

rowspan="1"| 1986

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Twilight Zone

| Sheldon Larry
Claudia Weill

| S1 E15 (“A Small Talent for War” / “A Matter of Minutes”)

rowspan="2"| 1987

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | American Harvest

| Dick Lowry

| TV film

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Vietnam War Story

| Georg Stanford Brown
David Burton Morris

| TV series – Unknown episodes; probably S1 E1 (“The Mine”) and S1 E5 (“R & R”)

rowspan="1"| 1989

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Vietnam War Story: The Last Days

| Luis Soto
David Burton Morris

| TV film – Segments: “The Last Outpost” / “Dirty Work”

rowspan="2"| 1990

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Max and Helen

| Philip Saville

| TV film

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Last Flight Out

| Larry Elikann

| TV film

rowspan="1"| 1994

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Judicial Consent

| William Bindley

| TV film

rowspan="1"| 1996

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Norma Jean & Marilyn

| Tim Fywell

| TV film

rowspan="1"| 2001

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | The Warden

| Stephen Gyllenhaal

| TV film

rowspan="1"| 2004

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Something the Lord Made

| Joseph Sargent

| TV film

rowspan="1"| 2014

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Dominion

| Scott Stewart

| TV series – S1 E0 (“Pilot”)

rowspan="1"| 2020

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 50 States of Fright

| Sam Raimi

| TV series – S1 E1-2-3 (“The Golden Arm: Michigan”) + Series theme

rowspan="2"| 2022

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities

| David Prior

| TV series – S1 E3 (“The Autopsy”)

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | Echo 3

| Mark Boal
Pablo Trapero
Claudia Llosa
Jeffrey Nachmanoff

| TV series – 10 episodes – Replacement score

= Video games =

class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

2009

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |The Saboteur

| Trey Watkins

| Themes only – Score by Gabriel Mann and Rebecca Kneubuhl

2017

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |Wilson's Heart

| Josh Bear

| {{N/A}}

= Other work =

class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

1984

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |The Philadelphia Experiment

| Stewart Raffill

| Trailer music

rowspan="2"| 2011

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |A Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project

| Brian Weidling

| Collaborative composition in aid of the charity “Hands Together” after the Haiti earthquake in 2010. A documentary directed by Brian Weidling, which captured the recording session, was released in 2017.

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |Susan Graham: A Documentary

| {{N/A}}

| Music for a documentary commemorating the retirement of Susan Graham, president of the Connecticut prep school “The Gunnery”

2016

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |Chevrolet TV-Spot

| Sam Raimi

| Commercial

rowspan="2"| 2018

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |The Lost Children of Planet X

| {{N/A}}

| Concept album developed from unused cues originally composed for the film Lucky You

scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |Three Bernard Herrmann “Melodramas”

| {{N/A}}

| Narration of three poems – “Cynara” by Ernest Dowson, “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe, and “The City of Brass” – scored by Bernard Herrmann and performed by the Hollywood Studio Orchestra, conducted by Michael McGehee

2022

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" |Scream Warriors

| {{N/A}}

| Interludes and arrangements for the Halloween rock record by LVCRFT

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{wikiquote}}

{{commons category}}

  • {{Official website|http://officialchristopheryoung.com}}
  • {{IMDb name|0002366}}
  • [http://www.filmmusicsite.com/composers.cgi?go=interview&coid=127&firstname=Christopher&lastname=Young Interview with Christopher Young at FilmMusicSite]

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for Christopher Young

|list1 =

{{International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure Film}}

{{International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for a Comedy Film}}

{{International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film}}

{{International Film Music Critics Association Award for Film Music Composition of the Year}}

{{Saturn Award for Best Music}}

}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Christopher}}

Category:1958 births

Category:Living people

Category:American film score composers

Category:American male film score composers

Category:American television composers

Category:Hampshire College alumni

Category:Entertainers from Red Bank, New Jersey

Category:University of North Texas College of Music alumni

Category:UCLA Film School alumni

Category:USC Thornton School of Music faculty

Category:Musicians from Monmouth County, New Jersey

Category:Varèse Sarabande Records artists

Category:La-La Land Records artists