English composer and conductor (1930?1993)
Musical artist
Stanley Myers
(6 October 1930 – 9 November 1993) was an English composer and conductor,
[1]
who scored over sixty films and television series, working closely with filmmakers
Nicolas Roeg
,
Jerzy Skolimowski
and
Volker Schlondorff
.
[2]
He is best known for his guitar piece "
Cavatina
", composed for the 1970 film
The Walking Stick
and later used as the theme for
The Deer Hunter
.
[3]
He was nominated for a
BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
for
Wish You Were Here
(1987), and was an early collaborator with and mentor of
Hans Zimmer
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Myers was born in
Birmingham
, England; as a teenager he went to
King Edward's School
in
Edgbaston
, a suburb of Birmingham.
[4]
he married
choreographer
Eleanor Fazan
.
Myers wrote incidental music for television: for example,
The Reign of Terror
, a 1964 serial in the television series
Doctor Who
; the theme to
All Gas and Gaiters
; and the theme for the
BBC
's
Question Time
.
[5]
[6]
One night in 1966, Myers and
Barry Fantoni
had called into the Chi Chi club to discuss the music for the movie
Kaleidoscope
which was to star
Warren Beatty
and
Susannah York
. What they were after was a switched on song they needed for a switched on intense movie. The resident group called
Romeo Z
came on and caused the ceiling to shake. There they knew they had the band they wanted, and they got the band to record the song "Kaleidoscope" which appeared in the film and on the soundtrack album which was released on
Warner Bros.
W 1663 in October 1966
[7]
[8]
He is known for composing music for the cult horror films
House of Whipcord
,
Frightmare
,
House of Mortal Sin
and
Schizo
for filmmaker
Pete Walker
.
[9]
[10]
The Pink Floyd website credits the
brass
parts on their 1968 song
Corporal Clegg
to "The Stanley Myers Orchestra".
[11]
Myers is best known for "
Cavatina
" (1970), an evocative guitar piece, played by
John Williams
, that served as the signature theme for
Michael Cimino
's 1978 film
The Deer Hunter
, and for which Myers won the
Ivor Novello Award
.
[1]
A somewhat different version of this work, not performed by Williams, had appeared in
The Walking Stick
. And yet another version had lyrics added.
Cleo Laine
and
Iris Williams
, in separate recordings as
He Was Beautiful
, helped to make "Cavatina" become even more popular.
[1]
During the 1980s, Myers worked frequently with director
Stephen Frears
. His score for
Prick Up Your Ears
(1987) won him a "Best Artistic Contribution" award at the
Cannes Film Festival
.
[12]
He also scored the film
Wish You Were Here
[13]
and several low budget features (
Time Traveller
,
Blind Date
,
The Wind
,
Zero Boys
) for director Nico Mastorakis, collaborating with
Hans Zimmer
.
[1]
He won another Ivor Novello Award for his soundtrack to
The Witches
in 1991.
[4]
Myers died of cancer aged 63 in
Kensington and Chelsea
, London.
[4]
[14]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film
[
edit
]
1960s
[
edit
]
1970s
[
edit
]
1980s
[
edit
]
1990s
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
[1]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Colin Larkin
, ed. (1997).
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music
(Concise ed.).
Virgin Books
. pp. 887?8.
ISBN
1-85227-745-9
.
- ^
"Stanley Myers"
.
BFI
. Archived from
the original
on 28 May 2016.
- ^
"Stanley Myers: The Deer Hunter"
.
Classic FM
. 22 August 2014.
- ^
a
b
c
Nicolas Roeg
,
Obituary: Stanley Myers
,
The Independent
, Saturday, 13 November 1993
- ^
"Stanley Myers"
.
TV.com
. CBS Interactive.
- ^
"The Deer Hunter and Other Themes"
. iTunes Store. 5 March 2001.
- ^
Kaleidoscope
THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM (Amazon) -
Back cover notes by Stanley Myers
- ^
Cash Box
, 22 October 1966 -
Page 38 ALBUM REVIEWS, POP BEST BETS
- ^
Smith, Gary A. (8 March 2006).
Uneasy Dreams
. McFarland. p. 129.
ISBN
9780786426614
.
- ^
"House of Whipcord (1974)"
.
Bfi.org.uk
. Archived from
the original
on 9 March 2016.
- ^
"Musicians (Studio)"
. Pink Floyd Music (1987) Limited
. Retrieved
26 January
2019
.
- ^
Burton, Alan; Chibnall, Steve (11 July 2013).
Historical Dictionary of British Cinema
. Scarecrow Press.
ISBN
9780810880269
.
- ^
Maslin, Janet
(24 July 1987).
"Wish You Were Here (1987) FILM: 'WISH YOU WERE HERE'
"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
"Findmypast.com"
. Archived from
the original
on 31 August 2009.
External links
[
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]
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