1. Grant Kirkhope was born on 10 July 1962 and is a Scottish composer and voice actor for video games and film.
14 Facts About Grant Kirkhope
1. 2.
Grant Kirkhope has won an Ivor Novello Award for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and a World Soundtrack Award for The King's Daughter as well as being nominated for various BAFTA, ASCAP, and IFMCA awards, Grant Kirkhope has provided the voice for the character Donkey Kong in many of his game appearances.
3.
Grant Kirkhope's father, Alexander Grant Kirkhope, was works manager of Redpath Brown steel works and was an avid music fan and exposed him to early influences such as Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller.
4.
Grant Kirkhope taught himself to play guitar at age 11 and is classically trained in the trumpet.
5.
Grant Kirkhope was brought up in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire from the age of five, and attended King James's School.
6.
Grant Kirkhope played in various bands after leaving the Royal Northern College of Music, including Zoot and the Roots along with the saxophonist Snake Davis.
7.
Grant Kirkhope spent many years as part of "the Big Bad Horns" which were part of UK rock band Little Angels.
8.
Grant Kirkhope joined Rare in October 1995, he played for two bands called Syar and Maineeaxe where he played the guitar and already knew Robin Beanland, another Rare composer.
9.
Grant Kirkhope is an Ivor Novello Awards and World Soundtrack Awards winning, BAFTA, ASCAP and IFMCA-nominated composer who has created the soundtrack for various video games.
10.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was nominated for Best Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media by the International Film Music Critics Association and in the Cue Awards 2012 for Best Overall Score, Best Video Game Score and Grant Kirkhope was nominated for Best Break Out Composer.
11.
Grant Kirkhope won the award for Best Score at the Silicon Beach Film Festival for the score to the feature film Shadows directed by Michael Matteo Rossi in 2020.
12.
Grant Kirkhope won an Ivor Novello Award for his score for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope in 2023 and was nominated for Best Video Game Score at the World Soundtrack Awards for the same score in 2023.
13.
Grant Kirkhope was involved in casting the voice actors for the Viva Pinata cartoon.
14.
Grant Kirkhope moved to the United States in 2008 to work on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and became a naturalized United States citizen in March 2017.