22 Facts About Michael Kamen

Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer, orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician.

Michael Arnold Kamen was born in New York City, the second of four sons.

Michael Kamen's father, Saul Kamen, was a dentist, and his mother, Helen, was a teacher.

Michael Kamen became a highly sought-after arranger in the realms of pop and rock music.

For Bush, Michael Kamen delivered an orchestral backing for "Moments of Pleasure" from The Red Shoes album, substantially building upon a simple piano theme Bush had composed.

In 1984, two years after moving to London, Michael Kamen had similarly heightened the effect of a pop recording for the Eurythmics "Here Comes the Rain Again", that score relying as much on his compositional skills as his arranging talents.

In 1990, Michael Kamen joined many other guests for Roger Waters' performance of The Wall in Berlin, and led the National Philharmonic Orchestra during the 24 Nights sessions with Eric Clapton the following year.

In 2002, Michael Kamen took part in the Concert for George as strings conductor.

Michael Kamen had a successful partnership with Bryan Adams and "Mutt" Lange composing scores and songs.

Michael Kamen wrote eleven ballets, a saxophone concerto and an electric guitar concerto.

Michael Kamen scored both the From the Earth to the Moon and Band of Brothers series on HBO.

In 1994, Michael Kamen conducted an orchestration of the Who's music for Roger Daltrey's 50th birthday concert series entitled A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who which was released on CD and DVD.

Michael Kamen was nominated for two Academy Awards and won three Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, two Ivor Novello Awards, an Annie Award, and an Emmy.

In 1998, Michael Kamen composed and conducted the soundtrack for What Dreams May Come.

The Italian composer initially completed and recorded a full score for the film but, after editorial changes were made, his score was rejected and Michael Kamen was hired in his place.

Short on time, Michael Kamen took the song "Beside You" from his New York Rock Ensemble's album Roll Over and adapted it as the movie's main musical theme.

Between April 21 and 22,1999, Michael Kamen worked with the heavy metal band Metallica, along with The San Francisco Symphony, to record a two-day concert that was held at The Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, California.

In 2001 and 2002, Michael Kamen performed with David Gilmour at Gilmour's semi-unplugged shows at the Royal Festival Hall, playing piano and cor anglais.

Michael Kamen was commissioned to write a piece for the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Michael Kamen's last recorded work appeared on Bryan Adams's album Room Service where he played the oboe and wrote the orchestration to "I Was Only Dreamin'".

Michael Kamen had completed the charts for accompaniment to two songs on Kate Bush's album Aerial, which was released in April 2005.

Michael Kamen died in London, England, from a heart attack on November 18,2003, at age 55.