John Murphy (born 4 March 1965) is an English film composer. He is a self-taught multi-instrumental musician who began his career in the 1980s, working with fellow Liverpool-natives The Lotus Eaters and Thomas Lang, as well as Claudia Brücken. His early film score career saw him work David Hughes from the electronic group OMD, and he has collaborated with directors Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie, Michael Mann, Matthew Vaughn, Stephen Frears, and James Gunn.
John Murphy | |
|---|---|
 Murphy at the 2022 WonderCon | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 4 March 1965 Liverpool, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | Taped Noise |
| Website | johnmurphyofficial |
Murphy gained recognition in the film industry while working with Guy Ritchie on his film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Michael Mann's Miami Vice, Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass and scoring various films by Danny Boyle. His instrumental tracks "In the House – In a Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later and "Adagio in D Minor" from Sunshine, both films by Boyle, have been featured in a variety of TV shows, commercials and film trailers. In 2018, he scored Les Misérables for the BBC, and in 2020, he composed the score for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, beginning a collaboration that continued in 2023 with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Background
editBorn on 4 March 1965 in Liverpool, England, Murphy's interest in music was sparked when he heard The Beatles rendition of "Twist and Shout", which was the first song he learnt on the guitar.[1] Coming across a book in London, titled, How to be a Film Score Composer, he began composing music for films in the early 1990s and scored his first hit with Leon the Pig Farmer.[1] Together with David Hughes, formerly of the Merseyside-based electronic group OMD, he worked on several successful films, enjoying particular success with the soundtrack to Guy Ritchie's 1998's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.[1]
Since Guy Ritchie's Snatch (2000), Murphy has worked independently and has been based in Los Angeles. His successes include Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic horror 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later.[1] He also collaborated with Underworld to score Boyle's science fiction film Sunshine. In 2006, Murphy composed the score for Michael Mann's Miami Vice. He composed the music for the 2009 remake of the 1972 film The Last House on the Left, followed by 2010's Kick-Ass, based on the comic book of the same name. Other excerpts from his scores have been used for advertising, film trailers, television shows and video games, in particular "In the House – In a Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later, and "Adagio in D Minor" from Sunshine; the former has featured in a number of tense situations on TV shows, such as the BBC's Top Gear, Dragon's Den, The Apprentice and MasterChef.[2][3]
In 2014, he released an album titled Anonymous Rejected Filmscore[4] that had been, as the title suggests, composed for a film whose studio head had rejected for being too 'weird'.[5][6] Murphy promised the director that he wouldn't name the film. The score was allowed to develop in directions unconstrained by the original film's narrative[6] and the cover art is a photograph of Murphy's son, taken by his wife through her sunglasses.[6]
In 2018, he scored Les Misérables for the BBC, and in 2020, he composed the score for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, beginning a collaboration that continued in 2023 with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In 2024, he scored Gunn's Superman (2025), the first film of the DC Universe, for which he also incorporated nods to John Williams' "Superman March" from Richard Donner's 1978 film into the score.[7]
Discography
editFilm
editDocumentaries
edit| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Where the Bad Girls Go | Chris Bernard | Documentary short |
| Eunice the Gladiator | |||
| 2000 | The Valley | Dan Reed | |
| 2013 | Love Never Fails/Forever Found | Kelsey Shaw McNeal |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Modern Times | Episode: "The Bubble" |
| 2011 | Dispatches | Episode: "The Battle for Haiti" |
| Frontline | Episode: "Battle for Haiti" | |
| 2018 | Les Misérables | Miniseries |
| 2022 | Peacemaker | TV series |
| The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Special |
Charting discography
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CZ Rock [8] |
FRA [9] | ||||||||||||
| "In the House – In a Heartbeat" | 2012 | — | 89 | 28 Days Later: The Soundtrack Album | |||||||||
| "Pumped Up Kicks" (featuring Ralph Saenz) |
2022 | 1 | — | Peacemaker (Soundtrack from the HBO Max Original Series) | |||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ a b c d "John Murphy on Scoring Iconic Themes & Working with Director Danny Boyle". Composer. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
- ^ "Dear Video Games: Please Reconsider Your "Emotional" E3 Trailer Music". Vice. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
- ^ "28 Days Later: 10 Things You Didn't Know". Spookyisles.com. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
- ^ Kaya Savas (26 September 2014). "Anonymous Rejected Filmscore by John Murphy (Review)". Film.Music.Media. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
- ^ Gergely Hubai (August 2014). "Torn Pages: An Anonymous Exclusive". Film Score Monthly. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2017. Alt URL
- ^ a b c Kaya Savas (13 October 2014). "Composer Interview: John Murphy". Film.Music.Media. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
- ^ https://www.slashfilm.com/1742027/why-james-gunn-used-john-williams-superman-theme/
- ^ "CZ - Radio - Top 20 Modern Rock - John Murphy" (in Czech). IFPI Czech Republic. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
- ^ LesCharts.com: John Murphy page