Neil Davidge

Neil Davidge
Born (1962-06-29)29 June 1962
Bristol, UK
Occupation Record producer, songwriter, film score composer, musician

Neil Davidge (born 1962, in Bristol, UK) is a record producer, songwriter, film score composer, musician, and occasional backing vocalist. Once an associate of dance producers DNA, he is best known as the long-term co-writer and producer for the music production outfit Massive Attack.[1] In 1997, he also produced the Sunna album One Minute Science. During that time he has established a career as a film score composer including projects such as Push, Bullet Boy, Trouble the Water, and additional music for Clash of the Titans.

Artists he has worked with include Unkle, Damon Albarn, Elizabeth Fraser, Mos Def, David Bowie, and Snoop Dogg.

In 2012, he composed the soundtrack to the video game Halo 4 and recorded "The Storm That Brought Me To You" with Tina Dico for the Clash of the Titans soundtrack, the first vocal track for which he is credited as an artist separately from Massive Attack.[1]

Career

DNA (1989–92)

Davidge worked with UK Band DNA in the period between 1989–1992 co-producing four singles and one album.[2]

Massive Attack (1995–present)

Davidge had met Massive Attack's Andrew Vowles as early as 1991, and was in and around Bristol's Coach House Studios when Portishead recorded their debut album Dummy between 1991–1994. Neil was introduced to the rest of Massive Attack in 1996, and hitting it off, he produced 'The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game', a song for the Batman Forever soundtrack that featured Everything But The Girl vocalist Tracey Thorn.

Working in close collaboration with Massive's Robert Del Naja, Neil shaped the sound of the band's third album, 1998's Mezzanine, including the song "Teardrop", which became the theme song for the medical drama "House". Mezzanine won a Q Award for Best Album and was nominated for a Mercury Award.

As with Mezzanine, Massive Attack's fourth album 100th Window was largely piloted by Davidge and Robert Del Naja. Sessions were protracted and pressurised, the group discarding material to re-write the whole record in the last six months of a three-year odyssey. "Some great things had been said about Mezzanine and we didn't want to repeat ourselves", says Neil "It was a strange period of isolation and the weirdness of 9/11, but we got there in the end."[3]

Collected was Massive Attack's best of album released on 27 March 2006. The album was preceded by the release of the single "Live With Me" on 13 March. "Live With Me" was co-written and produced by Davidge.

Heligoland is the fifth studio album by Massive Attack, released almost exactly seven years after 100th Window. Co-produced by Davidge and Robert Del Naja with additional production by Tim Goldsworthy, the record features vocals from Horace Andy, Tunde Adebimpe, Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Guy Garvey and Martina Topley-Bird. Davidge co-wrote eight of the ten tracks as well as playing keyboards, bass and guitar. The album was mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent although Davidge produced and mixed "Paradise Circus".

Film projects (2004–present)

In 2004 Luc Besson approached Davidge and Robert Del Naja to score the movie Danny The Dog, later renamed Unleashed. There then followed scores for Bullet Boy, Battle in Seattle, and Trouble the Water, which received an Oscar nomination as Best Documentary Feature. It is a moving study of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina which won 'Best Documentary' at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Working with Snoop Dogg, Neil also scored the music for In Prison My Whole Life, a documentary about US death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Away from his collaborations with Robert, Neil scored the music to the Paul McGuigan directed Push and provided additional music to the Warner Brothers film Clash of the Titans working alongside composer Ramin Djawadi. He was approached by director Louis Leterrier to replace Matt Bellamy from Muse who had to pull out due to touring commitments in the USA.

Halo 4 Original Soundtrack (2012)

On 11 April 2012, Davidge was revealed to be the composer for the Halo 4 Original Soundtrack, the official soundtrack of the video game Halo 4.[4]

Debut Solo Album 'Slo Light' (2014)

Davidge established his own studio in 2010 and has since been working on several projects including his upcoming debut solo album titled 'Slo Light'.[5] It features guest vocalists including Jhelisa Anderson, Sandie Shaw and Cate Le Bon, the album is set for release in February 2014.

Discography

YEAR ARTIST PROJECT LABEL
PRODUCER / COMPOSER
1997–1999 Massive Attack Mezzanine Virgin/10
1999 Sunna One Minute Science Virgin / Melankolic
2000–2003 Massive Attack 100th Window Virgin 10
2004 Massive Attack Danny the Dog / Unleashed Virgin / EMI
2005 Davidge/Del Naja Bullet Boy Score  
2006–2007 Massive Attack Collected Virgin / EMI
2006–2007 Massive Attack Live with me Virgin / EMI
2007 Massive Attack False Flags / United Snakes Virgin / EMI
2007 Davidge/Del Naja In Prison my whole life score  
2007 Davidge/Del Naja Trouble the water score  
2007 Davidge/Del Naja Battle in Seattle  
2008 Davidge/Del Naja The Hulk Marvel studios
2008 -2010 Massive Attack Heligoland Virgin / EMI
2009 Neil Davidge Push Movie score Warner Bros.
2011–2012 Neil Davidge Halo 4 Game score Microsoft / 343 Industries
2012–2013 Neil Davidge Slo Light (debut solo album) 7 Hz Productions
CO-PRODUCER / COMPOSER
YEAR ARTIST TRACK LABEL
1996 Massive Attack Hunter Batman Soundtrack/ Atlantic
1996 Massive Attack Fake The Aroma Help/ Go Disc
1996 Massive Attack Euro 96 / Euro zero zero  
1996 Massive Attack Wire Welcome To Sarajevo
1996 Massive Attack Hymn of the Big Wheel The Fan
1997 Massive Attack Metal and Dissolved Girl The Jackal
1998 Unkle featuring Thom Yorke Rabbit in Your Headlights Unkle Project/ Mo Wax
1998 Manic Street Preachers If You Tolerate This Epic
1998 Massive Attack Angel Adidas
1998 Massive Attack Inertia Creeps Levi's
1998 Liz Fraser Sailing On A Winters Guest
1999 Prodigy featuring 3D No Souvenirs XL
1999 Massive Attack Angel End of Days
1999 Massive Attack Dissolved Girl The Matrix
2000 Primal Scream Exterminator XL
2000 Massive Attack Angel Snatch
2000 Massive Attack Angel Armani
2000 Sunna Powerstruggle Hollow Man
2001 Mos Def I against I Blade 2
2001 David Bowie Nature Boy Moulin Rouge
2001 A Perfect Circle 3 Libras (Massive Attack Remix)  
2001 Lupine Howl Vaporizor (Massive Attack Remix) Beggars Banquet
2001 Dandy Warhols Demos Capitol
2004 Unkle Invasion Global underground
2006 Unkle Twilight Global underground

References

  1. 1 2 Raymundo, Oscar. "Exclusive Stream: Massive Attack Producer Scores 'Halo 4'". Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "SPIRIT MUSIC SIGNS GLOBAL PUBLISHING DEAL WITH NEIL DAVIDGE, ACCLAIMED COMPOSER/PRODUCER BEHIND MASSIVE ATTACK, "HALO 4" AND MAJOR MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS". Spirit Music Group. Spirit Music Group. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  3. ↑ "Neil Davidge". Archived from the original on 7 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  4. ↑ Reilly, Jim (11 April 2012). "Meet Halo 4's New Composer". Game Informer. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
  5. ↑ "7Hz Recordings". Retrieved 2015-10-27.
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