Brad Fiedel
| Brad Fiedel | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Brad Ira Fiedel |
| Born |
March 10, 1951 New York City, New York, United States |
| Genres | Film score |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
| Instruments | Synthesizer |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Website |
bradfiedel |
Brad Ira Fiedel (born March 10, 1951 in New York City) is a retired American composer for film and television. Known for his signature synthesizer-heavy style, Fiedel is perhaps best known for his now-iconic collaborations with director James Cameron on The Terminator and its critically acclaimed sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Working primarily in the genres of science fiction, action, and horror, his filmography includes Fright Night and its sequel, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Blue Steel, True Lies, and Johnny Mnemonic (his final score before his retirement.)
Biography
Raised in the Village of Bayville, on Long Island's fashionable North Shore, Fiedel graduated from The Barlow School in upstate New York.
After college, he became a popular and progressive composer, and in the 1980s, he worked on several successful movies, predominantly in the action and thriller genres, and pioneered the use of electronic instruments and synthesizers—almost disappearing from the mainstream at the end of the 1990s.[1] He has also served as the keyboardist for Hall and Oates.[2]
He began his career in film in the late 1970s, and wrote extensively for television films and minor cinema releases, until director James Cameron hired him to score the science fiction film The Terminator in 1984, setting the wheels in motion for a successful career.[3] The metallic, pounding main theme has since become the defining work of his career.
Since then, Fiedel has scored many popular and successful movies, including Fright Night (1985) and its sequel Fright Night Part 2 (1988), The Big Easy (1987), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), The Accused (1988), Blue Steel (1990), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Blink (1994), and True Lies (1994), although in recent years, Fiedel has moved on to other creative areas, writing original musicals and designing and building a surf resort in Saladita, Mexico. His last major theatrical score was in 1995, and although he enjoyed a brief period of renewed interest following the release of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003, when Marco Beltrami wrote an orchestral arrangement of his theme, he shows no sign of returning to the film music field.
Fiedel is married to the actress Ann Dusenberry.
Partial filmography
- Deadly Hero (1976)
- Playing for Time (1980, TV movie)
- The Bunker (1981, CBS TV movie)
- Night School (1981)
- Just Before Dawn (1981)
- Cocaine: One Man's Seduction (1983, TV movie)
- Eyes of Fire (1983)
- Right of Way (1983, TV movie)
- Calendar Girl Murders (1984, TV movie)
- The Terminator (1984)
- Fraternity Vacation (1985)
- Fright Night (1985)
- Compromising Positions (1985)
- The Midnight Hour (1985)
- Popeye Doyle (1986, TV movie)
- Desert Bloom (1986)
- Let's Get Harry (1986)
- Nowhere to Hide (1987)
- The Big Easy (1987)
- The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
- Fright Night Part 2 (1988)
- The Accused (1988)
- True Believer (1989)
- Immediate Family (1989)
- Blue Steel (1990)
- Plymouth (1991)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- Gladiator (1992)
- Straight Talk (1992)
- The Real McCoy (1993)
- Striking Distance (1993)
- Blink (1994)
- True Lies (1994)
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
- Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny (1996)
- Mistrial (1996, TV movie)
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) – themes only
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008) – themes only
- Terminator Salvation (2009) – themes only
- Terminator Genisys (2015) – themes only
References
- ↑ Stevenson, Joseph. "Biography: Brad Fiedel". Allmusic. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
- ↑ Brennan, Sandra. "Biography: Brad Fiedel". Allmovie. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
- ↑ Sokolove, Michael (April 5, 2016). "He'll Be Back: Composer Brad Fiedel Reclaims the 'Terminator' Score". SPIN. New York. Retrieved April 8, 2016.