Clint Mansell | Artist
Clinton Mansell is an English musician, singer, and composer born 1963 in Coventry, Warwickshire. He was the lead vocalist of alt-rock band Pop Will Eat Itself and after the band's dissolution, moved to the United States and embarked on a career as a film score composer. Inspired by David Bowie's performance of "Starman" on the TV series Top of the Pops, Mansell started to play guitar at the age of nine then was influenced by punk-inspired music such as the Ramones. While living in Stourbridge, Mansell played in rock bands and at 19 years of age he joined the band that became Pop Will Eat Itself. During his time with the band they released five studio albums. In 1994 the band signed to Nothing Records, a label owned by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Following PWEI's break-up, Mansell moved to New York, where he hoped to start a solo career, but struggled creatively. He was invited by Reznor to move to an apartment in New Orleans owned by Reznor, where Mansell lived for three years, prior to settling in Los Angeles. It was there that Reznor mentored Mansell and introduced him to Pro Tools. Mansell also performed backing vocals on Nine Inch Nails' 1999 album The Fragile. While still living in NYC, Mansell was introduced to director Darren Aronofsky who was unaware of Mansell's previous work with Pop Will Eat Itself. The two men bonded over their love of hip hop and their belief that "film music at the time was terrible." Aronofsky asked Mansell to write the title piece for Pi, Aronofsky's feature film directorial debut, he had intended to use pre-existing electronic music in the rest of the film, but Mansell was hired to provide music for the entire film. Mansell's score for the film won him the City of Birmingham award at the Birmingham Film Festival in 2000. Mansell wrote the score for Aronofsky's next film, Requiem for a Dream, which became a cult hit. The film's primary composition "Lux Aeterna" became a favorite in its own right. A re-orchestrated version of the song, was arranged for the trailer of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Mansell has performed some of his film compositions live with the Sonus Quartet in the US, the UK and Australia. The Kronos Quartet, who performed "Lux Aeterna" for the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack, have also performed some of Mansell's work live. To-date Mansell is credited with 35 film soundtrack LP releases. Standouts include Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Fountain (2006), Moon (2009), and Black Swan (2010). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work on The Fountain, and was nominated for multiple awards, including a Grammy Award, for his work on Black Swan. Having no formal training in musical notation, Mansell constructs his film scores using the method he employs for writing rock music — drums, bass, guitar and vocal lines — in addition to employing an orchestrator. Some of his influences include Philip Glass, Trevor Jones, David Holmes, and bands such as Death in Vegas, Mogwai and Unkle.
Artist Website: iamclintmansell.com
Featured Albums: Clint Mansell
Related Artists: Kronos Quartet, Pop Will Eat Itself, Trent Reznor
