Introduction
Grant Kirkhope (born 10 July 1962) is a British video game composer. Kirkhope has been nominated for various BAFTA, ASCAP, and IFMCA awards for his contributions to video game music.
Early life and education
Kirkhope was brought up in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire from the age of 5, and attended King James's School. Kirkhope played in various bands after leaving the Royal Northern College of Music, including Zoot and the Roots along with the saxophonist, Snake Davis. Kirkhope also spent many years as part of "the Big Bad Horns" which were part of UK rock band Little Angels. At the age of 33 he was employed by Rare. Before joining Rare, in October 1995, he played for two bands called Syar and Maineeaxe where he played guitar, and already knew Robin Beanland, another Rare composer. Kirkhope's music featuring an electric guitar is played on an Ernie Ball/Musicman EVH given to him by Eddie Van Halen. Kirkhope's skills on guitar can be heard on Killer Instinct Gold, Perfect Dark, Star Fox Adventures or Grabbed by the Ghoulies.
Career
Kirkhope is a BAFTA, ASCAP and IFMCA nominated British composer who has created the soundtrack for video games that have sold in excess of 30 million copies. Kirkhope’s score for Viva Piñata was nominated by BAFTA in the Original Score category in its 2007 awards.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was nominated for Best Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media by the International Film Music Critics Association and in the Cue Awards 2012 for Best Overall Score, Best Video Game Score and Grant was also nominated for Best Break Out Composer.
He was nominated in the 2015 ASCAP Composer’s Choice Awards for his work on “Civilization: Beyond Earth” and also won the Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media 2015 from the International Film Music Critics Association for the same score. Civilization: Beyond Earth also won Best Score: Video Game at the Cue Awards 2015. He was nominated in the 2016 ASCAP Composer’s Choice Awards for his work on Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide and was also nominated for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media 2016 from the International Film Music Critics Association for the same score. Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide was also nominated for Best Score: Video Game at the Cue Awards 2016.
Works
| Title | Year | System | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Killer Instinct 2/Gold | 1996 | Arcade, Nintendo 64 | Live guitar and trumpet |
| Donkey Kong Land 2 | Game Boy | Conversion of David Wise's Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest soundtrack | |
| GoldenEye 007 | 1997 | Nintendo 64 | With Graeme Norgate and Robin Beanland |
| Project Dream | Cancelled | SNES, Nintendo 64 | Revamped into Banjo-Kazooie |
| Banjo-Kazooie | 1998 | Nintendo 64 | |
| Donkey Kong 64 | 1999 | Voiced Donkey Kong. After Rare was sold to Microsoft, Nintendo recycled DK's voice clips provided by Kirkhope in games such as Mario vs. Donkey Kong | |
| Banjo-Tooie | 2000 | ||
| Perfect Dark | With David Clynick and Graeme Norgate | ||
| Star Fox Adventures | 2002 | GameCube | Live guitar |
| Grabbed by the Ghoulies | 2003 | Xbox | |
| Viva Piñata | 2006 | Xbox 360, Windows | With Steve Burke |
| Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts | 2008 | Xbox 360 | With Robin Beanland and David Clynick |
| Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise | |||
| Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning | 2012 | Xbox 360, Windows, PlayStation 3 | With Mark Cromer |
| Fart Cat! | iOS | ||
| CityVille 2 | Zynga, Facebook | ||
| Desktop Dungeons | 2013 | Windows, OS X | With Danny Baranowsky |
| Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse | Windows, Xbox 360/Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation 3/PlayStation Network | Remastering of the original game's soundtrack by Shigenori Kamiya, along with original compositions. | |
| Puzzle Charms | 2014 | Zynga, Facebook | |
| Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | ||
| Civilization: Beyond Earth | Windows | With Geoff Knorr, Michael Curran and Griffin Cohen | |
| The Enchanted Cave 2 | Mobile | ||
| Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide | 2015 | Windows | With Geoff Knorr and Griffin Cohen |
| Hex Heroes | 2016 | Wii U, Linux, OS X, Windows | |
| Ghostbusters | Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 | ||
| Yooka-Laylee | 2017 | Windows, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch | With David Wise and Steve Burke |
| A Hat in Time | Windows, OS X | With Pascal Michael Stiefel | |
| The King's Daughter | Film | With Joseph Metcalfe and John Coda | |
| Lobodestroyo | TBA | Multiple Platforms | With Cooper Goodwin |
Kirkhope also voiced several characters in the games he has worked on, such as Mumbo Jumbo, Bottles, Jamjars and the Jinjos in the Banjo-Kazooie series, and Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong 64. Kirkhope was also involved in choosing which voices by the team at 4Kids would be used in the Viva Piñata cartoon.
Awards and honors
- In 2004, Kirkhope was nominated for "Best Interactive Score" at the 2nd Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards Ceremony for Grabbed by the Ghoulies, as well as "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition" at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awards Ceremony for the same game.
- In 2007, Kirkhope was nominated for "Best Original Score" at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards for Viva Piñata.
- In 2012, Kirkhope was nominated for "Best Original Score" at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, "Outstanding Achievement – Western Composer" at Square Enix Music's Annual Game Music Awards for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and CityVille 2.
- In 2013, Kirkhope was nominated for "Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media" by Movie Music UK and International Film Music Critics Association for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Kirkhope was also nominated for "Best Original Score" at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.
- In 2014, Kirkhope was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement – Western Composer" at the Annual Game Music Online Awards for Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Desktop Dungeons.
- In 2015, Kirkhope won the award for "Best Video Game Score" from Movie Music UK for Civilization: Beyond Earth.
- In 2015, Kirkhope was nominated for "Video Game Score of the Year" by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for Civilization: Beyond Earth
- In 2015, Kirkhope won the award for "Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media" from the International Film Music Critics Association for Civilization: Beyond Earth.
- In 2015, Kirkhope won the award for "Best Score - Video Game" with The Cue Awards from Tracksounds for Civilization: Beyond Earth.
- "Game Music :: Video Game Music News". Squareenixmusic.com. Retrieved 13 May 2013.