Biography
Grant Kirkhope (born 10 July 1962) is a Scottish composer and voice actor known primarily for his work in video games and film. His notable video game scores include "GoldenEye 007", "Banjo-Kazooie", "Donkey Kong 64", and "Perfect Dark", among others. He has received several industry awards, including an Ivor Novello Award for "Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope" and a World Soundtrack Award for "The King's Daughter", and has also been nominated for awards from BAFTA, ASCAP, and the International Film Music Critics Association. In addition to composing, he has provided the voice of the character Donkey Kong in several of the character's game appearances.
Kirkhope was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His mother, Margaret Kirkhope, worked as a music hall dancer, while his father, Alexander Kirkhope, was a works manager at the Redpath Brown steel works and an avid music enthusiast who introduced him to artists such as Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller. He began teaching himself guitar at the age of 11 and is classically trained in trumpet. At the age of five, he moved with his family to Knaresborough in North Yorkshire, where he attended King James's School. After leaving the Royal Northern College of Music, he performed in various bands, including Zoot and the Roots alongside saxophonist Snake Davis, and spent several years as a member of the Big Bad Horns, associated with the UK rock band Little Angels. Prior to joining the video game developer Rare in October 1995, he played in bands named Syar and Maineeaxe and was already acquainted with composer Robin Beanland.
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Kirkhope's work in video game composition has received multiple nominations and awards. His score for "Viva Piñata" was nominated for a BAFTA award for original score in 2007. "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning" received nominations from the International Film Music Critics Association and the Cue Awards in 2012, where Kirkhope was also nominated for Best Breakout Composer. In 2015, he was nominated for the ASCAP Composer's Choice Awards for "Civilization: Beyond Earth", which also won Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media from the International Film Music Critics Association and Best Score: Video Game at the Cue Awards. He received further nominations in 2016 for "Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide" from both ASCAP and the International Film Music Critics Association, as well as a Cue Awards nomination. In 2020, he won Best Score at the Silicon Beach Film Festival for the film "Shadows". In 2021, the score for the animated short "The Wrong Rock" was nominated for Original Score - Short Film (Animation) at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. In 2022, "The King's Daughter" received the People's Vote Award at the World Soundtrack Awards, while both "Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope" and "The King's Daughter" received nominations at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. In 2023, he won the Ivor Novello Award for "Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope" and was also nominated for Best Video Game Score at the World Soundtrack Awards for the same work.
Kirkhope also contributed to casting voice actors for the "Viva Piñata" television adaptation. In 2008, he moved to the United States to work on "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning" and became a naturalized United States citizen in March 2017. As of 2012, he and his family reside in Southern California.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Kirkhope
Video game soundtracks
Donkey Kong Land 2 (1996)
GoldenEye 007 (1997)
Banjo-Kazooie (1998)
Donkey Kong 64 (1999)
Banjo-Tooie (2000)
Perfect Dark (2000)
Grabbed by the Ghoulies (2003)
Viva Piñata (2006)
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (2008)
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (2008)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (2012)
Cityville 2 (2012)
Desktop Dungeons (2013)
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (2013)
A Hat In Time (2014)
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z (2014)
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth (2014)
The Enchanted Cave 2 (2015)
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide (2015)
Yooka-Laylee (2017)
Drop Zone (2017)
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (2017)
A Hat in Time (2017)
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle – Donkey Kong Adventure (2018)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (2019)
Interstellar Space Genesis (2019)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (2020)
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands (2020)
The Handler (2021)
Minecraft Dungeons: Hidden Depths (2021)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Fatesworn (2022)
The King’s Daughter (2022)
Shadows (2022)
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (2022)
Murder Syndicate (2023)
Street Fighter 6 (2023)
World of Warcraft: The War Within (2024)
The Charisma Killers (2024)
The Phoenix Gene (2025)
Yooka-Replaylee (2025)
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.