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Benson TaylorFRSA
Taylor in 2014
Born	Mark Davison (1983-09-10) 10 September 1983 (age 41) Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation(s)	Composer, songwriter, remixer, DJ, record producer, label owner, businessman
Children	2
Musical career
Genres	Ambient, classical, film score, electronic, dark ambient, hip hop, Post-industrial, experimental music, alternative rock
Instrument(s)	Trumpet, piano, synthesizers, music sequencer, drum machine
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Decca, Universal Music, EMI Music Publishing, Warner Music Group, Sony/ATV
Website	bensontaylor.com
Musical artist

Benson Taylor FRSA (born Mark Davison 10 September 1983) is an English composer, songwriter, record producer, and humanitarian. He is best known for his work on film, television and video game scores. In November 2016, Taylor was awarded an honorary doctorate for services to humanitarian causes and music.

He founded A Remarkable Idea in 2017, a sub label of Universal Music, located in Santa Monica, California and London. Taylor has collaborated with, and produced many artists for the label, including MOBO-winning jazz quartet Kairos 4Tet, The Halle Orchestra, Mercury Prize-nominated Maxïmo Park and Kele Okereke, Bloc Party, Good Charlotte's Billy Martin, Pulled Apart by Horses, Robot Koch, Lack of Afro, Benoît Pioulard, Freddie Cowan, Bo Ningen, James Brown, and Menace Beach. He founded Luco in 2020, a Los Angeles and San Francisco based music company in partnership with Warner Music Group, publishing catalogues and developing AI technologies.

Taylor won the "Best Original Music" award at the 2014 Monaco International Film Festival. In 2018, he scored and produced the music to Mathew Cullen's thriller adaptation of the Martin Amis novel, London Fields, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Amber Heard, Jason Isaacs, Cara Delevingne, Theo James and Johnny Depp. In 2020, he scored the music for the film, Chick Fight, starring Bella Thorne, Alec Baldwin and Malin Akerman. He co-wrote original songs with Bones UK and he served as the film's executive producer.

Taylor is an goodwill ambassador for the UK aid agency CAFOD, part of Caritas Internationalis, and a goodwill ambassador for the Cambodian Children's Trust. He is patron of the British based charity, Music and the Deaf. Taylor was appointed the first ambassador of the Leeds Conservatoire, and in November 2021, he was installed as the first honorary Composer in Residence at the University of Huddersfield, both in the United Kingdom.

He is a resident DJ on Los Angeles based radio station Dublab, and a guest DJ on NTS Radio in London.

Life and career

Born in Brontë Country, Bradford, Taylor later studied composition at the University of California, Los Angeles. After UCLA, he mentored with American composer, Mark Mancina, and studied privately with orchestrator, Hummie Mann. His style of music has a British influence, often working a classic film score sound amongst electronics, and other musical settings.

He began writing music at a young age as a trumpet player. Whilst working as a jingle producer at Key 103 in Manchester, England he opened a studio producing scores for American television, including Two and a Half Men, 30 Rock, 90210, and The Big Bang Theory, as well as producing music for the Super Bowl between 2010 and 2014. Taylor's music has been widely used across international advertising campaigns, including Nissan in 2017, McDonald's in 2018, Jose Cuervo's 2015 campaign and a collaboration in 2011 with CeeLo Green for the Las Vegas Tourist Board.

In 2011, Taylor made his London West End theatre debut co-composing the electronic music for Derek Bond's production of the play Many Moons.

In June 2013, music publishers Fairwood Music announced that they had added Taylor to their roster of artists which includes David Bowie, U2, The Selecter, Cat Stevens, The Average White Band, Bob Marley, and J.J. Cale. Taylor told British magazine Music Week, "I'm extremely humbled to join their roster, amongst some of the most recognised talents in the world. Here's hoping some of it will rub off on me!"

In November 2014, Taylor was a Grand Juror at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival alongside director Tomasz Wasilewski.

In 2016, Taylor produced soundtracks for US talk shows, including, Late Night With Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He has twice contributed music to the Netflix produced series, Orange Is the New Black. Taylor's music has also appeared in the sixth series of Justified, the first series of How to Get Away with Murder, the second series of Ray Donovan, and in the 2015 Kroll Show.

Taylor scored and produced the music to Mathew Cullen's thriller, London Fields in 2015, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Theo James, Cara Delevingne, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. Due to legal problems between the director and producers, the film was not released until September 2018, three years after Taylor had finished the musical score. As well as writing the musical score, Taylor collaborated with Toydrum and Bat for Lashes to cover Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight", and also with James Bagshaw from the British band Temples, covering "How Do You Sleep" from John Lennon's Imagine album, both tracks were recorded specifically for the film.

In December 2021, Taylor's music was performed live by an orchestra and the Italian Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, in a returning Christmas tradition celebrating the city and its residents. The concert took place in the Salone Dei Cinquecento in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio.

Taylor is a professional member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. He was styled as the "New Sound of Hollywood" by MovieScope magazine in its 24th issue in 2011.

Taylor has a monthly show on the Los Angeles based Dublab, and he is a guest DJ on NTS Radio in London.

Business ventures

Since 2020, Taylor has invested in Luco, a music company in partnership with Warner Chappell Music and Warner Music Group, focused on catalogues and developing AI technologies.

In 2017, Taylor founded A Remarkable Idea, a music label based in Santa Monica in Los Angeles, and in London. The label produces music for film, television and video games. Taylor has collaborated with artists for A Remarkable Idea including The Halle orchestra, Maxïmo Park and Kele Okereke of Bloc Party, Pulled Apart by Horses, Robot Koch, Lack of Afro, Kairos 4Tet, Bo Ningen, Good Charlotte's Billy Martin, and ambient artists such as Benoît Pioulard. Taylor previously ran his label, Insidious Music, which is now defunct after being acquired.

The label has licensed music to television shows such as Grey's Anatomy, House, Revenge, Unusual Suspects, Breaking Bad, Masterchef, Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, White Collar, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 24 and NFL on Fox.

In March 2014, through his publishing company, Taylor licensed a large catalogue of musical works in partnership with Peter Gabriel's CueSongs, and a smaller subsidiary of the catalogue to the Japanese national broadcaster, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai.

He frequently records with the British orchestra, The Hallé, and they regularly perform his works in concert. As part of his commercial recordings in 2015, he developed a short term education programme for students.

Personal life

Taylor splits his time between Tuscany, Yorkshire, and Los Angeles. He is married and has two children, who have dual citizenship in both the United Kingdom and Italy.

His third great grandfather, George Davison, was the maternal uncle of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil. Taylor is Roman Catholic.

Humanitarian and activism work

Taylor supports several charities globally, including and was one of the founding committee members of the homeless charity Emmaus Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. He is also a goodwill ambassador for the Cambodian Children's Trust in Battambang, which works towards freeing children from severe poverty, and alongside the Cambodian government to end orphan tourism. Taylor is the patron of the charity, Music and the Deaf, based in Britain.

Alongside Patrick Stewart, Lena Headey and Jodie Whittaker, in 2017, Taylor took part in a photography exhibition in Huddersfield raising awareness around the downgrading of services at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. He spoke of his children being born there.

Taylor is a known supporter of the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières, and the United Nations Refugee Agency, producing music to support their awareness campaigns. He has worked alongside the World Food Programme for several years promoting zero hunger in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Cambodia, and on the African continent. In June 2018, he travelled to the Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in Uganda with the WFP to raise awareness for World Refugee Day. Whilst in Uganda, he worked alongside refugee musicians from South Sudan.

He is an ambassador for the international aid agency for the catholic church, CAFOD, working to raise global awareness and fight poverty and injustice in communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

In 2016, he was appointed the first ambassador of the music conservatoire, Leeds College of Music in the United Kingdom.

On 26 June 2018, Alzheimer's Research UK released an educational film produced by Aardman Animations. The film was narrated by Simon Pegg and the music was produced by Taylor. It went viral the morning of its release after being shared by the British actor Stephen Fry, former British prime minister, David Cameron, Jeff Bridges, Richard Branson, film director Ron Howard and actors Andy Serkis and Bryan Cranston.

Recognition and honors

In 2014, Taylor became a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London, and in November 2016 was also honoured with an honorary degree from University of Bradford for his services to humanitarian causes. In November 2021, Taylor was installed as the first Composer in Residence at the University of Huddersfield.

Musical works

Film scores

Recent TV scores

Video games

Awards and honors

In November 2016, Kate Swann awarded Taylor with an honorary doctorate from the University of Bradford for his services to music and humanitarian causes, making him the youngest person to date to receive the award. In November 2021, Taylor was installed as the first honorary Composer in Residence at the University of Huddersfield.

Taylor was honoured with a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

He won Best Original Music for his score to Fear of Water at the 2014 Monaco International Film Festival as judged by film director Roland Joffé.

See also

• List of English people
• List of soundtrack composers
• List of ambient music artists
• List of people from Bradford

References

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2. "Benson Taylor's Age". IMDb.com. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
3. "Bradford University to honour figures from world of health and music at graduation ceremonies". Telegraph & Argus. Newsquest Media Group Ltd. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
4. ^ "Hundreds of proud students enjoy first day of University graduation ceremonies". Telegraph & Argus Bradford. Newsquest Media Group Ltd. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
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9. "London Fields Movie at TIFF 2015". Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
10. ^ "Composer Benson Taylor appointed celebrity ambassador". CAFOD Aid Agency. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
11. "Our celebrity ambassadors". CAFOD. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
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13. ^ "Benson Taylor named as Composer in Residence". hud.ac.uk. University of Huddersfield. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
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69. "Huge thanks to @_bensontaylor for composing and kindly donating the soundtrack to our latest dementia awareness film #DementiaUncovered …". AlzheimersResearchUK. 26 June 2018.
70. Bridges, Jeff (11 July 2018). "Dementia takes so much from us. We must support research to beat the diseases that cause it. Help @ARUKnews by watching and sharing this film they made with @SimonPegg and @ricoheurope. #DementiaUncovered". Twitter.com.
71. Serkis, Andy (9 July 2018). "Dementia affects so many families around the world, yet many people don't truly understand what it is. This film from @SimonPegg, @ARUKnews and @ricoheurope can help change this. Please watch and share #DementiaUncovered". Twitter.com.
72. Cranston, Bryan (2 July 2018). "One in three people born today will develop dementia. That's really shocking. We must support @ARUKnews and their research. Please watch and share this film they made with @ricoheurope and the wonderful @SimonPegg #DementiaUncovered". Twitter.com.
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75. ^ "Benson Taylor Game Scores on IMDb". IMDb.com. 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
76. "2016 Benson Taylor receives Honorary Degree from Bradford University". Twitter. Brian Lesser. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
77. "Angel Film Awards – Monaco International Film Festival 2013". Monaco Film Festival. Retrieved 26 April 2015.

External links

• Official Website
• Benson Taylor at IMDb
• Benson Taylor on Twitter
• Benson Taylor on Instagram

• Living people
• English film score composers
• English male film score composers
• English male classical composers
• 21st-century classical composers
• English classical composers
• English electronic musicians
• British ambient musicians
• English video game composers
• English experimental musicians
• English record producers
• UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni
• English Roman Catholics
• People educated at Bradford Grammar School
• Musicians from Bradford
• 1983 births
• 21st-century British male musicians