Personal quote Michael Kamen isn't a name you have to mention to a lot of people, because they will know who you mean. If they don't know that he scored films they would address him as the successful collaborator for songs and concerts. And everyone will know one song if you say it to them. That means that Michael Kamen has made an impressive career and this will continue to live on forever. His scores for Robin Hood and Don Juan DeMarco are most respected with movie fans, both were also nominated for an Academy Award. While he could do various genres like action, fantasy, animation, science fiction, horror as adventure, Kamen delivered on all levels. But in a way he remained out of the big top list of composers because he didn't focus himself on just one genre. He kept scoring movies, then concert and then other various projects. Sadly, Michael Kamen departed the earth of the living too soon, since we all respected him one way or another. Biography Michael Kamen was born in New York City and did study at the famous Juillard School of Music. It wasn't hard to notice but Kamen was a big name in the music industry, he became a talented musician, pop music arranger and producer and worked with the best of the best, namely Aeromsmith, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Eurythmics, Metallica, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd and Queen as many others. He scored his first feature in 1976 and began a career that deserves respect. Probably best known for his music for the Die Hard trilogy and Lethal Weapon quartet, Kamen had other known projects on his list like Highlander, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, License to Kill, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Last Action Hero, The Three Musketeers, Mr. Holland's Opus, Don Juan DeMarco, 101 Dalmatians, Event Horizon, What Dreams May Come and The Iron Giant. Kamen also collaborated on the high praised songs of Bryan Adams for his movies, the hit 'Everything I Do, I Do It For You' for Robin Hood, 'All For One' for The Three Musketeers and 'Have You ever Really Loved a Woman' for Don Juan DeMarco. All three songs were box office smashes and resulted in high sales for both singles as scores. Besides that Michael Kamen did work on numerous concerts. His last projects included scores for X-Men, the highly respected music for the acclaimed series Band of Brothers and Open Range. Michael Kamen died on 18 November 2003, due to a heart attack. He however suffered from MS, a decease that didn't stop him from writing film music of the highest order.
(overall impression) September, 1998 With film music, the personality of the composer is going to be subdued. (overall impression) September, 1998 On the other hand, people will come to see Bryan Adams, but if Michael Kamen says he's playing a concert at such and such, they go "Who?" You know, they'd rather see Pearl Jam. I'd rather see Pearl Jam, you know. (overall impression) September, 1998 It was a real collaborative coup, and
McTiernan is responsible for turning that one out. The fact that Die Hard II was such an
undignified effort was that they didn't have a director, you know. They had a Finnish
motorbike rider. September, 1998 A film composer looks at the story and comes up with musical solutions for that story. There are many, many solutions that one could choose - there are many ways to skin a cat. (on the rejected score of Ennio Morricone) September 4, 1999 The only thing different about making
music for an animated film and a live action film was the ability of the music to actually
bring the characters to life. Each film is different, and responds to music in a different
way. 
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