John Murphy (composer)

British film composer (born 1965)

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John Murphy

Murphy at the 2022 WonderCon

Background information
Born|  (1965-03-04) 4 March 1965 (age 59)
Liverpool, England
Genres|

* Electronic
* alternative rock
* post-rock

Occupations|

* Film composer
* musician
* music producer

Instruments|

* Guitar
* piano

Years active| 1980–present
Labels| Taped Noise
Website| johnmurphyofficial.com

Musical artist

John Murphy (born 4 March 1965) is a British film composer. He is a self-taught multi-instrumental musician who began his career in the 1980s, working with The Lotus Eaters, Thomas Lang, and Claudia Brücken. He has collaborated with directors Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie, Michael Mann, Matthew Vaughn, Stephen Frears, and James Gunn.

Murphy gained recognition in the film industry while working with Guy Ritchie on his film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Michael Mann's Miami Vice, Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass and scoring various films by Danny Boyle. His instrumental tracks "In the House – In a Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later and "Adagio in D Minor" from Sunshine have been featured in a variety of TV shows, commercials and film trailers.

## Background

[edit]

Born in Liverpool, England, Murphy began composing music for films in the early 1990s and scored his first hit with Leon the Pig Farmer. Together with former OMD member David Hughes, he worked on several successful British movies, enjoying particular success with the soundtrack to 1998's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Since 2000's Snatch, Murphy has worked independently and has been based in Los Angeles. His successes include Danny Boyle's box-office success 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later. He also collaborated with Underworld to score Danny Boyle's science fiction film Sunshine. In 2006, Murphy composed the score for Michael Mann's Miami Vice. In 2009, he composed the music for the 2009 remake of the 1972 film The Last House on the Left, followed by 2010's Kick-Ass, based on the comic book of the same name. Other excerpts from his scores have been released for advertising, in particular "In the House – In a Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later, and "Adagio in D minor" from Sunshine.

In 2014, he released an album titled Anonymous Rejected Filmscore[1] that had been, as the title suggests, composed for a film whose studio head had rejected for being too 'weird'.[2][3] Murphy promised the director that he wouldn't name the film. The score was allowed to develop in directions unconstrained by the original film's narrative[3] and the cover art is a photograph of Murphy's son, taken by his wife through her sunglasses.[3]

In 2018, he scored Les Misérables for the BBC, and in 2020, he composed the score for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, beginning a collaboration that continued in 2023 with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In 2024, he scored Gunn's Superman (2025), the first film of the DC Universe, for which he also incorporated nods to John Williams' "Superman March" from Richard Donner's 1978 film into the score.[4]

## Discography

[edit]

### Film

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|

1992  | Leon the Pig Farmer | Vadim Jean
Gary Sinyor | Composed with David Hughes
1994  | Beyond Bedlam | Vadim Jean  |
A Feast at Midnight | Justin Hardy  | Composed with David Hughes
Dinner in Purgatory | Kerry Kieman  |
1995  | Clockwork Mice | Vadim Jean  | Composed with David Hughes
Proteus | Bob Keen |
1996  | Darklands | Julian Richards |
1997  | Behind the Mask | Ngozi Onwurah | Short film
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous | Robert Knights | Television film
Stiff Upper Lips | Gary Sinyor  |
1998  | What Rats Won't Do | Alastair Reid |
The Real Howard Spitz | Vadim Jean  |
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels | Guy Ritchie | Composed with David Hughes
1999  | One More Kiss | Vadim Jean
The Bachelor | Gary Sinyor
2000  | Snatch | Guy Ritchie  |
Liam | Stephen Frears |
Chain of Fools | Pontus Löwenhielm
Patrick von Krusenstjerna  |
2001  | Hang Time | Ngozi Onwurah | Short film
Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise | Danny Boyle | Television film
Strumpet
Shooters | Dan Reed  |
Mean Machine | Barry Skolnick  |
2002  | All About the Benjamins | Kevin Bray |
New Best Friend | Zoe Clarke-Williams  | Composed with David Hughes
City by the Sea | Michael Caton-Jones |
28 Days Later | Danny Boyle |
Friday After Next | Marcus Raboy |
2003  | Intermission | John Crowley |
2004  | The Perfect Score | Brian Robbins |
Millions | Danny Boyle  |
2005  | Guess Who | Kevin Rodney Sullivan |
Keeping Up with the Jonesers  | Craig Borders  | Short film
The Man | Les Mayfield |
2006  | Basic Instinct 2 | Michael Caton-Jones  | Themes by Jerry Goldsmith
Miami Vice | Michael Mann | Additionally composed with Klaus Badelt, Mark Batson and Tim Motzer
2007  | Sunshine | Danny Boyle  | Composed with Underworld
28 Weeks Later | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo |
2009  | The Last House on the Left | Dennis Iliadis |
Janky Promoters | Marcus Raboy  |
Armored | Nimród Antal |
2010  | Kick-Ass | Matthew Vaughn | Composed with Henry Jackman, Marius de Vries and Ilan Eshkeri
2021  | The Suicide Squad | James Gunn | Replaced Tyler Bates
2023  | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 |
2025  | Superman | Includes "Superman March" composed by John Williams

### Documentaries

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|

1996  | Where the Bad Girls Go | Chris Bernard | Documentary short
Eunice the Gladiator
2000  | The Valley | Dan Reed  |
2013  | Love Never Fails/Forever Found | Kelsey Shaw McNeal  |

### Television

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Notes

|
|

1997  | Modern Times | Episode: "The Bubble"
2011  | Dispatches | Episode: "The Battle for Haiti"
Frontline | Episode: "Battle for Haiti"
2018  | Les Misérables | Miniseries
2022  | Peacemaker | TV series
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Special

### Charting discography

[edit]

Title  | Year  | Peak chart positions  | Album

|
|
|

Rock
[5] | FRA
[6]
"In the House – In a Heartbeat"  | 2012  | — | 89  | 28 Days Later: The Soundtrack Album
"Pumped Up Kicks"
(featuring Ralph Saenz) | 2022  | 1 | —  | Peacemaker (Soundtrack from the HBO Max Original Series)
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Kaya Savas (26 September 2014). "Anonymous Rejected Filmscore by John Murphy (Review)". Film.Music.Media. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
2. ^ Gergely Hubai (August 2014). "Torn Pages: An Anonymous Exclusive". Film Score Monthly. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2017. Alt URL
3. ^ a b c Kaya Savas (13 October 2014). "Composer Interview: John Murphy". Film.Music.Media. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
4. ^ https://www.slashfilm.com/1742027/why-james-gunn-used-john-williams-superman-theme/
5. ^ "CZ - Radio - Top 20 Modern Rock - John Murphy" (in Czech). IFPI Czech Republic. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
6. ^ LesCharts.com: John Murphy page

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* John Murphy at IMDb

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
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Artists|

* MusicBrainz

Other|

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