Éric Serra

Éric Serra
Serra at the 2016 César Awards ceremony.
Background information
Birth name	Éric Serra
Born	9 September 1959 Saint-Mandé, France
Origin	Paris
Genres	Pop, dance, electronic
Occupation(s)	Songwriter, record producer, composer, President of EuroVoice European Music Contest
Instruments	Guitar, percussion, drums
Years active	1970–present
Labels	RXRA
Website	www.ericserra.com

Éric Serra (born 9 September 1959) is a French musician and composer. He has often worked on films by Luc Besson.

Biography

Éric Serra's father Claude was a famous French songwriter in the 1950s and '60s, and, as such, Éric was exposed to music and its production at a young age. His mother died when he was just seven years old. In the early 1980s, Serra met director Luc Besson and was asked to score his first film, Le Dernier Combat (1983). Serra has scored all of Besson's directed films to date, except Angel-A (2005) (scored by Anja Garbarek), and several that Besson has written, such as Wasabi.

In 1995, Éric Serra was chosen to compose the score to the James Bond film GoldenEye, and produced a much more modern-sounding avant-garde soundtrack compared to previous Bond films. It met with mixed reviews from film critics. Serra's score is often criticized by Bond fans, and is considered the farthest departure from a traditional Bond score and, by some, as the most inappropriate in the series history. Others find it highly innovative, with the main problem the lack of the Monty Norman/John Barry traditional theme. The producers later hired John Altman to provide the music for the tank chase in St. Petersburg. Serra's original track for that sequence can still be found on the soundtrack as "A Pleasant Drive in St. Petersburg".

Occasionally, and mainly due to his album released by this name, he is known in credits as RXRA (pronounced like his name, in French). An example is "Little Light of Love" on The Fifth Element soundtrack, which is credited to RXRA.

Other projects

From 1980 to 1988, Éric Serra played bass guitar for French singer Jacques Higelin.

Éric Serra is also a songwriter, notably having written "It's Only Mystery" for the film Subway and "My Lady Blue" for Le Grand Bleu. In 1988, Éric Serra released an album of rock music titled RXRA which resembles the artist's name when pronounced as initial letters in French.

Serra composed the music for the 2008 Las Vegas Criss Angel/Cirque Du Soleil show 'Criss Angel: Believe'.

Onscreen appearances

Serra has spent little time in front of the camera, choosing to work behind the scenes instead. However, on French television he has made a number of appearances performing music, and notably appeared in the Luc Besson film Subway in which he plays 'Enrico the bassist'.

Film scores

Éric Serra has created the scores for the following films:

• Lucy (2014)
• The Lady (2011)
• Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds (2010)
• The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010)
• Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (2009)
• Arthur and the Invisibles (2006)
• Bandidas (2006)
• Bulletproof Monk (2003)
• Rollerball (2002)
• Décalage horaire (2002)
• Wasabi (2001)
• L'Art (délicat) de la séduction (2001)
• The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
• The Fifth Element (1997) (collaborating on its "Diva Dance" with opera singer Inva Mula)
• GoldenEye (1995)
• Léon a.k.a. The Professional (1994)
• Atlantis (1991)
• Nikita a.k.a. La Femme Nikita (1990)
• The Big Blue a.k.a. Le Grand Bleu (1988) (European version; a separate soundtrack composed by Bill Conti was created for the US version)
• Kamikaze (1986)
• La Nuit du flingueur (Episode 20 of Série noire) (1986)
• Subway (1985)
• Le Dernier Combat (1983)
• L'Avant dernier (1981) (short film)

External links

• Official website(French)
• Éric Serra at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Criss Angel Believe show website