Stephen Barber (composer)

Stephen Barber

Stephen Barber 2015
Background information
Born (1952-04-06) April 6, 1952
Abilene, Texas, United States
Occupation(s) Composer, Arranger, Musician
Associated acts Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons, David Byrne, Van Dyke Parks, Joe Zawinul, and John Corigliano, Joe Henry, Ornette Coleman, T Bone Burnett, London Symphony Orchestra
Website http://www.stephenbarber.com/

Stephen Barber is an American composer, arranger and musician, known for working with David Byrne, Keith Richards, John Legend, Natalie Merchant, T Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, The London Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Cross, Bonnie Raitt, Indigo Girls, Michael Stipe and Shawn Colvin.

Early life

Barber was born April 6, 1952 in Abilene, TX to Carolyn Grisham Barber, a pianist and music teacher, and Harwell Barber, a businessman and philanthropist. His cousin is the author John Grisham and his godfather is flamenco guitarist, Jim Jennings. Barber started playing the piano at the age of three years, began playing guitar at eleven and started writing music at the age of twelve. At fifteen, Barber went to Sewanee Military Academy in TN where he was the only student studying music theory.[1] He attended summer school in 1971 at the University of Texas to study music composition and then attended Southwest Texas State University where he studied music composition under composer Russell Riepe.[2][3]

Career

In 1974, Barber began a friendship with Gideon Waldrop, the Dean of Juilliard, however passed up an invitation to attend Juilliard at that time. He was in a band with Eric Johnson called The Electromagnets from 1974-1976 and in 1977, Barber moved to New York City, reconvened with Dean Waldrop, began monitoring classes at Juilliard and was accepted to study music composition and orchestration privately with John Corigliano. He was the keyboardist and arranger for Christopher Cross from 1983-1988 and during that time composed thirteen original scores for Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre, under the direction of Van Dyke Parks. He was nominated for an ACE award for the episode, "3 Little Pigs". In the early 1990s, Barber composed for the BBC’s National Geographic Explorer with David Attenborough and Mike Salisbury under the direction of producer Michael deGruy. In 1996, he began a mentorship with Joe Zawinul, and in the late 1990s he toured again with Eric Johnson. In 2001, Barber became a founder and artistic director of the Barbwire Music Project, an Austin, TX based non-profit commissioning, presenting and educational organization for contemporary American music.[4] In 2004, he was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame.[5] In 2011, he released his album, Astral Vinyl, on Navona Records.[6][7] Barber currently resides in Austin, TX.[8]

Selected works

In total, Barber has worked on more than 170 album projects[9] and multiple television and movie scores.[10]

Stephen Barber Madison Square Park 2015

Film and Television

References

  1. ↑ "Artists". Navona Records. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Russell Riepe". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Music 2002". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Scene". New Music Box. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  6. ↑ "Music 2011". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  7. ↑ "Astral Vinyl". I Care if You Listen. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  8. ↑ "Bio". Stephen Barber. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  9. ↑ "Stephen Barber Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  10. ↑ "Soundtracks". IMDB. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
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