Howard Shore is a renowned Canadian composer, born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, into a Jewish family. He began his musical journey at the tender age of eight, playing in bands by the time he was thirteen, and his passion for music led him to pursue a professional career as a teenager.
Shore's early career was marked by his membership in the jazz fusion band Lighthouse, where he performed for a few years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then shifted his focus towards composing music for theatrical performances and television shows, with his most notable work being the score for the one-man-act show of stage magician Doug Henning.
In the late 1970s, Shore transitioned to film scoring, starting with the B-movie "I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses" (1978),followed by the horror film "The Brood" (1979),which marked the beginning of his long-standing collaboration with director David Cronenberg. Cronenberg would go on to work with Shore on most of his films, excluding "The Dead Zone" (1983).
Throughout the 1980s, Shore continued to work with various directors, scoring films such as "After Hours" (1985) by Martin Scorsese, and "Big" (1988) by Penny Marshall. His score for "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) received critical acclaim, earning him a BAFTA nomination.
By the 1990s, Shore had established himself as a prominent film composer, working on projects such as "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993) and "Seven" (1995). His work in the 2000s saw him reach new heights, with his score for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) winning him an Academy Award and a Grammy, and earning him nominations for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.
Shore continued to work on acclaimed films, including "Gangs of New York" (2002),"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002),and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003),for which he received his second Academy Award and his third Academy Award for the hit song "Into the West". His work on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy is widely regarded as his most famous and successful.
In the 2010s, Shore continued to collaborate with directors such as Martin Scorsese and David Cronenberg, composing scores for films like "The Aviator" (2004) and "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" (2010).
