James Horner is a composer. He produces film scores and orchestral music and is known for combining electronic instruments with choral and Celtic music. His most famous work is on the soundtrack of the movie "Titanic", the James Cameron directed romantic epic that became the highest grossing film ever made.
James Horner was born in Los Angeles, California in the year 1953. His birthday is the fourteenth of August. As a young man, James Horner studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London and from there went to the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles where he received his bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctorate in music. For a brief period he taught music theory at UCLA before becoming a full time composer of film scores.
His first big break was when he was able to write the scores for two "Star Trek" films: "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock". Both of these movies were considered among the better "Star Trek" films and were box office successes. The "Star Trek" scores allowed James Horner to find work for many other science fiction / fantasy movies as well as more mainstream films, and he amassed a long list of credits including "Krull", "An American Tail" (for which James Horner garnered nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe and two Grammys), "Aliens" (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award again), "Willow", "The Land Before Time", "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids", "Field of Dreams" (another Academy Awards nomination and two Grammy nominations), "The Rocketeer", "Sneakers", "The Pelican Brief", "Clear and Present Danger", and many, many others. After being nominated for the Academy Award several times, James Horner finally won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, and four Grammys for the score of the billion plus grossing "Titanic".
As of early 2007 James Horner continues to score several movies a year, and his most recent scored films include "Troy", "The Legend of Zorro" and "Apocalypto".