Edward Shearmur

Edward Shearmur (also known as Ed Shearmur; born 28 February 1966) is a British film composer. Born in London, England, at age seven he sang in the boys' choir at Westminster Cathedral. Educated at Eton College, he studied at the Royal College of Music and went on to a scholarship at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He worked as orchestration and conducting assistant to Michael Kamen on such films as Licence to Kill, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and the acclaimed Don Juan DeMarco before scoring his first full-length feature film The Cement Garden which won the director's prize at the Berlin Film Festival. His first major feature score was that of The Wings of the Dove (1997). He has since scored a diverse range of popular films, including both Charlie's Angels outings, Cruel Intentions, Species II, and K-PAX. In 2023 he composed the soundtrack for the film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's last novel Across the River and into the Trees. In addition to his film work, Shearmur has collaborated as keyboardist and arranger with a number of prominent rock musicians, including Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Pink Floyd, Marianne Faithfull, Bryan Adams, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Ambient artist David Helpling has cited Shearmur's compositional style as a major influence on his work. Shearmur was married to film producer Allison Shearmur (née Brecker) until her death from lung cancer in January 2018. They have two children.