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Richard Jacques

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Richard Jacques
Jacques in 2007
Jacques in 2007
Background information
Birth nameRichard Adrian Jacques
Born1973 (age 50–51)
Genres
Occupations
  • Composer
  • musician
  • orchestrator
Years active1994–present
Labels

Richard Adrian Jacques (/ks/; born 1973[1][2]) is a British composer of film, television and video game music. He is best known for his scores for games such as Sonic R, Headhunter, Jet Set Radio Future, Mass Effect, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, LittleBigPlanet 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy.[3] Jacques has collaborated with numerous premier TV and movie theatre campaigns for some of the world's largest media agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann Erickson,[4] and global brands such as Audi, Bacardi, Mercedes-Benz and Stella Artois.[5] His music for television includes top brand shows for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.[6]

Early life

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Jacques was interested in composing music from an early age. He was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London,[7] studying trombone and piano, and showed a keen interest in composition in multiple styles including orchestral, jazz and popular music genres. He then attended Wells Cathedral School[8] aged 16 as a Specialist Musician, where he also took up Percussion. In 1994 Jacques graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Colchester Institute / University of Essex.[9] He was immediately hired as an in-house composer at Sega Europe.

Career

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At Sega Europe, Jacques began by composing soundtracks for a number of Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, and Xbox games such as Daytona CCE, Sonic R, Sonic 3D Blast, Jet Set Radio, Metropolis Street Racer and Jet Set Radio Future.[10]

Jacques's perhaps best known and acclaimed work at Sega came with 2001's Headhunter.[11] It was the first video game soundtrack to be recorded with A-list musicians at Abbey Road Studios' Studio One.[12] The soundtrack was well received,[13] and won multiple awards including Game Audio Network Guild 'Recognition Award',[14] and was performed at the first Symphonic Game Music Concert at The Gewandhaus in Leipzig and Video Games Live events including the inaugural concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005.[11] Jacques left Sega Europe shortly after Jet Set Radio Future's release and became a freelance composer, continuing his relationship with Sega by scoring Headhunter: Redemption in 2004.

Jacques went on to compose the BAFTA[15] and Ivor Novello[16] nominated original music for James Bond 007: Blood Stone, which is a big energy score that immerses the audience in a thrilling, cinematic Bond experience. The score received top honours for "Best Original Composition" from the Music and Sound Awards 2012.[17] After this, Jacques composed the music for the Alice in Wonderland game, for Disney in 2010, and LittleBigPlanet 2 for Sony in 2011.

Soon after, Richard opened a new studio in central London AUDISSI where which he writes original music for new advertising, television. video games and other visual media projects, including an animated feature film. This included music for TV game-shows such as Don't Scare the Hare, Prize Island, Fifteen to One, Catchphrase, The Getaway Car, Go for It, Don't Ask Me Ask Britain and Y Siambr.

In 2018, Jacques was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award from the Game Audio Network Guild.[18]

In 2022, his score to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy won him the Best Original Video Game Score Ivor Novello Award. [19]

Works

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Video games

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Year Title Note(s)
1995 Darxide Music with Adam Salkeld
F1 Challenge Music with Adam Salkeld; European version
1996 Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition Music with Kenichi Tokoi, Jun Senoue, and Tomonori Sawada
Shinobi X Music; European version
Sonic 3D Blast Music; Sega Saturn version
1997 Sonic R Music
Sega Worldwide Soccer '98 Music
2000 Jet Set Radio[1] Music with Hideki Naganuma and others
Metropolis Street Racer Music
2001 Headhunter Music
2002 Jet Set Radio Future[1] Music with Hideki Naganuma and others
Total Immersion Racing Music
2003 Headhunter: Redemption Music
2004 OutRun 2 Arrangements
EyeToy: Play 2 Music
2005 Starship Troopers Music
Pursuit Force Music
Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension Music
EyeToy: Play 3 Music with Matt Coldrick
2006 Sega Rally 2006 Music with several others
OutRun 2006 Arrangements
2007 Mass Effect Music with Jack Wall, Sam Hulick and David Kates
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice Music with Jeff Tymoschuk
Battlestations: Midway
2008 Conflict: Denied Ops
Sega Superstars Tennis
Hasbro Family Game Night
You're in the Movies
Wacky Races: Crash & Dash
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood Music with Steven Sim
The Club Music with Chris Chudley and Jesper Kyd
2009 Sonic and the Black Knight Music with several others
Battlestations: Pacific Music with David Kates
2010 Alice in Wonderland: An Adventure Beyond the Mirror Music with Wu Songming
Fluidity Music with Allister Brimble and Anthony Putson
Alice in Wonderland Music
James Bond 007: Blood Stone Music
Sonic Free Riders Arrangements
2011 Forza Motorsport 4 Music with several others
Sonic Generations Music with several others
Fate of the World Music
LittleBigPlanet 2 Music
2012 LittleBigPlanet: The Muppets Premium Level Kit Music
LittleBigPlanet PSVita Music
LittleBigPlanet Karting Music
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Music
2013 Alice in Wonderland: A New Champion Music
Powerstar Golf Music
2014 Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric Music
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal Music
2016 Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice Music
2017 Knowledge is Power Music with several others
Sonic Forces Recording engineer
2019 Team Sonic Racing Music with several others
2021 Guardians of the Galaxy Music
2024 Shadow Generations Music with several others

Film and TV

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Year Title Notes
2011 Don't Scare the Hare TV series
2013 Wright vs. Wrong Short
Beat the Pack TV series
Prize Island
2013–19 Fifteen to One
2013– Catchphrase
2014 Quest: A Tall Tale
2016 The Getaway Car TV series
Go for It
2017 Don't Ask Me Ask Britain
2019 Y Siambr

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Richard Jacques - Play Fest Interview". Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ "Genes Reunited information".
  3. ^ "Music list from IMB". IMDb.
  4. ^ "Game music connect - Agencies Richard has worked with".
  5. ^ "No sheet music - Clients of Jacques".
  6. ^ "Game music connect - BBC, ITV and Channel 4".
  7. ^ "Royal Academy Of Music". 7 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Wells Cathedral School". 21 November 2016.
  9. ^ "BA degree in Music". 7 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Work for SEGA". 7 December 2022.
  11. ^ a b Jacques's VGM Rush profile Archived 20 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ^ "No Sheet Music - Headhunter composition at Abbey Road Studios".
  13. ^ "Headhunter (PAL Import) – Dreamcast Review at IGN". Dreamcast.ign.com. 7 January 2002. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  14. ^ "G.A.N.G Award 2003".
  15. ^ "BAFTA nomination".
  16. ^ "Ivor Novello nomination".
  17. ^ "Music + Sound Award 2011".
  18. ^ "G.A.N.G awards - Life time achievement". 31 March 2018.
  19. ^ Taylor, Mark (19 May 2022). "Winners of The Ivors 2022 announced". The Ivors Academy. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
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