Simon Fisher-Turner

Biography

Simon John Fisher Turner (born 1954 in Dover, United Kingdom) is a versatile English artist whose career has spanned acting, popular music, and, most notably, film score composition. He is recognized for his unique, experimental approach to soundscapes and his long-standing collaboration with influential figures in British cinema.

Early Career: Actor and Pop Idol

Fisher-Turner began his career as a child actor, appearing in television and film. His early roles included portraying Ned East in the 1971 BBC TV adaptation of Tom Brown's Schooldays and parts in films such as The Big Sleep (1978).

In the 1970s, he also found fame as a teenage pop star, releasing his eponymous first solo album in 1973. Throughout his musical journey, he has used various pseudonyms, including The King of Luxembourg and as half of the fictional French female duo Deux Filles, showcasing an early embrace of eclectic and experimental music. He also performed briefly with the band The The.

Acclaimed Film Composer

Fisher-Turner's career as a film composer truly blossomed through his deep artistic partnership with director Derek Jarman. Their collaboration began with the 1986 film Caravaggio and continued until Jarman's final, poignant work, Blue (1993). In Blue, his soundscape and Jarman's spoken words were used in place of visuals, which consisted only of a blue screen, resulting in a Michael Powell Award win for the film.

His scores are characterized by an improvisatory and eclectic method, often incorporating a vast library of "found sounds." This unique approach led to a significant relationship with the British Film Institute (BFI), for whom he has scored restorations of silent films.

Award-Winning Score: He won a prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Score for his work on the BFI National Archive's restoration of the 1924 film The Epic of Everest.

Other Notable Scores: His composition credits also include scores for directors like Mike Hodges on films such as Croupier and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, and the TV drama Sweeney Todd.

Fisher-Turner continues to release solo albums, often on the Mute record label, and is known for his ongoing sonic experimentation and diverse collaborations across film, art, and music.