Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
Birth Date: | 3 December 1942 |
Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Instrument: | Keyboards |
Genre: | Pop, R&B, blues, film score |
Occupation: | Composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, orchestrator, arranger, songwriter |
Past Member Of: | The Wrecking Crew |
Michel Rubini (born December 3, 1942) is an American musician, conductor, arranger, producer, songwriter and composer. A professional classical pianist since early childhood, he was a prolific session musician of the 1960s and '70s, part of a group known as "The Wrecking Crew", and worked with such artists Ray Charles, Frank Zappa, Sonny and Cher and Barbra Streisand. He has also written several film scores, notably for Tony Scott's The Hunger (1983) and Michael Mann's Manhunter (1986), Silhouette (1990) starring Faye Dunaway and the television series Capitol (1982-87), The Hitchhiker (1984-87) and Tales from the Crypt (1990). He is the son of violinist Jan Rubini.
Rubini’s most famous score may be as the composer of the soundtrack to The Hunger, a horror film directed by Tony Scott. This 1983 score is emblematic of dark 1980s electronic music (created using synthesizers and synclavier II) inspired by the work of Krzysztof Penderecki and György Ligeti. In 1985 he composed Graham's Theme for Michael Mann's film Manhunter. The theme composed by Rubini for Manhunter was also dark but more melodic than the score to The Hunger. Rubini collaborated with Mann a second time, for Band of the Hand, a more traditional score using a shakuhachi. In 1992 Rubini composed the score for Nemesis, a jazz and oriental music fusion with an electronic ensemble. His instrumental music features in the films Panic ("HSML Cha Cha Cha #1", "HSML Bossa Nova Source #1") and Hollywood Homicide ("Lord Made An Angel"). He composed two songs for the 1985 film The New Kids: Edge Of Survival (lyrics written and performed by Jess Harnell) and Over And Over And Over Again (lyrics written and performed by Miriam Cutler).In 1992 he wrote and performed music for the Merlin & The Dragons audiobook by Jane Yolen (read by Kevin Kline).
Rubini's first television work was as pianist for the Tommy Oliver Orchestra on the 1980 musical game show Face the Music, where he was frequently referred to on-air by host Ron Ely and occasionally performed solo pieces. This was followed by composing music for episodes for the TV series The Hitchhiker beginning in 1983, along with co-scoring the daytime soap opera Capitol and the HBO series Tales from the Crypt. Since 1987, he became successful as a mini-series, HBO special and TV movie composer.
In June 2008, as a member of the Wrecking Crew, a legendary group of studio musicians responsible for backing most of the hits recorded in Los Angeles during the 60’s, Rubini was named on a Plaque with other key players in the group in a ceremony at the Guitar Center WALK OF FAME in Hollywood.[3]