Known for mixing classical orchestras with modern, electronic soundscapes, Grammy-winning composer Craig Armstrong has created lush, ambient scores for movies including 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Moulin Rouge' and 'Love Actually' and worked with the likes of Madonna, Massive Attack and Yoko Ono.

Born in the East End of Glasgow, he played piano and violin from a young age and began writing music for the school orchestra before moving to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music in 1977 under the guidance of composers Cornelius Cardew and Malcolm MacDonald. After graduation he returned to Scotland to work for Strathclyde Council, but began dabbling with pop music and toured with Midge Ure playing on his second album 'Answers to Nothing'. He also spent eight years as the in-house composer at Glasgow's Tron Theatre and his ventures into the world of symphonic and orchestral music included commissions for the Northern Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Royal Shakespeare Company, while in the rock scene he played with indie outfit The Big Dish and formed The Kindness of Strangers with This Mortal Coil's Louise Rutkowski. This led to him working on Massive Attack's landmark 1994 album 'Protection' and his profile grew further when he produced the score for Baz Lurhmann's movie interpretation of 'Romeo and Juliet' with Nellee Hooper and Marius De Vries in 1996.

His debut solo album 'The Space Between Us' in 1998 featured Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins fame and Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile, while his work on movie soundtracks continued to flourish as he won a Golden Globe Award for his work on 'Moulin Rouge'; he also completed a string of high profile scores, including 'Romeo Must Die', 'The Quiet American' and 'Love Actually'. He later won a Grammy Award and a BAFTA for his work on the Ray Charles biopic 'Ray' and continued to release solo records with Bono, Evan Dando and Mogwai featuring on his glacial, atmospheric 2002 album 'As If to Nothing' while he played stark, lonesome piano pieces on 2004's 'Piano Works'.

Another career tangent saw him unite with German electro artist Antye Greie and Finnish DJ/producer Vladislav Delay for the glitchy, ambient album 'The Dolls' in 2005 and he was awarded an OBE in 2010 before releasing his first album of classical violin concertos on 'Memory Takes My Hand' with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He also composed music for the Scottish opera 'The Lady from the Sea' and scored Hollywood blockbuster 'The Great Gatsby' before his classical, contemporary and cinematic influences collided in a reflective, ambient wash on his album 'Sun On You' in 2018.

Craig Armstrong

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