James Newton Howard

About James Newton Howard

Howard attended the University of Southern California as a piano performance major, but he dropped out of the program after only six weeks. ∙ Beginning in 1975, he spent several years touring and recording with Elton John. ∙ Howard has collaborated with such artists as Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton. ∙ During the ’80s, Howard began moving into TV and film scoring, achieving his breakthrough with the blockbuster movie Pretty Woman. ∙ He wrote the opening theme for TV medical drama ER and also scored the series’ iconic two-hour pilot. ∙ He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, in addition to a Grammy Award for his work on The Dark Knight, which he scored with Hans Zimmer. ∙ A winner of ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Award for lifetime achievement, Howard has more than 100 film scores to his name.