# Daniel Pemberton

Daniel Pemberton (born 3 November 1977) is an English composer and songwriter. Primarily working in film, television, and video games, he is best known for composing the scores for the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the latter of which earned him a number of award nominations, including at the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Awards. He has also received recognition for his work in films such as Steve Jobs, Motherless Brooklyn, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Being the Ricardos, and The Rescue, as well as the LittleBigPlanet series of games. For The Trial of the Chicago 7, Pemberton was nominated for the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score as well as Academy Award for Best Original Song alongside Celeste for the song “Hear My Voice”.

## Life and career

At the age of 12, Pemberton completed work experience for the video game magazine, Zero. Following the launch of Game Zone, 13-year-old Pemberton ran the cheats and tips section (PG Tips) for the magazine. He subsequently bought a keyboard and a tape player with his earnings.
In 1994, at the age of 16, Pemberton recorded his debut album, Bedroom, on a multitrack cassette recorder, which caught the attention of ambient musician Pete Namlook and was released on the latter’s Fax label as part of its sub-label series.
This album impressed TV director Paul Wilmshurst who asked 17-year-old Pemberton to score a TV documentary he was working on. Following this, he became a very in-demand composer for British television eventually segueing into feature film with his debut score of The Awakening from director Nick Murphy.
In 2013, Pemberton completed his breakthrough score of director Ridley Scott's film The Counselor, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.
In 2021, he was named "Film Composer of the Year" by the World Soundtrack Awards and International Film Music Critics Association.
Pemberton was originally named the "Discovery of the Year" in 2014 at the World Soundtrack Awards and nominated as "Film Composer of the Year" in 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Pemberton has been nominated for an Academy Award, won an Emmy Award and been nominated four times for a Golden Globe award and three times for a BAFTA Award. In 2021 he was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for the song "Hear My Voice" from the film The Trial of the Chicago 7 which was performed and co-written with Celeste. Pemberton and Celeste performed the song during the 2021 Oscars Ceremony from the roof of the newly opened Academy Museum in Hollywood. A new arrangement of the song was also used as a central part of the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games featuring a 1,000-piece choir and guitar solos from Black Sabbath founder Tony Iommi.
In 2016 his score for Steve Jobs was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. In 2017 he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for the song Gold from the film of the same name which he co-wrote with Iggy Pop, Danger Mouse and the director Stephen Gaghan. In 2019 his score for Motherless Brooklyn was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. He won an Emmy for his work on the acclaimed Paralympic documentary Rising Phoenix creating a score and song working alongside numerous musicians and artists with disabilities.
Pemberton's other notable works include the Ridley Scott-directed The Counselor (2013) and All the Money in the World (2017); the Danny Boyle-directed Steve Jobs (2015) and Yesterday (2019); the Guy Ritchie-directed The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017); the Aaron Sorkin-directed Molly's Game (2017), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), and Being the Ricardos (2021); Cuban Fury (2014); the French film Mal De Pierres (2016); the score to the American 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, as well as the score to its 2023 sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Ocean's 8 (2018); Enola Holmes (2020); and The Rescue (2021), for which Pemberton won a Critics' Choice Award for Best Score.
Earlier work includes The Awakening (2011); the live-action short Ghost Recon: Alpha (2012), directed by Francois Alaux and Herve De Crecy and edited by Pietro Scalia; Blood (2012); and In Fear and the television film Complicit (both 2013). Pemberton also scored director Gareth Edwards' breakthrough sci-fi short film Factory Farmed.
Pemberton has also composed title tunes and incidental music for several award-winning television series including The Game, Prey, Ambassadors, Peep Show, Desperate Romantics, Space Dive, Occupation, Prisoners' Wives, Black Mirror, My Mad Fat Diary, Suburban Shootout, Hell's Kitchen, Great British Menu, Hiroshima, Bad Lads' Army, That'll Teach 'Em, George Orwell: A Life in Pictures, The Yellow House, Monster Moves, Dirk Gently, Napoleon and the first series of the 2010 revival of Upstairs Downstairs. He also has composed music for video games such as LittleBigPlanet, Kinect Adventures, LittleBigPlanet 2, The Movies and Trackmania Turbo. Using the alias The Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra, some of his television themes were released on the album TVPOPMUZIK in 2007, while his video game work—primarily that from LittleBigPlanet—was released on the album LittleBIGMusic.
For the 2020 Paralympics documentary film Rising Phoenix as well as working with disabled musicians on the score Pemberton also collaborated with disabled rappers Toni Hickman, Georgetragic and Keith Jones to create the end credits song "Rising Phoenix". which was also used in the closing ceremonies of both the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Pemberton has also co-written songs such as "Jokes on You", the title track performed by Charlotte Lawrence from the film Birds of Prey; "Good Tonight" performed by Anthony Ramos and "Brand New Day" performed by the Heavy from the animated Dreamworks feature film The Bad Guys; and the title theme "Come With Me" performed by Yola from the second Netflix series of Green Eggs And Ham. He co-wrote and produced the end titles song "Time" from the movie Amsterdam with Drake and performed by Giveon which was shortlisted for the 2023 Oscars.
In 2022 Pemberton co-wrote and produced the title song "Strange Game" with Mick Jagger for the Apple TV series Slow Horses.

## Film scores
### Film

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
| 2009 | Enemies of the People | Rob Lemkin Thet Sambath | Old Street Films International Film Circuit | |
| 2011 | The Awakening | Nick Murphy | StudioCanal BBC Films | |
| 2012 | Blood | Nick Murphy | Momentum Pictures BBC Films | |
| 2013 | In Fear | Jeremy Lovering | StudioCanal | |
| 2013 | The Counselor | Ridley Scott | Scott Free Productions 20th Century Fox | |
| 2014 | Cuban Fury | James Griffiths | StudioCanal Big Talk Productions | |
| 2015 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | Guy Ritchie | Guy Ritchie/Lionel Wigram Films RatPac-Dune Entertainment Davis Entertainment Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| 2015 | Steve Jobs | Danny Boyle | Universal Pictures Legendary Pictures Scott Rudin Productions The Mark Gordon Company Entertainment 360 Decibel Films Cloud Eight Films | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score |
| 2016 | From the Land of the Moon | Nicole Garcia | StudioCanal | |
| 2016 | Gold | Stephen Gaghan | The Weinstein Company Dimension | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song |
| 2017 | King Arthur: Legend of the Sword | Guy Ritchie | Warner Bros. Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures Weed Road Pictures Safehouse Pictures Ritchie/Wigram Productions RatPac-Dune Entertainment | |
| 2017 | Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House | Peter Landesman | Sony Pictures Classics Scott Free Productions | |
| 2017 | Molly's Game | Aaron Sorkin | STXfilms | |
| 2017 | All the Money in the World | Ridley Scott | Imperative Entertainment Scott Free Productions RedRum Films TriStar Pictures | |
| 2018 | Ocean's 8 | Gary Ross | Warner Bros. Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures | Replaced Nicholas Britell |
| 2018 | Scarborough | Barnaby Southcombe | Embargo Films Poisson Rouge Pictures Kaleidoscope Entertainment | |
| 2018 | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse | Bob Persichetti Peter Ramsey Rodney Rothman | Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Animation Marvel Entertainment Arad Productions Lord Miller Productions Pascal Pictures | |
| 2019 | Yesterday | Danny Boyle | Universal Pictures | |
| 2019 | Motherless Brooklyn | Edward Norton | Warner Bros. Pictures | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score |
| 2020 | Birds of Prey | Cathy Yan | DC Films Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| 2020 | Enola Holmes | Harry Bradbeer | Legendary Pictures PCMA Productions Netflix | |
| 2020 | The Trial of the Chicago 7 | Aaron Sorkin | Paramount Pictures Cross Creek Pictures Marc Platt Productions DreamWorks Pictures ShivHans Pictures Netflix | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Song Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song |
| 2020 | Rising Phoenix | Ian Bonhote Peter Ettedgui | Netflix | |
| 2021 | The Rescue | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi Jimmy Chin | National Geographic Documentary Films Greenwich Entertainment | |
| 2021 | Being the Ricardos | Aaron Sorkin | Amazon Studios Escape Artists | Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Original Music |
| 2022 | The Bad Guys | Pierre Perifel | Universal Pictures DreamWorks Animation | |
| 2022 | Brian and Charles | Jim Archer | Focus Features (United States) Universal Pictures (International) | |
| 2022 | See How They Run | Tom George | DJ Films TSG Entertainment Searchlight Pictures | |
| 2022 | Amsterdam | David O. Russell | 20th Century Studios Regency Enterprises | Replaced Hildur Guðnadóttir |
| 2022 | Enola Holmes 2 | Harry Bradbeer | Legendary Pictures PCMA Productions Netflix | Cameo appearance as orchestra conductor |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Joaquim Dos Santos Kemp Powers Justin K. Thompson | Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Animation Marvel Entertainment Arad Productions Lord Miller Productions Pascal Pictures | Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in a Feature Production Nominated – Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score Nominated– BAFTA Award for Best Original Music |
| 2023 | Ferrari | Michael Mann | NEON | |
| 2024 | Fly Me to the Moon | Greg Berlanti | Apple Studios Columbia Pictures | |
| 2025 | The Bad Guys 2 † | Pierre Perifel | Universal Pictures DreamWorks Animation | |
| TBA | Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse † | Bob Persichetti Justin K. Thompson | Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Animation Marvel Entertainment Arad Productions Lord Miller Productions Pascal Pictures | |
Key :
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |

### Television

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2002–2006 | Bad Lads' Army | Broadcast on ITV |
| 2003–2006 | That'll Teach 'Em | Broadcast on Channel 4 |
| 2003–2015 | Peep Show | Broadcast on Channel 4 |
| 2004–2009 | Hell's Kitchen | Broadcast on ITV |
| 2006 | Great British Menu | Theme music for season 1, broadcast on BBC Two |
| 2006 | Prehistoric Park | Broadcast on ITV |
| 2009 | Commanders at War | Broadcast on the Military Channel |
| 2009 | The Lost World of Communism | Episode: "The Kingdom of Forgetting" |
| 2009 | Runaway | Serial, broadcast on CBBC |
| 2009 | Best: His Mother's Son | TV movie, broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Northern Ireland |
| 2009 | Occupation | Serial, broadcast on BBC One |
| 2009 | Desperate Romantics | Broadcast on BBC Two |
| 2009 | Wildest Dreams | 2 episodes, broadcast on BBC One |
| 2010–2012 | Dirk Gently | Broadcast on BBC 4 |
| 2010 | Upstairs Downstairs | Series 1, broadcast on BBC One |
| 2012 | Public Enemies | Broadcast on BBC One |
| 2012–2013 | Prisoners' Wives | Broadcast on BBC One |
| 2012 | Pramface | Episode: "Like Narnia But Sexy" |
| 2013 | Complicit | TV movie, broadcast on Channel 4 |
| 2013 | Ambassadors | Serial, broadcast on BBC Two |
| 2014–2015 | Prey | Broadcast on ITV |
| 2014 | The Game | Serial, broadcast on BBC Two |
| 2017 | Black Mirror | Episode: "USS Callister" |
| 2018 | One Strange Rock | Miniseries, broadcast on National Geographic |
| 2019 | Brexit: The Uncivil War | TV movie, broadcast on Channel 4 and HBO |
| 2019 | The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance | Netflix miniseries, co-composer with Samuel Sim Original Dark Crystal theme by Trevor Jones |
| 2021 | Welcome to Earth | Disney+ series |
| 2022–2023 | The Afterparty | Apple TV+ series, co-composer with David Schweitzer for season 2 |
| 2022 | Slow Horses | Apple TV+ series, co-composer with Toydrum |
| 2022 | Green Eggs and Ham | Netflix series, season 2 theme with Gary Go Performed by Yola Score composed by David Newman |

### Short film

| Year | Title | Director |
| 2008 | Factory Farmed | Gareth Edwards |
| 2012 | Ghost Recon: Alpha | Francois Alaux Herve de Crecy |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Developer(s) |
| 2005 | The Movies | Lionhead Studios |
| 2008 | LittleBigPlanet | Media Molecule |
| 2010 | Kinect Adventures! | Microsoft Game Studios |
| 2011 | LittleBigPlanet 2 | Media Molecule |
| 2019 | Knights and Bikes | Foam Sword Double Fine Productions |
| 2024 | Concord | Firewalk Studios |

## Discography

* Bedroom (Fax +49-69/450464, 1994)
* Octopus 3 [with Charles Uzzell-Edwards] (Fax +49-69/450464, 1998)
* Enhanced Environments [with Charles Uzzell-Edwards] (Subversal Records, 1999)

### Soundtrack releases

* Ferrari (Milan Records, 2023)
* The Afterparty: Season 2 (Madison Gate Records, 2023)
* Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Classical, 2023)
* Slow Horses: Season 2 (Apple Video Programming, 2023)
* Enola Holmes 2 (Milan Records, 2022)
* Amsterdam (Hollywood Records, 2022)
* See How They Run (Hollywood Records, 2022)
* Brian and Charles (1812 Recordings, 2022)
* The Bad Guys (Back Lot Music, 2022)
* The Afterparty: Season 1 (Madison Gate Records, 2022)
* Welcome to Earth (National Geographic Partners, 2021)
* Being the Ricardos (Lakeshore Records, 2021)
* The Rescue (National Geographic Partners, 2021)
* The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Varèse Sarabande, 2020)
* Enola Holmes (Milan Records, 2020)
* Rising Phoenix (1812 Recordings, 2020)
* Birds of Prey (WaterTower Music, 2020)
* Motherless Brooklyn (WaterTower Music, 2019)
* The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Vol. 1 (Cutting Edge Music, 2019)
* The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Vol. 2 (Cutting Edge Music, 2019)
* Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Sony Classical, 2018)
* Ocean's 8 (WaterTower Music, 2018)
* Molly's Game (Sony Classical, 2018)
* Black Mirror: USS Callister (1812 Recordings, 2017)
* All The Money in the World (Sony Classical, 2017)
* Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House (Filmtrax Ltd., 2017)
* King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (WaterTower Music, 2017)
* Gold (BMG, 2017)
* From The Land Of The Moon (Mal De Pierres) (Les Productions Du Tresor, 2017)
* Steve Jobs (Back Lot Music, 2015)
* The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Watertower, 2015)
* The Game (MovieScore Media, 2015)
* Cuban Fury (Decca Records, 2014)
* The Counselor (Milan Records, 2013)
* Blood (MovieScore Media, 2013)
* Space Dive (1812 Recordings, 2012)
* Dirk Gently (Moviescore Media, 2012)
* The Awakening (Moviescore Media/Screamworks, 2012)
* Desperate Romantics (1812 Recordings, 2012)
* LittleBIGMusic (1812 Recordings, 2011)
* The Haunted Airman (1812 Recordings, 2011)
* Upstairs Downstairs (1812 Recordings, 2010)
* Kinect Adventures (1812 Recordings, 2010)
* Monster Moves: Songs + Sounds (1812 Recordings, 2009)
* Heroes and Villains: Attila the Hun / Napoleon (Moviescore Media, 2009)
* TVPOPMUZIK (1812 Recordings, 2007)
* Prehistoric Park (1812 Recordings, 2006)