Benson Taylor

Benson Taylor
FRSA
Taylor in 2014
Born
Mark Davison

(1983-09-10) 10 September 1983 (age 41)
Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Occupation(s)Composer, songwriter, remixer, DJ, record producer, label owner, businessman
Children2
Musical career
GenresAmbient, classical, film score, electronic, dark ambient, hip hop, Post-industrial, experimental music, alternative rock
Instrument(s)Trumpet, piano, synthesizers, music sequencer, drum machine
Years active2009–present
LabelsDecca, Universal Music, EMI Music Publishing, Warner Music Group, Sony/ATV
Websitebensontaylor.com

Benson Taylor FRSA (born Mark Davison 10 September 1983)[2] is an English composer, songwriter, record producer, and humanitarian. He is best known for his music in The Big Bang Theory, Orange is the New Black, London Fields and the eighth highest-grossing Mexican film of all time The Perfect Dictatorship.[3][4] In November 2016, Taylor was awarded an honorary doctorate for services to humanitarian causes & music.[5][6]

He founded A Remarkable Idea in 2017, a sub label of Universal Music, located in Santa Monica, California & London. Taylor has collaborated with, and produced many artists for the label, including MOBO-winning jazz quartet Kairos 4Tet, The Halle Orchestra, Mercury Prize-nominated Maxïmo Park and Kele Okereke, Bloc Party, Good Charlotte's Billy Martin, Pulled Apart by Horses, Robot Koch, Lack of Afro, Benoît Pioulard, Freddie Cowan, Bo Ningen, James Brown, and Menace Beach.[7][8] He founded Luco in 2020, a Los Angeles & San Francisco based music company in partnership with Warner Music Group, publishing catalogues and developing AI technologies.[9]

Taylor won the "Best Original Music" award at the 2014 Monaco International Film Festival. In 2018, he scored and produced the music to Mathew Cullen's thriller adaptation of the Martin Amis novel, London Fields, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Amber Heard, Jason Isaacs, Cara Delevingne, Theo James and Johnny Depp. In 2020, he scored the music for the film, Chick Fight, starring Bella Thorne, Alec Baldwin & Malin Akerman. He co-wrote original songs with Bones UK and he served as the film's executive producer.[1][10][11]

Taylor is an goodwill ambassador for the UK aid agency CAFOD, part of Caritas Internationalis,[12][13] and a goodwill ambassador for the Cambodian Children's Trust.[14] He is patron of the British based charity, Music and the Deaf. Taylor was appointed the first ambassador of the Leeds Conservatoire, and in November 2021, he was installed as the first honorary Composer in Residence at the University of Huddersfield, both in the United Kingdom.[15][16]

He is a resident DJ on Los Angeles based radio station Dublab,[17] and a guest DJ on NTS Radio in London.[18]

  1. ^ a b Meena Shamaly. "Benson Taylor Interview". Filmsandgamecomposers.com. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  2. ^ "Benson Taylor's Age". IMDb.com. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  3. ^ Scott Roxborough (22 December 2014). "Box Office: 8 International Hits That Challenged the Studio Tentpoles". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Las 10 cintas mexicanas más taquilleras". Milenio. Grupo Milenio. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2019. In Spanish.
  5. ^ "Benson Taylor receives Honorary Doctorate". Telegraph And Argus. Ricky Memo. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  6. ^ "Benson Taylor receives Honorary Doctorate". Telegraph & Argus Bradford. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Taylor signs mercury prize nominated artists". Garth Hellier. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
    - "Universal Music Signing". Lauren Sampton. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  8. ^ "A Remarkable Idea & Universal Music Publishing Group". Simon Davies. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  9. ^ "LUCO®". LUCO® Music Group. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  10. ^ "Benson Taylor to Score London Fields film". Film Music Reporter. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  11. ^ "London Fields Movie at TIFF 2015". Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  12. ^ "Composer Benson Taylor appointed celebrity ambassador". CAFOD Aid Agency. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Our celebrity ambassadors". CAFOD. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  14. ^ "Benson Taylor Becomes Goodwill Ambassador". Cambodian Children's Trust. 4 November 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  15. ^ "Benson Taylor named as Composer in Residence". hud.ac.uk. University of Huddersfield. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  16. ^ Hartley, Kath (6 January 2017). "Benson Taylor appointed Film Music ambassador at LCoM". Leeds College of Music. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  17. ^ "Dublab".
  18. ^ David Connolly. "Benson Taylor NTS Radio Show". NTS. Retrieved 10 March 2019.