Paul Leonard-Morgan

Paul is an exciting fresh talent, highly regarded for his already extensive work for Film, TV and Advertising, as well as his production and arrangements.

His work has already been recognised at the highest level. He won a BAFTA for Best New Composer in 2000 for Pineapple (directed by Huw Davies & Nigel Atkinson), and received nominations for the Anthony Asquith (BAFTA) Award and the Best Original Music for Television Ivor Novello for his score to the 2004 ITV drama Fallen (directed by Omar Madha).

Paul has benefited from working closely with Craig Armstrong (composer for Moulin Rouge, Love Actually, Ray) on a number of projects, providing string arrangements, orchestrations and arrangements and playing live. 

Paul was recently honoured by the U.S Olympic Committee, being commissioned to compose the new musical anthem for the U.S Olympic Team, whose previous anthem had been written by John Williams.

On the soundtrack front, Paul has once again been asked to score the next series of hit BBC/Kudos drama Spooks (MI5 – US version). He provided the soundtrack to IWC/ITV's exclusive documentary A Year In The Life Of... JK Rowling, which for the first time, gave audiences a behind the scenes look at the author's life while she completed the final book in the Harry Potter series. He recently composed the soundtrack for feature film, Love Me Still, with director Danny Hiller (Silent Witness). He has also scored BBC Natural History series Galapagos with voiceover by Tilda Swinton, as well as BBC series 8 of Silent Witness and ITV drama The Brief starring Alan Davies.

Further film Credits include romantic comedy feature Popcorn (DMS Films), Marcie’s Dowrie (BBC/Parallel Pictures), Somersault (Channel 4 Films/Sigma), California Sunshine (Channel 4 Films Sigma) and Two Fingers (Channel 4 Films) all directed by David Mackenzie.  Also Sredni Vashtar and The Perpetual Twilight of Gregor Black which premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival, as well as The Choir (BBC Films), That Old One (BBC/Ideal World Films) and Does God Play Football (Channel 4 Films).

Paul scored all 64 episodes of the Red Kite animation series Imp for the Cartoon Network, starring the voices of Julian Rhind-Tutt and Stephan Mangan of Channel 4’s Green Wing. He also composed the music for the BAFTA nominated Rogue Farm, an ‘anime machinima’ style animation, teaming up with the Scottish band Arab Strap, as well as writing additional music for the award winning Leonard featuring Dennis Lawson.

Paul has scored a number of Channel 4 Body Shock and Dispatches documentaries including A Mother’s Love (Channel 4/Mentorn), Face Transplant (Channel 4/Mentorn) and A Mother’s Journey (Channel 4/Mentorn). Other TV credits include Ten Days That Shaped The Queen (Channel 4/IWC), Powerhouses (BBC/Oxford Film), and The Other Side of Suez (Canadian Broadcasting Corp co- production with IWC).

In respect of production and arrangement, Paul has again been working with Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanagan on their latest album, following on from their successful collaboration on the 2006 Mercury Prize nominated album Ballad of the Broken Seas, as well as with a range of successful acts including Snow Patrol, Belle and Sebastian, Simple Minds, Fried and Texas. Most recently he has been adding arrangements to the new album by 2007 Mercury Prize nominees The Young Knives and to Sharleen Spitteri’s solo project. Paul also worked with New Yorkers Joy Zipper on their critically acclaimed album ‘American Whip’ released on David Holmes label 13 Amp. Paul contributed arrangements for tracks produced by Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine, Lost in Translation) and David Holmes (Oceans Eleven, Out of Sight).  Paul has provided bespoke music for advertising campaigns for Budweiser, Absolut Vodka (in the US), Chevron, Chase Manhattan Bank (in the US), Herbal Essence, United States Olympic Committee, Vauxhall Cars, Airtours and Heineken. Paul's debut album, Filmtales, was released at the end of last year to critical acclaim. It features original material and collaborations with Isobel Campbell, Steve Mason (Beta Band), Jenna (Un-Cut, Shapeshifters), and Richard Colburn (Belle & Sebastian).

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Awards and Nominations

• Winner of BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Award) as Best New Composer in 2000 
• Nominated for 2004 Ivor Novello Awards (Best Original Music for Television)
• Nominated for the Anthony Asquith (BAFTA) Award (2004)

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Film Tales Press

“Fast becoming the composer that every film and tv producer in the land wants to score their next project..." - Music News

“Soaring strings, beats and industrial noises combine to create a sound that is reminiscent of Massive Attack’s at their most chilled.” - The Herald

“…marvellous empathetic co-producer/arranger, PLM, has space to paint a finely judged chiaroscuro backdrop of strings and reach the very core of the song…” - Q Magazine

“…each track breathed an infectious beat..” - The Herald

“sumptuous orchestrations.” – Uncut

“overwhelmingly lush arrangements” - The Independent

“…these were truly heart-wrenching arrangements…” - The Herald

“arrangements burnished with summery harmonies and silky strings” -  Uncut

“…nothing could have been finer than these sensitive, lush string arrangements…” - The Scotsman

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