Grant Kirkhope

Grant Kirkhope (born July 10, 1962) is a British video game music composer, known for writing the soundtracks for numerous games by Rare, such as Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark. Before joining Rare in October 1995, he played for two bands called Syar and Maineeaxe where he played guitar, and already knew Robin Beanland, another Rare composer. Grant's music featuring an electric guitar is played on a Ernie Ball/Musicman EVH given to him by Eddie Van Halen.

On July 14th, 2008, Grant Kirkhope stated in his MySpace blog that he was resigning from Rare. He joined THQ studio Big Huge Games as audio director.

On August 18th, 2008, Grant Kirkhope was interviewed by Rare-Extreme covering his time at Rare and his future with Big Huge Games. On March 18, 2009, he lost his job as Big Huge Games was closed down by THQ, after THQ announced losing $191 million last quarter.

Nominations
Grant was nominated for a BAFTA award for the music he composed for the game Viva Piñata.

Nominated as one of the five finalists for “Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition” for Grabbed by the Ghoulies at the 2004 Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Awards ceremony.

Nominated for “Best Interactive Score” for Grabbed by the Ghoulies at the 2nd annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards Ceremony 2004.

Selected works

 * Donkey Kong Land 2 (1996)
 * GoldenEye 007 (with Graeme Norgate) (1997)
 * Banjo-Kazooie (1998)
 * Donkey Kong 64 (1999)
 * Banjo-Tooie (2000)
 * Perfect Dark (with David Clynick) (2000)
 * Grabbed by the Ghoulies (2003)
 * Viva Piñata (2006)
 * Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (2008)
 * Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (with Robin Beanland and David Clynick) (2008)