Marius de Vries

Marius de Vries
Background information
Born	1961
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Associated acts	The Blow Monkeys

Marius Van Wyk de Vries (born 1961) is an English music producer and composer. He has been behind some of the key albums and soundtracks of recent times, gathering five Grammy nominations, two BAFTAs, and an Ivor Novello award along the way.

Music Producer

De Vries began his music career playing keyboards for the English eighties pop-soul band The Blow Monkeys (with whom he has an ongoing creative relationship to this day), then spending the late eighties as one of the UK's most in-demand session keyboard-players/programmers and up-and-coming producers, working with artists such as Annie Lennox, The Sugarcubes, David Bowie, D Mob, Coldcut, Cathy Dennis, The Soup Dragons, Junior Reid, Brian Eno, U2, and Lisa Stansfield.

His work with The Sugarcubes led to a key role on Björk's "Debut", which marked the beginning of a long collaborative relationship with producer Nellee Hooper; the team were responsible for landmark recordings with Massive Attack, Björk, Madonna, The Sneaker Pimps, Tina Turner, and U2, and ultimately the soundtrack and score for Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet, for which de Vries - along with Hooper and co-composer Craig Armstrong - received the first of his two BAFTAs.

Since then de Vries has made records with, amongst others, Robbie Robertson, Neil Finn, Anja Garbarek, PJ Harvey, Melanie C, David Gray, Madonna, Perry Farrell, Skin, Darren Hayes, The Sugababes, Bebel Gilberto, Sophie Solomon, The Leaves, Elbow and Pet Shop Boys.

His best known work includes writing and production contributions to Björk's extended body of work, a professional relationship that has continued throughout the Icelandic singers career.

De Vries produced both of Rufus Wainwright's Want albums (Want One and Want Two), and appeared in the documentary, All I Want, discussing Wainwright's life. He is documented as saying that Wainwright's song, "I Don't Know What it Is", was one of the most complex production challenges he has ever faced, with its hundreds of layers of separate orchestral, choral, and vocal parts.

Most recently, De Vries has produced and written with Josh Groban on his multi-platinum 2007 release, Awake; mixed Rufus Wainwright's 2007 LP, Release the Stars; and produced the 2008 album A Piece of What You Need by English singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson. Thompson approached de Vries early on with the desire of them working together while de Vries was working on the Want albums with Rufus Wainwright, who is a friend of Thompson.

Composer/Film scores

De Vries was the Music Director for the 2001 film, Moulin Rouge! and worked with Nellee Hooper on the film soundtrack of Romeo + Juliet as co-composer, programmer, and co-producer. Both of these projects won de Vries BAFTA awards, and he was awarded an Ivor Novello Award for his compositional work on the former.

He also wrote the scores for Stephan Elliott's surreal thriller Eye of the Beholder as well as Elliott's adaptation of the Noel Coward comedy "Easy Virtue. The latter is notable musically for using the real singing voices of leading actors Ben Barnes, Jessica Biel, and Colin Firth^[1] to great acclaim.^[2]

In 2010, he co-wrote the score of Kick-Ass with John Murphy, Henry Jackman and Ilan Eshkeri. He co-produced (with Tyler Bates and Zack & Deborah Snyder) and performed on the soundtrack of Snyder's 2011 film Sucker Punch.

Composer/Other material

In 2008 De Vries created an hour-long modern-dance work with choreographer Rafael Bonachela titled "SquareMap of Q4," which premiered at the South Bank in London in February.

Personal

De Vries was born in London. He came from a family of four: his parents, himself and Benjamin (his younger brother). He is related to South African music producer Piet van Wyk de Vries. He has two children, Ben and Ellie.

List of songs produced by Marius de Vries

"11:11" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "14th Street" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Aganjù" by Bebel Gilberto "Agnus Dei" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "Ain't No Love" by David Gray "Alibi" by David Gray "All Around" by Bebel Gilberto "All Over The World" by Pet Shop Boys "Alright" by The Lucy Nation "Answer Back" by The 25th of May "A Piece of What You Need" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Baby" by Bebel Gilberto "Baby Girl" by The Times "Bad Twin" by Babybird "Balloon Mood" by Anja Garbarek "Beautiful Boy" by Kelli Ali "Beautiful Child" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Believe Again" by Delta Goodrem "Beyond My Control" by Anja Garbarek "Can't Sing Straight" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Coming Up For Air" by Siobhan Donaghy "Closer" by Melanie C "Crumb By Crumb" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "Dinner at Eight" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Disappearing World" by David Gray "Divine Thing" by The Soup Dragons "Don't Know What I Was Thinking" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Es Mus Sein" by Rufus Wainwright "Every Day You've Been Away" by Bebel Gilberto "Everybody Cries" by Liberty X "F.T.R.T.V." by The 25th of May "Forget Myself" by Elbow "From Here You Can Almost See the Sea" by David Gray "Gay Messiah" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "Go or Go Ahead" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Goin' Down" by Melanie C "Great Train Robbery" by Junior Reid "Harvester of Hearts" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Heaven" by Neil Arthur "Here Comes the Summer" by Kelli Ali "Here it Comes Again" by Melanie C "Hospital Food" by David Gray "I Don't Know What it Is" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "I Love I Hate" by Neil Arthur "I.C.U." by Anja Garbarek "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" by U2 "It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas" by Pet Shop Boys "In My Arms" by Teddy Thompson[5] "It's All Right" by The 25th of May "Jabuticaba" by Bebel Gilberto "Jonathan's Book" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Just One of Those Days" by Anja Garbarek "Lately" by David Gray "Leaders of the Free World" by Elbow "Little Sister" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "Little Star" by Madonna "Mama" by Annie Lennox "Meditation on Dvorak's Slavonic Fantasy" by Sophie Solomon "Memphis Skyline" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "Mother Universe" by The Soup Dragons "Movies of Myself" by Rufus Wainwright[3]

"My Very Best" by Elbow "Natasha" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Next to You" by Bebel Gilberto "Northern Star" by Melanie C "Nos Da Cariad" by David Gray "Nothing Really Matters" by Madonna "Now and Always" by David Gray "O Caminho" by Bebel Gilberto "Oh What a World" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Old Whore's Diet" by Rufus Wainwright (co-produced by Wainwright)[4] "One of These Days" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Pagan Poetry" by Björk "Peach Trees" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "Physical" by Kylie Minogue "Picking Up Pieces" by Anja Garbarek "Pretty Things" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Ring-A-Ding-Ding" by Appleton "River Song" by Bebel Gilberto "Sail Away" by David Gray "She Collects (Stuff Like That)" by Anja Garbarek "Shelter" by The 25th of May "Simplesmente" by Bebel Gilberto "Skin" by Madonna "Slippery Slope (Easier)" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Slow Motion" by David Gray "So You Say" by Siobhan Donaghy "Solve My Problems Today" by Ashtar Command "Something Written" by Anja Garbarek "Storm" by Grace Jones and the Radio Science Orchestra "Strange Noises" by Anja Garbarek "Summer's End" by Ashtar Command "Sunlight in the Rain" by Kelli Ali "Sweetmeat" by The Soup Dragons "The Art Teacher" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "The Cabinet" by Anja Garbarek "The Day Before" by Appleton "The Infinite Stars" by Kelli Ali "The One I Love" by David Gray "The One You Love" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "The Sky Lit Up" by PJ Harvey "The Telescope Man Says" by Anja Garbarek "The Things I Do" by Teddy Thompson[5] "The Wind" by PJ Harvey "This Love" by Craig Armstrong "This Love Affair" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "Treat Me Good" by Yazz "Turning The Gun On Myself" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Velvet Curtain Rag" by Rufus Wainwright "Vibrate" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Vicious World" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "Waiting For a Dream" by Rufus Wainwright[4] "Want" by Rufus Wainwright[3] "What's Goin' On" by The 25th of May "What's This?!!" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Where to Go From Here" by Teddy Thompson[5] "Why" by Melanie C "Winter" by Bebel Gilberto "Yellow Moon" by Roisin Murphy "Your Disco Needs You" by Kylie Minogue "February Song" by Josh Groban "Solo Por Ti" by Josh Groban "Silent Night" by Jackie Evancho "Panis Angelicus" by Jackie Evancho "O Holy Night" by Jackie Evancho "Pie Jesu" by Jackie Evancho "Tomorrow Never Knows" by Alison Mosshart and Carla Azar

References

1. ^ "Mad About the Boy - Music Video From the Easy Virtue Soundtrack". http://uk.movies.yahoo.com. http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/e/Easy-Virtue/trailers-7044979-10436689.html. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 
2. ^ "Compilation of reviews for "Easy Virtue" score". http://easyvirtuereview.blogspot.com. http://easyvirtuereview.blogspot.com/2009/03/easy-virtue-sounds-good-reviews-for.html. Retrieved 2009-03-167. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} "Liner Notes - Want One". AlbumLinerNotes.com. http://www.albumlinernotes.com/Want_One__2003_.html. Retrieved 2008-11-29. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} "Liner Notes - Want Two". AlbumLinerNotes.com. http://www.albumlinernotes.com/Want_Two__2004_.html. Retrieved 2008-11-29. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} "Liner Notes - A Piece of What You Need". AlbumLinerNotes.com. http://www.albumlinernotes.com/A_Piece_Of_What_You_Need.html. Retrieved 2008-11-29. 

External links

• Marius de Vries interview: Brave New World
• Interview/Article
• Marius De Vries and Björk
• Easy Virtue soundtrack
• Mad About The Boy Music Video From the Easy Virtue Soundtrack
• Native Management

Persondata
Name	De Vries, Marius
Alternative names
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Date of birth	1961
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death