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. Grant was brought up in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire and attended King James School (like his fellow trumpet player and good friend, Simply Red's Tim Kellett). Grant played in various bands while at and after leaving the Royal Northern College of Music including Zoot and the Roots along with top UK sax player Snake Davis. Age 33 he got a proper job with Rare. 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 an Ernie Ball/Musicman EVH given to him by Eddie Van Halen.

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

Big Huge Games was acquired by 38 Studios in May 2009, the company founded by Curt Schilling.

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