Daniel Pemberton (born 3 November 1977) is an English composer and songwriter. Primarily working in film, television, and video games, he is best known for composing the scores for the films Project Hail Mary and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as well as its sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the latter of which earned him a number of award nominations, including at the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Awards. He has received recognition for his work in films such as Steve Jobs, Motherless Brooklyn, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Being the Ricardos, The Rescue, Enola Holmes and its sequel Enola Holmes 2 (the latter of which also featured a cameo from Pemberton, portraying an orchestra conducter), as well as the first two entries in the LittleBigPlanet series of games and The Bad Guys film franchise (2022–present). For The Trial of the Chicago 7, Pemberton was nominated for the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Song alongside Celeste for the song "Hear My Voice".
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Early life
Pemberton grew up in East Molesey and attended Hampton School. At the age of 12, he completed work experience for the video game magazine Zero. Following the launch of Game Zone, at age 13 Pemberton ran PG Tips, the cheats and tips section for the magazine. He subsequently bought a keyboard and a tape player with his earnings.
Career
In 1994, at the age of 16, Pemberton recorded his debut album, Bedroom, on a multitrack cassette recorder, which caught the attention of ambient musician Pete Namlook and was released on the latter's Fax label as part of its sub-label series. This album impressed TV director Paul Wilmshurst, who asked 17-year-old Pemberton to score a TV documentary on which he was working. Following this, he became a very in-demand composer for British television eventually segueing into feature film with his debut score of The Awakening from director Nick Murphy.
In 2013, Pemberton completed his breakthrough score of director Ridley Scott's film The Counselor, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.
In 2021, he was named "Film Composer of the Year" by the World Soundtrack Awards and International Film Music Critics Association.
Pemberton was originally named the "Discovery of the Year" in 2014 at the World Soundtrack Awards and nominated as "Film Composer of the Year" in 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Pemberton has been nominated for an Academy Award, won an Emmy Award and been nominated four times for a Golden Globe award and three times for a BAFTA Award. In 2021 he was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for the song "Hear My Voice" from the film The Trial of the Chicago 7 which was performed and co-written with Celeste. Pemberton and Celeste performed the song during the 2021 Oscars Ceremony from the roof of the newly opened Academy Museum in Hollywood. A new arrangement of the song was also used as a central part of the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games featuring a 1,000-piece choir and guitar solos from Black Sabbath founder Tony Iommi.
In 2016 his score for Steve Jobs was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. In 2017 he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for the song Gold from the film of the same name which he co-wrote with Iggy Pop, Danger Mouse and the director Stephen Gaghan. In 2019 his score for Motherless Brooklyn was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. He won an Emmy for his work on the acclaimed Paralympic documentary Rising Phoenix creating a score and song working alongside numerous musicians and artists with disabilities.
Filmography
Discography
Bedroom (Fax +49-69/450464, 1994)
Octopus 3 [with Charles Uzzell-Edwards] (Fax +49-69/450464, 1998)
Enhanced Environments [with Charles Uzzell-Edwards] (Subversal Records, 1999)
Soundtrack releases
Project Hail Mary (Milan Records, 2026)
The Bad Guys 2 (Back Lot Music, 2025)
Ferrari (Milan Records, 2023)
The Afterparty: Season 2 (Madison Gate Records, 2023)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Classical, 2023)
Slow Horses: Season 2 (Apple Video Programming, 2023)
Enola Holmes 2 (Milan Records, 2022)
Amsterdam (Hollywood Records, 2022)
See How They Run (Hollywood Records, 2022)
Brian and Charles (1812 Recordings, 2022)
The Bad Guys (Back Lot Music, 2022)
The Afterparty: Season 1 (Madison Gate Records, 2022)
Welcome to Earth (National Geographic Partners, 2021)
Being the Ricardos (Lakeshore Records, 2021)
The Rescue (National Geographic Partners, 2021)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Varèse Sarabande, 2020)
Enola Holmes (Milan Records, 2020)
Rising Phoenix (1812 Recordings, 2020)
Birds of Prey (WaterTower Music, 2020)