Grant Kirkhope

Grant Kirkhope is a video game composer primarily known for his soundtracks at Rare, such as the Banjo-Kazooie series, Perfect Dark and Viva Piñata. He worked at the company for over a decade before relocating to Big Huge Games, taking up the title of audio director.

Pre-Rare

After obtaining a degree in classical trumpet at The Royal Northern College of Music, Grant spent much of the 80s and early 90s writing and playing guitar for various heavy metal bands such as Syar and Maineeaxe. While touring as a trumpeter of Little Angels he opened for acts such as Van Halen, and recieved a guitar from Eddie himself. Through his work he became friends with fellow trumpeter Robin Beanland, who joined Rare in 1994 and encouraged Grant to do the same.

Rare, the Nintendo era

Grant's first work at the company was an adaption of David Wise's music for Donkey Kong Land 2, as well as a collaboration with Graeme Norgate on GoldenEye 007. It wasn't until 1998 that what many consider to be his defining work, Banjo-Kazooie, was released. While the highly melodic tunes and tongue-in-cheek quality made a memorable score, Banjo was also known for taking full advantage of dynamic music depending on what area the player was in.
One of Grant's most infamous compositions appeared in 1999, that being the DK Rap for Donkey Kong 64. Despite being a deliberate bad parody, the joke was unfortunately lost on many gamers.
Grant continued to compose for a great number of titles during the N64 era, such as Perfect Dark and Banjo-Tooie.

Rare, the Microsoft era

Being sole composer on Rare's first Xbox title, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Grant incorporated more live instruments into his songs. Viva Piñata was the first of his soundtracks to be recorded by orchestra, as well as exploring a wide variety of genres for the game's romance dances. It remains his favourite score to date at the company.
Before resigning in July 2008, work was completed on the soundtracks for Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

Big Huge Games

At the end of July 2008 Grant emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland to take up position at Big Huge Games as audio director. He is currently working on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

blog	NEVER!!!	RawkHawk2010
news	Big Huge Games: Hot for Kirkhope	Brad

Name	Platforms	Developer
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning released on Feb. 7, 2012	PS3, X360, PC	38 Studios, Big Huge Games
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts released on Nov. 11, 2008	X360	Rare, Ltd.
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise released on Sept. 2, 2008	X360	Rare, Ltd.
Viva Piñata released on Nov. 9, 2006	XBLM, X360, PC	Rare, Ltd.
Conker: Live & Reloaded released on June 21, 2005	XBOX	Rare, Ltd.
Grabbed by the Ghoulies released on Oct. 21, 2003	XBOX, XBLM	Rare, Ltd.
Star Fox Adventures released on Sept. 23, 2002	GC	Nintendo, Rare, Ltd.
Banjo-Tooie released on Nov. 19, 2000	N64, XBLM	Rare, Ltd., 4J Studios
Perfect Dark released on Aug. 28, 2000	GBC	Rare, Ltd.
Perfect Dark released on May 22, 2000	N64, XBLM	Rare, Ltd., Nintendo, 4J Studios

Full Name:	Grant Kirkhope
Gender:	Male
Birthday:	July 10, 1962
Death:	n/a
Credited In:	15 games
1st Game Credit:	Donkey Kong Land 2
Currently Working For:	Big Huge Games
Hometown:	Edinburgh
Country:	Scotland
Website:	http://www.grantkirkhope.com/
Email Address:	info@grantkirkhope.com
Aliases:

Grant Kirkhope

Pre-Rare

Rare, the Nintendo era

Rare, the Microsoft era

Big Huge Games

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Off My Mind: Using Imprisoned Villains for Dangerous Government Missions