Simon Webb obituary: The musical director and composer who worked on Hollywood blockbusters
Simon Webb, who has died at 71, was a musical director, arranger and composer who supplied music for films, the West End, the Royal National Theatre, and all the major TV channels.
After reading music at York University, where he specialised in composition, conducting, and 20th century music, he was made musical director of the Theatre Royal in York.
He subsequently wrote the music for many productions there including Dr. Faustus, The Devil’s Law Case, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In the West End his musical directing credits include The Who’s Tommy at The Queen’s Theatre, and conducting Cats at The New London Theatre.
At The Royal National Theatre, he wrote, directed and performed the music for Nicholas Hytner’s productions of The Winter’s Tale and Henry V, and, for Mark Ravenhill, Totally Over You.
Webb began composing music at age four, and his style developed into a unique blend of old and new, embracing choir and orchestra, soloist and ensemble, jazz and rock.
He collaborated with musicians from across the spectrum and under gus baton string quartets morphed into synthesisers, heavy electric guitars dueted with oboes and operatic voices became sonic extravaganzas.
He worked on many films, including Playing Away, starring Norman Beaton, for Film On Four, for which he wrote the score; Runaway Dreams, an American drama for which he was musical director and arranger; Riders of the Storm, starring Dennis Hopper, for which he co-wrote the theme song; and, not least, Tequila Sunrise, the Hollywood blockbuster starring Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer, on which he played keyboards with Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor.
His television musical directing credits include Wogan, Saturday Night Live and TFI Friday, and he arranged music for The Paradise Club, Test The Nation, and the Last Night Of The Proms.
He met and married his partner, Thea Ranft, when, following his time at York, he was musical director and arranger at the Perth Theatre in Scotland.