Nicholas Pike is an Emmy Award-winning English film and television music composer.
Early life and education Nicholas Pike was born in Water Orton, Warwickshire, England. He started his music career at the age of 7 at the Canterbury Choir School and subsequently moved to Cape Town, South Africa at the age of 10 where he continued in music becoming Head Chorister at St George's Grammar School, Cathedral choir as well as playing the flute with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15. He was a member of the rock band Hammak and toured the country with this and other bands. At age 17 he left to study flute and composition in Boston at the Berklee College of Music.
Career Pike moved to New York City, where he recorded and performed with his band FluteJuice featuring Bill Frisell, Billy Hart, Kenny Werner, and Hank Roberts among many others. He recorded and released the album Waterlilies with Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos and guitar virtuoso Bill Connors. Before embarking on his film scoring career he conducted and recorded his suite "Master Harold and the Boys" with the London Symphony Orchestra which was based on Athol Fugard's apartheid era play of the same name.
As a film composer, he is known for featuring unique sounds and instrumentation. He has written for projects ranging from Stephen King's The Shining to Disney's Captain Ron as well as animated films such as Disney's The Prince and the Pauper. Awards include the Elmer Bernstein Award for his score to Love Object at the Woodstock Film Festival, the Best Music Award from the Sitges Cinema Fantastic Festival for his score to Critters 2 and the Emmy for original music at the 34th News & Documentary Emmy Awards for the HBO documentary In Tahrir Square about the beginnings of the Arab Spring. He received an ACE Award for the work on Tales From The Crypt.
He composed music for large-scale music videos including Michael Jackson's "Ghost" and "You Rock My World", MC Hammer's "Too Legit to Quit" and "Here Comes The Hammer" and Will Smith's "Wild Wild West". He was chosen by actress/comedian and talk show host Bonnie Hunt to create and lead the first-ever daytime talk show live band for The Bonnie Hunt Show which aired on the NBC network. Pike composed the music for the show. He wrote and produced the song "On Ghost Ridge" for the documentary 100 Years: One Woman's Fight for Justice chronicling the epic battle between Blackfoot Indian Elouise Cobell and the US government. The song was performed by Malaysian pop star Yuna and long-listed for an Academy Award Nomination in the Best Original Song category
Pike arranged, produced, and composed the score for the first episode of Apple TV+'s series Amazing Stories.
In 2023, Pike appeared as a guest at Kingvention, the annual Michael Jackson fan convention held in London.
Pike composed the score and the Oscar Nominated operatic aria Sweet Dreams Of Joy, performed by Ana María Martínez for the documentary Viva Verdi! released in 2025.
Filmography Film
Year Title Director Studio(s) Notes 1987 Graveyard Shift Jerry Ciccoritti Cinema Ventures 1988 Critters 2: The Main Course Mick Garris New Line Cinema 1989 C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. David K. Irving Vestron Pictures 1990 Mission Manila Peter Mackenzie M.C.E.G. 1992 Stephen King's Sleepwalkers Mick Garris Columbia Pictures Captain Ron Thom Eberhardt Touchstone Pictures 1994 Blank Check Rupert Wainwright Walt Disney Pictures 1996 Michael Jackson's Ghosts Stan Winston MJJ ProductionsKingdom Entertainment Direct-to-video film 1997 Star Kid Manny Coto Trimark Pictures Telling Lies in America Guy Ferland Banner Entertainment 1998 The Sadness of Sex Rupert Wainwright FilmWorks Entertainment 1999 Delivered Guy Ferland Edie Films 2000 Return to Me Bonnie Hunt Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 2002 Virginia's Run Peter Markle Knightscove EntertainmentHoledigger Films FeardotCom William Malone Franchise PicturesMDP Worldwide 2003 Love Object Robert Parigi Lolo FilmVisionbox PicturesCatapult FilmsBase 12 Productions The I Inside Roland Suso Richter Miramax Films 2004 Riding the Bullet Mick Garris Innovation Film Group 2005 Checking Out Jeff Hare FilmWorks Entertainment The L.A. Riot Spectacular Marc Klasfeld Image Entertainment 2006 Stephen King's Desperation Mick Garris Touchstone Television 2008 Parasomnia William Malone Luminous ProcessesRising Storm Productions 2009 It's Alive Josef Rusnak Millennium Films Blood and Bone Ben Ramsey Cinema Management Group Direct-to-video film Wrong Turn at Tahoe Franck Khalfoun Paramount Famous Productions Direct-to-video film 2013 Devil May Call Jason Cuadrado Grindstone Entertainment Group 2014 Rio 2 Carlos Saldanha Blue Sky Studios Orchestrator
Television
Year Title Director Studio(s) Notes 1989–1996 Tales from the Crypt Various HBO 10 episodes 1997 The Shining Mick Garris ABC TV miniseries 1999–2001 The Lot Various American Movie Classics 17 episodes 2005–2007 Masters of Horror Various Showtime 6 episodes 2011 Bag of Bones Mick Garris A&E 2 episodes
Music video Year Title Artist Director Notes 2001 "You Rock My World" Michael Jackson Paul Hunter Original score
References
External links
Official Bio