Daniel Licht (March 13, 1957 – August 2, 2017) was an American soundtrack composer and musician, best known for writing the score of Showtime TV drama series Dexter.
Life and career Licht grew up in suburban Detroit and attended the Roeper School, as well as summer school at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He started playing music at the age of eight with his first instrument being the clarinet. He took up the guitar four years later. He began his musical career while still in high school playing guitar with a small jazz ensemble at clubs in the area. Following high school graduation, he attended Hampshire College in Massachusetts and graduated in composition, jazz and world music. Licht moved to New York City and established himself as a musical artist within the Lower East Side music scene. He would travel to Germany, the Netherlands and Northern Europe to perform and compose music for theatre and dance companies. He created scores for such companies as Mercedes-Benz, Sony and AT&T.
He then moved to Los Angeles and pursued a career in film scoring, at the suggestion of his former classmate, Christopher Young. His first major project was the 1991 feature film Children of the Night. His composition earned him his first soundtrack CD release.
Licht scored all seasons of Dexter, which he considered to be one of his "more visible projects", but was reluctant to refer to it as his big break.
In 2012, Licht took over from Akira Yamaoka as the main composer of the Silent Hill video game series; he retained this position until 2015, when Konami decided to shift away from the home console video game industry. He also composed the soundtrack for all three games in the Dishonored series (2012-2017).
Licht died at the age of 60 from sarcoma at his home in Topanga, California, in August 2017. The third Dishonored game, Death of the Outsider, released shortly after his death and was dedicated to his memory.
Licht was assisted by his nephew Jon for his work on Dexter, Dishonored, and Silent Hill.
Works
Film Year Title Notes 1991 Children of the Night 1992 Final Embrace Amityville: It's About Time Severed Ties Inside Out III Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice Inside Out IV 1993 Acting on Impulse Ticks Where Are We? Our Trip Through America Amityville: A New Generation A Girls' Guide to Sex 1994 The Hard Truth 1995 Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest Zooman 1996 Woman Undone Hellraiser: Bloodline The Winner Thinner Bad Moon 1998 The Patron Saint of Liars Brave New World Legion of Fire: Killer Ants! Permanent Midnight Thirst 1999 Splendor Don't Look Under the Bed Execution of Justice 2000 Cabin by the Lake Hendrix 2001 Anatomy of a Hate Crime Cowboy Up Soul Survivors Off Season 2002 Video Voyeur: The Susan Wilson Story 2004 ABC's of Newborn Baby Care King Solomon's Mines 2005 Icon 2008 The Memory Keeper's Daughter Gym Teacher: The Movie 2010 Dumbstruck Wake 2016 Ghostmates
Television series Year Title Notes 2003 Oliver Beene 2005–2006 Jake in Progress Kitchen Confidential 2006–2013 Dexter 2008 Cashmere Mafia 2009 Maneater 2010 Romantically Challenged 2011–2012 Humsafar Pakistani serial; Uncredited; Some of the Dexter score is used, most likely in an unofficial capacity. 2011–2013 Body of Proof 2012 Don't Trust the B— in Apartment 23 Pilot episode only2013Deception 2014–2015 The Red Road 2016 Guilt
Video games Year Title Notes 2012 Silent Hill: Downpour Dishonored Silent Hill: Book of Memories 2016 Dishonored 2 2017Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
References
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