Biography

Richard Hartley's long and varied career as a musical arranger and composer has included just about everything, from playing piano in a r&b band in Paris to scoring strings for reggae records to arranging scores for experimental plays, TV and films. Hartley was brought in to help with musical auditions for the London production of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972, where he first met director Jim Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien. While scoring Sharman's production of Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand in 1973, Hartley was asked to work with O'Brien on his new rock musical, The Rocky Horror Show. Playing keyboards as one of the original four-piece show band, Hartley also arranged O'Brien's songs, expanding his work later for The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). As well as collaborating further with O'Brien on plays and films, notably on Shock Treatment (1981), Hartley scored films for director Joseph Losey, and went on to become one of England's most successful film composers.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jim Whittaker

Richard started his musical training at the age of five with classical piano lessons followed by theory studies. As a teenager, he toured Europe in various rock and R & B bands, then settled in London where he composed music for plays by Sam Shepard. That was where he met Richard O'Brien and director Jim Sharman and started his film career. It began with 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'. After being musical director for the stage show, he subsequently arranged and produced the film's soundtrack and scored the incidental music. This was followed by a time as a record producer, with artists ranging from Meat Loaf to Bananarama. He then started a long collaboration with film director Mike Newell, starting with 'Dance With a Stranger', followed by 'The Good Father' and 'An Awfully Big Adventure', Roddy Doyle's 'The Commitments', Nicholas Roeg's 'Bad Timing' and over 20 cable and television films, including 'Kennedy', starring Martin Sheen. He won the CableACE Award for HBO's 'The Impossible Spy'.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5