Famous British Composers

George Frideric Handel was a Baroque composer renowned for his oratorios, operas, anthems, and organ concertos. A great composer, Handel's works had a strong influence on popular Classical-era composers like Beethoven and Mozart. George Frideric Handel's life and work have also inspired several films, such as the 1942 British biographical film The Great Mr. Handel.

Pink Floyd guitarist/singer David Gilmour helped the band become one of the best-selling acts ever. One of Rolling Stone magazine’s greatest guitarists of all time, he has also been an advocate of animal rights and other causes. He once auctioned off 120 guitars, including his iconic Black Strat, for charity.

Jeff Beck is a British rock guitarist renowned for his association with popular rock bands like The Yardbirds, Beck, Bogert & Appice, and The Jeff Beck Group. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in history, Beck has won several awards like the Grammy Awards. He has also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine thrice.

Richard Wright was an English musician. He is credited with co-founding the popular band ,Pink Floyd, for which he also served as a vocalist and keyboardist. Wright contributed immensely to the success of Pink Floyd and his distinctive keyboard playing was a key component of the music produced by the band.

Donovan is a Scottish guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for developing and popularizing a distinctive and eclectic style that blended many genres, such as folk, jazz, pop, calypso, and psychedelic rock. Donovan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

Richard D. James, better known as Aphex Twin is regarded as one of the finest electronic musicians of all time. He is known for his signature grin, which has graced the covers of many of his albums, and his surreal videos, such as Come to Daddy, which look more like horror movies.

Grammy-winning English singer Damon Albarn has previously been part of two major bands, Blur and Gorillaz, as their lead vocalist and primary songwriter. He has also performed as part of the supergroup The Good, the Bad & the Queen. His solo album Everyday Robots was nominated for a Mercury Award.

George Martin was an English composer, conductor, arranger, record producer, and audio engineer. Due to his involvement on each of the Beatles' albums, Martin was often referred to as the Fifth Beatle. In 1996, George Martin was made a Knight Bachelor for his contribution to the music industry. Apart from being a musician, Martin also contributed to several charitable causes.

Born to a documentary film maker, drummer Nick Mason was no stranger to art and entertainment as a child. He formed his first band while studying architecture. He was the only original member of the iconic rock band Pink Floyd member to have been part of the band since its inception.

Black Sabbath lead guitarist Tony Iommi was named one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Known for his signature black leather jacket and silver cross neckpiece, he is fond of playing dark guitar tones. While he successfully beat lymphoma, the cancer was in remission later.

Path-breaking British composer, pianist, and conductor Benjamin Britten was known for his fine operas such as Peter Grimes and the War Requiem. He also created countless orchestral works and is known for his long professional partnership with tenor Peter Pears, a collaboration that led to the formation of the Britten-Pears Foundation.

Best known for his hit album-length conceptual piece Tubular Bells, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield experimented with a whole range of musical genres, such as progressive rock, folk, and new-age rock. His music was also featured in the cult horror film of the 1970s The Exorcist.

Legendary Scottish singer-songwriter, bassist, and composer Jack Bruce gained international fame with the British rock band Cream and released iconic tracks such as I Feel Free. He also performed as part of the jazz fusion group the Tony Williams Lifetime. In 2006, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Tinged with themes of female sexuality, the lyrics of PJ Harvey have redefined the place women occupy in rock music. While she was initially part of a musical trio named after herself, she later charted her own path as a solo musician. She is only artist to have earned the Mercury Prize twice.

Legendary English keyboardist Keith Emerson gained international fame as a founding member of the progressive rock group trio, Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He was also known for his work with The Nice. A victim of depression in his later years, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

Alan Parsons is an English musician, audio engineer, record producer, and songwriter. He is credited with forming a rock band named The Alan Parsons Project. Over the years, Parsons has won many prestigious awards including a Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album. In the 2021, Parsons was made an OBE for services to music production and music.

Dead or Alive lead vocalist Pete Burns was a legendary musician of the 1980s. The son of a Holocaust survivor mother, he had a troubled childhood and quit school. He made his androgynous looks and his bisexuality his signature style. Plagued with surgery-related health issues, he died of a cardiac arrest at 57.

Jools Holland is an English singer, composer, pianist, bandleader, and television presenter. He came into prominence in the mid-1970s, when he became part of the rock band Squeeze. His popularity increased when he co-presented the popular music TV show The Tube from 1982 to 1987. Jools Holland is also known for his collaborations with famous artists like Sting and Bono.

Atticus Ross is an English musician, composer, record producer, audio engineer, and songwriter. He is best known for his work with Trent Reznor; the duo has won prestigious awards, such as an Oscar for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. Ross has also won a Golden Globe for his work in Soul.

English composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player Jon Lord is remembered for his fiery performances as the keyboardist of the rock band Deep Purple. Trained in classical piano, he also received a drama school scholarship, which he ditched to focus on music. He was posthumously named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Amelia Warner is a British musician and composer. She is best known for her work as a composer in a movie titled Mary Shelley for which she was honored with the Breakthrough Composer of the Year award at the International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) Awards in 2018. A former actress, Warner has also appeared in films like Æon Flux.