As Danny Elfman was growing up in the Los Angeles area, he was largely unaware of his talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's directorial debut, Forbidden Zone (now considered a cult classic by Elfman fans). The group's name went through many incarnations over the years, beginning with "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo" and eventually just Oingo Boingo. While continuing to compose eclectic, intelligent rock music for his L.A.-based band (some of which had been used in various film soundtracks, e.g. Weird Science), Danny formed a friendship with young director Tim Burton, who was then a fan of Oingo Boingo. Danny went on to score the soundtrack of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Danny's first orchestral film score. The Elfman-Burton partnership continued (most notably through the hugely-successful "Batman" flicks) and opened doors of opportunity for Danny, who has been referred to as "Hollywood's hottest film composer".


Spider-Man 2 (2004): $2,000,000

Dated Caroline Thompson His older brother is director Richard Elfman. Elfman fans discuss his current and past work in the usenet group rec.music.artists.danny-elfman. Wrote the score for Black Beauty (1994) for his two daughters from a collapsed marriage. Released a solo album in 1984, So-Lo, which happened to feature most of the band members from Oingo Boingo. Often composes scores for Tim Burton's films Claims Bernard Herrmann as a heavy influence on many of his scores. He and Howard Shore have both formed hit bands (Oingo Boingo and The Blues Brothers), both scored films for Peter Jackson (The Frighteners (1996) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and others), both scored films for Tim Burton (Elfman has scored everything but Ed Wood (1994), which Shore scored), and both scored a Hannibal Lecter film (Red Dragon (2002) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991)). Admires Peter Lorre. Son Oliver Elfman was born mid January 2005 Brother-in-law of Justin Fonda. Father of Mali Elfman. The two only Tim Burton films Elfman did not compose the score for are Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd. Sang all the vocals for the five songs in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). He recorded singing it in different ways and played with the audio to make it sound like various high- and low-pitched vocals. Daughter: Lola Elfman (born 1979).