Biography
Oliver was born into a musical family in Shepherds Bush, London on the 24th of November 1970. From a young age with the encouragement of his mother, a Violin teacher and leader of the Guildford symphony orchestra, he took up Piano and Cello, developing his skill and passion for music. In 1984 Oliver was awarded the top Music Scholarship at Cranleigh School where he studied the Cello with Caroline Dale. Focused study was rewarded with the position of Principal cello in the Surrey County Youth Orchestra helping to broaden his orchestral experience and development with 6 years of concerts and tours including performances in the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. As a contrast to his classical roots, Oliver founded his own band at school, playing keyboards and exploring synth based electronica.
After graduating with ‘A’ level Music, Art and Government & Politics, Oliver attended Kingston University where he focused on Music, composition and studio technology. Oliver took an active role as principal cellist in the orchestra and chamber orchestra, won a composition prize initiated by APRS, wrote the score for an award winning WWF animation ‘Handle with care’, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in 1992.
After university, Oliver tenaciously pursued a career in music as a composer and performer. He combined touring worldwide as a cellist in folk/rock bands with composing music for BBC and C4 documentaries and regular recording sessions with his String Quartet ‘Browndog’. It was through this combination that Oliver’s strength as an arranger came to the fore, writing arrangements for many of the bands he was touring with including Beth Orton, My Life Story, Tom McRae, Duffy and Sia.
As a composer, after striking up a writing partnership with ‘The Cure’ drummer Jason Cooper in 1995, Oliver co-wrote several Film scores for the Director Daniel Simpson before writing and producing the score to ‘From Within’, a film directed by Phedon Papamichael, which won the Grand Jury Award for Best Music Score at the Solstice Film Festival, 2008.
Oliver co-wrote and produced the song ‘My Love’ with Sia Furler for the film ‘Twilight Eclipse’, Directed by David Slade, 2010, and went on to produce and arrange the song ‘Kill And Run’ by Sia featured on the sound track for ‘The Great Gatsby’, Directed by Baz Luhrmann, 2013.
2015 gets off to an exciting start with another co-written track with Sia ‘Salted Wound’ featuring in the forthcoming film ’50 Shades of Grey’.
Oliver is currently writing instrumental music for his next album as well as continuing his collaborative writing partnership with an array of artists.
After graduating with ‘A’ level Music, Art and Government & Politics, Oliver attended Kingston University where he focused on Music, composition and studio technology. Oliver took an active role as principal cellist in the orchestra and chamber orchestra, won a composition prize initiated by APRS, wrote the score for an award winning WWF animation ‘Handle with care’, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in 1992.
After university, Oliver tenaciously pursued a career in music as a composer and performer. He combined touring worldwide as a cellist in folk/rock bands with composing music for BBC and C4 documentaries and regular recording sessions with his String Quartet ‘Browndog’. It was through this combination that Oliver’s strength as an arranger came to the fore, writing arrangements for many of the bands he was touring with including Beth Orton, My Life Story, Tom McRae, Duffy and Sia.
As a composer, after striking up a writing partnership with ‘The Cure’ drummer Jason Cooper in 1995, Oliver co-wrote several Film scores for the Director Daniel Simpson before writing and producing the score to ‘From Within’, a film directed by Phedon Papamichael, which won the Grand Jury Award for Best Music Score at the Solstice Film Festival, 2008.
Oliver co-wrote and produced the song ‘My Love’ with Sia Furler for the film ‘Twilight Eclipse’, Directed by David Slade, 2010, and went on to produce and arrange the song ‘Kill And Run’ by Sia featured on the sound track for ‘The Great Gatsby’, Directed by Baz Luhrmann, 2013.
2015 gets off to an exciting start with another co-written track with Sia ‘Salted Wound’ featuring in the forthcoming film ’50 Shades of Grey’.
Oliver is currently writing instrumental music for his next album as well as continuing his collaborative writing partnership with an array of artists.