Anne Dudley

A founding member of the pioneering electronic pop trio Art of Noise, Anne Dudley later enjoyed success as an Academy Award-winning film composer. A graduate of the Royal College of Music, the classically-trained Dudley began her professional career as a session keyboardist; a protege of producer Trevor Horn, she went on to arrange records including ABC's The Lexicon of Love and Malcolm McLaren's classic "Buffalo Girls" (which she also co-wrote) before forming Art of Noise in 1983 with Horn, JJ Jeczalik, Gary Langan and Paul Morley. Known for hits including "Close to the Edit," "Peter Gunn" and the Tom Jones collaboration "Kiss," the Art of Noise's groundbreaking experiments in sampling and mixing proved to be enormously influential on the emerging techno movement, and during the 1990s the group's own material was itself sampled endlessly. Concurrently Dudley remained a sought-after arranger, crafting hits including Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Two Tribes," Paul McCartney's "No More Lonely Nights" and Electronic's "Getting Away with It"; in 1987, she additionally began composing film scores with work on the comedies Hiding Out and Disorderlies. Her soundtrack to the Phil Collins vehicle Buster won a Brit Award the following year. After the Art of Noise went on hiatus in 1991, Dudley collaborated with former Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman on the album Songs from the Victorious City, and a year later scored director Neil Jordan's acclaimed The Crying Game. The solo album Ancient & Modern followed in early 1995, and a year later she conducted the hit production Michael Flatley: Lord of the Dance. Dudley's score to the 1997 hit British comedy The Full Monty earned her an Oscar, and in 1999 she joined the reunited Art of Noise. ~ Jason Ankeny