Paul John Buckmaster (13 June 1946 – 7 November 2017) was a Grammy Award-winning English artist, arranger, conductor and composer.
He is best known for his orchestral collaborations with Elton John and with The Rolling Stones in the 1970s.
He began learning the cello at the age of four and graduated from the Royal Academy of Music at age 21.
Buckmaster displayed professional mastery as a cellist. However, he soon started his career as an orchestral arranger on various hit songs, including David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (1969), and contributed orchestral collaborations on a number of early albums by Elton John (1969-72) and on The Rolling Stones' album Sticky Fingers (1971).
Buckmaster also helped Miles Davis with the preparation of On the Corner (1972). He wrote the arrangements for the studio sessions, in which he also participated, at Davis' request, by humming bass lines and rhythms to lead the musicians. The arrangements he wrote were often used as a starting point to be transformed until what was being played bore no resemblance to what he had written. This was in keeping with the Stockhausian approach that Buckmaster had been discussing with Davis in the weeks leading up to the session.
Buckmaster also played with Bowie and his band on the recordings for the original soundtrack to the science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth, in which David Bowie starred as Thomas Jerome Newton. Buckmaster himself told in the book 60 Years of Bowie that he had played cello on the original soundtrack recordings. Also Carlos Alomar, J. Peter Robinson and others were involved. Buckmaster: "There were a couple of medium tempo rock instrumental pieces, with simple motifs and rifly kind of grooves, with a line-up of David's rhythm section (Carlos Alomar et al.) plus J Peter Robinson on Fender Rhodes and me on cello and some synth overdubs, using ARP Odyssey and Solina. There was also a piece I wrote and performed using some beautifully made mbiras (African thumb pianos) I had purchased earlier that year, plus cello, all done by multiple overdubbing." Later film-director Nicolas Roeg decided not to use the recordings but existing songs as soundtrack for the movie.
Buckmaster also wrote some instrumental tracks for the 1974 Harry Nilsson film Son of Dracula, and composed the original score for Terry Gilliam's science fiction hit 12 Monkeys (Universal, 1995), which starred Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt.
Buckmaster won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for Drops of Jupiter.
Selected discography
Year Artist Song Album Notes
2016 Max&Friends "Dove c'è amore"
"Arrivi Tu"
"Acqua"
"Sabato Sera"
"Una parte del tutto"
"Felice"
"Terra mia"
Max&Friends Co-composer
Arranger
2016 Idina Menzel "Extraordinary"
"Show Me"
"Everybody Knows"
"Small World"
"I Do"
"I See You"
"Like Lightning"
"Last Time" idina. Arranger
2016 Heart "I Jump"
"City's Burning"
"Sweet Darlin"
"Language of Love" Beautiful Broken Arranger
2015 The Tenors "I Remember You" Under One Sky Arranger
2014 Hunter Hayes "...interlude" Storyline Arranger/Conductor
2014 Ferras feat. Katy Perry "Legends Never Die" Ferras Arranger/Conductor
2013 Goo Goo Dolls "When The World Breaks Your Heart" Magnetic Arranger/Conductor
2012 Ben Folds Five "On Being Frank"
"Away When You Were Here" The Sound of the Life of the Mind Arranger/Conductor
2010 Taylor Swift "Back to December"
"Haunted" Speak Now Arranger/Conductor
2009 Mika "I See You" The Boy Who Knew Too Much Arranger/Conductor
2008 Guns N' Roses "Street of Dreams"
"There Was A Time"
"Madagascar"
"Prostitute" Chinese Democracy Arranger/Conductor
2007 The Bravery "The Ocean" The Sun and the Moon Arranger/Conductor
2007 Mika "Happy Ending" Life in Cartoon Motion Arranger/Conductor
2007 Katharine McPhee "Ordinary World" Katharine McPhee Arranger/Conductor
2007 Michael Bublé "Lost" Call Me Irresponsible Arranger/Conductor
2007 Mig Ayesa "Baby I Love Your Way"
"Kiss From a Rose"
"Who Wants to Live Forever"
"Can't Find My Home"
"Life on Mars"
"Wrapped Around Your Finger" Mig Arranger/Conductor
2006 Ben Folds "Still" Over the Hedge (Soundtrack) Arranger/Conductor
2006 New Found Glory "When I Die"
"Boulders" Coming Home Arranger/Conductor
2006 Kenny Rogers "Water & Bridges"
"One Life" Water & Bridges Arranger/Conductor
2006 Jesse McCartney "Invincible" Right Where You Want Me Arranger/Conductor
2006 Bianca Ryan "Awake" Bianca Ryan Arranger/Conductor
2005 Bon Jovi "Wildflower" Have a Nice Day Arranger/Conductor
2005 Carrie Underwood "Lessons Learned"
"Starts With Goodbye" Some Hearts Arranger/Conductor
2005 Faith Hill "Paris" Fireflies Arranger/Conductor
2005 Ben Folds "Landed" Songs for Silverman Arranger/Conductor
2005 The Wallflowers "Beautiful Side of Somewhere" Rebel, Sweetheart Arranger/Conductor
2005 The Darkness "Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time"
"Girlfriend"
"Blind Man" One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back Arranger/Conductor
2005 Nerina Pallot "Geek Love"
