James Horner comes from Los Angeles but was brought up in London, and studied music at London's Royal Academy. Returning to California, he gained his Bachelor's degree in music from University of Southern California, followed by his Master's degree and PhD in music from UCLA (University College of Los Angeles). His first film work was for Roger Corman at New World Pictures, a specialist in low budget horror and sci-fi movies, where he scored such classics as Lady in Red, Humanoids from the Deep and Battle beyond the Stars. (..and no, I haven't heard of them before either!)

James Horner has written as many film scores as John Williams (over 90) but was much less well known until Titanic shot him to wider fame. Unlike Williams, who is associated with big budget blockbusters, Horner has worked in a wide variety of genres after his days with Roger Corman - for example, the Star Trek movies, Braveheart, Apollo 13, and children's films like Jumanji, Casper and The Mask of Zorro.

He has an interest in Irish music, which is used extensively in Braveheart, and also makes its appearance in Titanic.