Craig Huxley
Encyclopedia
Craig Huxley is a Grammy nominee and Emmy Award
-winning musician
and producer who has been involved in a wide variety of entertainment-related projects since childhood. He began his career as a child actor, starring in hundreds of TV shows; perhaps his most notable roles were those of Captain James T. Kirk’s nephew Peter Kirk on the "Operation: Annihilate!" episode of the original Star Trek
television series and Tommy Starnes on the ST:TOS episode "And The Children Shall Lead." At the age of 14, Huxley led the successful and very youthful jazz band
The Craig Hundley Trio
, while concurrently making a name as an accomplished concert pianist
, composing or revising a number of his own unique pieces. He also appeared in an episode of The Brady Bunch
as a musician. Later he garnered starring roles in Gene Roddenberry
’s Planet Earth
, as well as in Ron Howard
’s first film.
After a very prolific and hard-working childhood, at age 19 Huxley took a two year hiatus, during which time he intensely studied progressive, multi-dimensional philosophy with a number of important futurists
within this field. The shift in perspective gained through these teachings subsequently led to a desire and passion for musical innovation. This resulted in the creation and later patenting of many new instruments. The most recognizable of these is likely the Blaster Beam
, featured in Star Trek: The Motion Picture
as the "V'ger sound", and also featured on the score, composed by Jerry Goldsmith
. The instrument with its dark and ominous tones has been used in many other science fiction movies over the years. Huxley also composed the "Genesis Project Demo" background music heard in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
. The music was released on Huxley's album of the same name, but never officially appeared on any Star Trek soundtrack until the 2010 release of an official expanded version of Star Trek II.
Through Huxley’s role on Star Trek
both on and off-screen, he later became the Music Director for William Shatner
, appearing in many shows and concerts, and helping to create arrangements of songs such as "Rocket Man", and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
". He also created much of the special music for the first four Star Trek
movies.
Following this, Huxley began performing most of the synthesizers on a variety of Stevie Wonder
albums, and later with Earth, Wind & Fire
. This prolific era culminated with a half year project in which Huxley performed most of the keyboard work on Michael Jackson
’s Thriller
. Further notable projects within this time period are the composition and production of the music for the fifteen year running Captain EO
exhibit at Disneyland, and later the production of the soundtrack for the film 2010 (the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey
).
After having been in entertainment for most of his young life, Craig Huxley founded The Enterprise Group, a multi-media conglomerate that provided services in audio, video, DVD, interactive and live productions. Enterprise in 2001 was named the #2 mixing studio in the US by Billboard Magazine, hosting artists such as Barbra Streisand
, Stephen Sondheim
, and John Belushi
. Huxley continued to produce and create within his own studio, for 10 years composing music for Knots Landing
with co-composer Jerry Immel, as well as producing the soundtrack to China Beach
for four years with composer Paul Chihira. Sound mixing for the first four seasons of the television series 24
starring Kiefer Sutherland
was also done at Huxley's The Enterprise Studios.
As a result of his producing soundtracks with composer Paul Chihira, Huxley segued for a time into Broadway
work, first producing the soundtrack for the musical Shogun: The Musical
, and later creating the synthesizer
arrangements for City of Angels
.
Craig launched SlingShotEntertainment.com in 1997 producing and releasing the 1st DVD in world history (outside of Japan). He led SlingShot in multiple 1sts. 1st IMAX film on DVD (followed by 44 IMAX films in the early years of the new Millennium). 1st 3D film on DVD. 1st IMAX Multipack. 1st film starring James Cameron on Blu-ray.
Craig is Producer of 8 new award-winning films on endangered species and extreme expeditions. These 8 Jules Verne Adventures are releasing on Blu-ray in 2010. James Cameron: Explorers with Buzz Aldrin pursues extreme exploration. Huxley is Producer of current film projects shooting near the North Pole and Hawaii.
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and producer who has been involved in a wide variety of entertainment-related projects since childhood. He began his career as a child actor, starring in hundreds of TV shows; perhaps his most notable roles were those of Captain James T. Kirk’s nephew Peter Kirk on the "Operation: Annihilate!" episode of the original Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
television series and Tommy Starnes on the ST:TOS episode "And The Children Shall Lead." At the age of 14, Huxley led the successful and very youthful jazz band
Jazz band
A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section, in the early days often trumpet, trombone, and clarinet with rhythm section of piano, banjo, bass or tuba, and drums.-Eras:SwingDuring the swing era in the mid-twentieth...
The Craig Hundley Trio
The Craig Hundley Trio
The Craig Hundley Trio became a sensation in the 1960s, especially after an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The trio consisted of Craig Hundley on piano, Shermin McKinney on bass, and Gary Chase on drums....
, while concurrently making a name as an accomplished concert pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, composing or revising a number of his own unique pieces. He also appeared in an episode of The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
as a musician. Later he garnered starring roles in Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...
’s Planet Earth
Planet Earth (TV pilot)
Planet Earth was a science fiction television movie that was created by Gene Roddenberry, written by Roddenberry and Juanita Bartlett . It first aired on April 23, 1974 on the ABC network, and starred John Saxon as Dylan Hunt. It was presented as a pilot for what was hoped to be a new weekly...
, as well as in Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
’s first film.
After a very prolific and hard-working childhood, at age 19 Huxley took a two year hiatus, during which time he intensely studied progressive, multi-dimensional philosophy with a number of important futurists
Futurists
Futurists or futurologists are scientists and social scientists whose speciality is to attempt to systematically predict the future, whether that of human society in particular or of life on earth in general....
within this field. The shift in perspective gained through these teachings subsequently led to a desire and passion for musical innovation. This resulted in the creation and later patenting of many new instruments. The most recognizable of these is likely the Blaster Beam
Blaster Beam
The Blaster Beam is a concept electronic musical instrument consisting of a 12 to long metal beam strung with numerous tensed wires under which are mounted electric guitar pickups which can be moved to alter the sound produced. The instrument is played by striking or plucking the strings with...
, featured in Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. The film is set in the twenty-third century, when a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'Ger approaches the Earth,...
as the "V'ger sound", and also featured on the score, composed by Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
. The instrument with its dark and ominous tones has been used in many other science fiction movies over the years. Huxley also composed the "Genesis Project Demo" background music heard in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T...
, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a 1984 motion picture released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the third feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise and is the center of a three-film story arc that begins with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and concludes with Star Trek IV:...
and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...
. The music was released on Huxley's album of the same name, but never officially appeared on any Star Trek soundtrack until the 2010 release of an official expanded version of Star Trek II.
Through Huxley’s role on Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
both on and off-screen, he later became the Music Director for William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
, appearing in many shows and concerts, and helping to create arrangements of songs such as "Rocket Man", and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...
". He also created much of the special music for the first four Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
movies.
Following this, Huxley began performing most of the synthesizers on a variety of Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
albums, and later with Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
. This prolific era culminated with a half year project in which Huxley performed most of the keyboard work on Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
’s Thriller
Thriller (album)
Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall...
. Further notable projects within this time period are the composition and production of the music for the fifteen year running Captain EO
Captain EO
Captain EO is a 3-D science fiction film starring Michael Jackson and directed by Francis Ford Coppola that was shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through the 1990s...
exhibit at Disneyland, and later the production of the soundtrack for the film 2010 (the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
).
After having been in entertainment for most of his young life, Craig Huxley founded The Enterprise Group, a multi-media conglomerate that provided services in audio, video, DVD, interactive and live productions. Enterprise in 2001 was named the #2 mixing studio in the US by Billboard Magazine, hosting artists such as Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
, and John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
. Huxley continued to produce and create within his own studio, for 10 years composing music for Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
with co-composer Jerry Immel, as well as producing the soundtrack to China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
for four years with composer Paul Chihira. Sound mixing for the first four seasons of the television series 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
starring Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
was also done at Huxley's The Enterprise Studios.
As a result of his producing soundtracks with composer Paul Chihira, Huxley segued for a time into Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
work, first producing the soundtrack for the musical Shogun: The Musical
Shogun: The Musical
Shōgun: The Musical is a musical with a book and lyrics by John Driver and music by Paul Chihara.Based on James Clavell's 1976 epic novel and the 1980 television mini-series of the same name it spawned, it centers on shipwrecked English sea captain John Blackthorne, who finds himself drawn into a...
, and later creating the synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
arrangements for City of Angels
City of Angels (musical)
City of Angels is a musical comedy with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Larry Gelbart. The musical weaves together two plots, the "real" world of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay, and the "reel" world of the fictional film.-Productions:City of Angels...
.
Craig launched SlingShotEntertainment.com in 1997 producing and releasing the 1st DVD in world history (outside of Japan). He led SlingShot in multiple 1sts. 1st IMAX film on DVD (followed by 44 IMAX films in the early years of the new Millennium). 1st 3D film on DVD. 1st IMAX Multipack. 1st film starring James Cameron on Blu-ray.
Craig is Producer of 8 new award-winning films on endangered species and extreme expeditions. These 8 Jules Verne Adventures are releasing on Blu-ray in 2010. James Cameron: Explorers with Buzz Aldrin pursues extreme exploration. Huxley is Producer of current film projects shooting near the North Pole and Hawaii.
External links
- Craig Huxley alias Craig Hundley at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...