Composer Michael Kamen died Tuesday morning at the age of 55 of a heart attack apparently due to complications from multiple sclerosis (
Article), (
His web site). He composed and conducted the orchestrations for such artists as Metallica (He did that live S & M CD with them), Queensryche, David Bowie, and also created the scores for films such as Lethal Weapon, X-Men, and Band of Brothers, just to name a few.
Sad day. I first heard of Michael Kamen many years ago when he worked with Queensryche and since then, for some reason, I could usually tell when something was a Michael Kamen orchestration. Maybe something in the phrasing, the instrumentation? I don't know, but I've always enjoyed his work.