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Music is excited to announce today's release of the King Richard (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), which features the music of Oscar nominated- and Emmy Award-winning composer Kris Bowers ("Green Book," "Bridgerton," "Dear White People," "The United States vs. Billie Holiday," "
Respect"). Warner Bros. Pictures' "King Richard" stars two-time Oscar nominee
Will Smith ("Ali," "The Pursuit of Happyness," "Bad Boys for Life"), under the direction of Reinaldo Marcus Green ("Monsters and Men") as Richard Williams, a man determined to write his daughters, Venus and Serena, into history. Training on Compton, California's neglected tennis courts-rain or shine-the girls are shaped by their father's unyielding commitment and their mother's balanced perspective and keen intuition, defying the seemingly insurmountable odds and prevailing expectations laid before them. The King Richard (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) will be released today, November 19, the same day the film is released in U.S. theaters and on HBO Max via the Ad-Free plan; it will be available on HBO Max for 31 days from theatrical release.
When it came to creating a tonal landscape for "King Richard," composer Kris Bowers described how his collaboration with director Reinaldo Marcus Green inspired his approach to the creation of the score. "Having previously worked with Rei on 'Monsters and Men,' we developed a deep trust in our collaborative relationship. That led to Rei encouraging me to trust my instincts and to write from a personal place. And this score is in fact a very personal one for me."
Bowers added, "Watching Richard and Oracene's support, love, and sacrifice for Serena and Venus not only reminded me of so many black families and black parents that put their all into their children, but it reminded me of my own parents as well. In a similar way to Richard, my dad decided before I was born that he wanted me to play piano, and my parents scoured the entire county to find me the best music educators they could. As I developed my craft, my dad was in constant communication with all of my teachers, finding out how I might be able to improve and excel, and he also sat behind me while I practiced every day from the age of 4 until the end of high school.
"Due to the personal connection I felt to the film's story," Bowers continued, "I decided to heavily feature piano and prepared piano. Additionally, wanting to evoke the sound and feeling of tennis, I chose to only feature strings, harp, piano, prepared piano and percussion, the prepared piano and percussion coming in during moments where we see the uniqueness of the Williams sisters in this predominantly white sport. In a way, the percussion and prepared piano is meant to mirror the grit and tenacity of these girls/this family. Lastly, to build off of the idea of how this story originated with Richard's plan, all of the thematic material are variations on the same theme. A theme we first hear with Richard, and develops into Venus's theme, a theme for the matches themselves, and so on."
The King Richard (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is now available, and the track list is as follows. All music by Kris Bowers, except for "Be Alive," which is performed by Beyoncé:
Tracklisting:
1 Family Dinner - Kris Bowers
2 The Plan - Kris Bowers
3 Unexpected - Kris Bowers
4 Hitting - Kris Bowers
5 Practice - Kris Bowers
6 First Match - Kris Bowers
7 Carbon Mesa - Kris Bowers
8 That's Our Job - Kris Bowers
9 Fired - Kris Bowers
10 So You Wanna Play? - Kris Bowers
11 Court Day - Kris Bowers
12 Stafford - Kris Bowers
13 Both Girls - Kris Bowers
14 Venus vs. Vicario - Kris Bowers
15 First Set - Kris Bowers
16 Vicario - Kris Bowers
17 Match - Kris Bowers
18 Family - Kris Bowers
19 Be Alive - Beyonce
Based on the true story that will inspire the world, "King Richard" follows the uplifting journey of a family whose unwavering resolve and unconditional belief ultimately delivers two of the world's greatest sports legends.
Kris Bowers is an Emmy Award-winning composer and pianist who creates genre-defying music that pays homage to his jazz roots with inflections of alternative and R&B influences. From scoring documentaries like Kobe Bryant's Muse and Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, to scripted series including Shonda Rhimes and Paul
William Davies' For The People, Netflix's Dear White People, and SHOWTIME'S
Black Monday, Bowers' work as a film and television composer is a testament to his versatility as an artist. In 2018, Bowers had the honor of collaborating with Emmy and Academy Award-winning director
Peter Farrelly and Academy Award-winning actor Mahershala Ali on their critically acclaimed Green Book, not only scoring the film but also serving as Ali's on-screen hand-double and piano coach. In early 2018, Bowers scored the critically acclaimed drama, Monsters and Men, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
His work also appears in Ava DuVernay's 2019 Netflix mini-series, When They See Us about the Central Park Five, for which he received a Primetime Emmy nomination. In 2020, Bowers received another Primetime Emmy nomination for his work on the FX miniseries Mrs America. Recent releases for Bowers include the film The United States Vs Billie Holiday, starring Andra Day, directed by Lee Daniels, Bad Hair, written and directed by Justin Simien (Dear White People), and the Shondaland series Bridgerton for Netflix, for which he has received a further two Primetime Emmy nominations, for Outstanding
Music Composition for a Series and for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme.
At the 93ed Academy Awards, Bowers was nominated for his documentary short, 'A Concerto is A Conversation', which he produced, co-directed and scored. Executive produced by Ava DuVernay, the documentary premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
Most recent releases for Bowers are the Warner Bros biopic King Richard, starring
Will Smith as the father of Venus and Serena Williams, the biopic Respect, starring
Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin, and the comedy sequel Space Jam: A New Legacy directed by Malcolm D. Lee. Upcoming projects include Season 2 of Bridgerton.
Bowers has recorded and performed with artists such as Q-Tip, Aretha Franklin, Ludacris, Christian Rich, Jay-Z, and
Kanye West and has contributed to albums by Marcus Miller, José James, Moses Sumney, and Murs. Bowers is an official Steinway Artist and was named one of twelve 'Artists to Watch' by iTunes in 2014. In 2020, he was honored with the 'Distinguished Film Composer Award' by the Middleburg Film Festival. In 2019, he received the prestigious 'ROBIE Pioneer Award' from the Jackie Robinson Foundation. Bowers currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife.
Alongside Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis ("If Beale Street Could Talk," "Lovecraft Country") plays the girls' mom, Oracene "Brandy" Williams, Saniyya
Sidney ("Hidden Figures," "Fences") stars as Venus Williams, Demi Singleton (TV's "Godfather of Harlem") stars as Serena Williams, with Tony Goldwyn (the "
Divergent" series, TV's "
Scandal") as coach Paul Cohen and Jon Bernthal ("The Many Saints of Newark," "Ford v Ferrari") as coach Rick Macci. The ensemble also includes Andy Bean ("IT Chapter Two"),
Kevin Dunn (the "Transformers" films, HBO's "Veep") and
Craig Tate ("
Greyhound").
Green directed "King Richard" from a screenplay written by Zach Baylin. The producers were Tim White and Trevor White under their Star Thrower Entertainment banner, and
Will Smith under his Westbrook banner. Isha Price, Serena Williams, Venus Williams,
James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith, Adam Merims, Lynn Harris, Allan Mandelbaum, Jon Mone and
Peter Dodd served as the executive producers.
A Warner Bros.
Pictures Presentation, A Star Thrower Entertainment Production, A Westbrook Production, A Keepin' It Reel Production, "King Richard."
