Draft:Neville Farmer

Neville MacKenzie Farmer, FRSA (born 17 January 1960) is a British music, television and film producer, and composer. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and a Member of the British Association of Journalists.

Life and career

Neville Farmer was born in Hampstead, London to Anthony MacKenzie Farmer and Elizabeth Susette Birch. He was schooled and grew up in the English West Midlands town of Kidderminster. At 19, he began a career in journalism at Haymarket Publishing, rising to the position of Editor of New Hi-Fi Sound at 22, before moving into music journalism and broadcasting with Music Week, Studio Week and BBC Radio London.

His TV and music production work began in 1989, when he both scripted and announced the first World Music Awards from Monte Carlo, a large and prestigious event that honours both performers and music industry achievers. For the next 14 years he served as executive musical director to Pilot Film and Television,Pilot Film and Television Productions a London-based production company that creates and distributes multiple-award-winning independent television programs, including Lonely Planet, Globe Trekker, Planet Food and Treks in a Wild World, for whom he produced over 100 episodes. This led to the successful Globe Trekker CD series, a collection of numerous CDs available worldwide. Each CD features contributions from numerous artists, including Emmy Award winner Martyn Swain, Roger Waters' producer Ian Ritchie, Golden Globes four-times nominee Daniel Pemberton, multi-award winning Nainita Desai and Grammy Award nominated Simon Emmerson.

Neville Farmer earned his expertise in combining different musical cultures through some years working for Peter Gabriel's Real World Group, which publishes some of his music. His other musical collaborations have included. Robert Plant.

In 2012, he co-composed and produced the motion picture soundtrack of the Western movie West Of Thunder for the Sunka Wakan Dragonfly Film Studio. And in 2013, he co-composed the soundtrack of Wounded: The Battle Back Home: Angela Peacock’s Story for MSNBC. This subsequently led to his producing Kevin Brown's 13th album, Grit in 2014/2015.

As a film and television producer, writer and director, Neville Farmer has credits on films and series broadcast in over 50 countries. He was Series Producer of Globe Trekker's 9th and 10th series, both of which won the Canadian Television Award for Excellence In Programming. He was Series Producer of Planet Food's 2nd series for The Food Network and BBC2, as well as Edit Producer on series 1 and Producer of the Southern China and Malaysia shows, which he also scripted.

Between 1995 and 2000, He directed over 20 short films for The Sundance Channel, including “24 Frame News” and “Anatomy of A Scene” interviews with directors and screenwriters such as Ken Russell, Kim Longinotto, Nick Hornby and Marc Forster.

He has been Series Producer for a wide range of independent productions, including “Paranormal Egypt” for The History Channel and “Adventure Golf” for The Discovery Channel. He wrote, produced and directed “Lighting Up Lives” a short film for Sunderland AFC's World Cup bid and music videos for the Australian blues guitarist, Gwyn Ashton. He was Edit Producer of the 2014 ITN Production, Virgin Killer (Channel 4 UK) Campus Killer (A&E (TV channel) USA), He has also co-written screenplays, Messiah with Irish/American director, Marion Comer and The Inventor with American film producer/director, Jody Bar-Lev.

In 2014, the actor and impresario Richard Strange asked Neville to co-produce and direct a film of Strange's multi-media theatrical tribute to William S Burroughs, “Language Is a Virus From Outer Space”. The film won a Portobello Film Festival Award and was selected for screening at the 25th Anniversary of The Wire Magazine by Editor Chris Bohn at the Iklectik Art Lab in London.

Most recently, Neville produced and directed short film Festival Oaxaca as the first in a series of short films about the culture of mezcal in Mexico. Among the five nominations the film has received at film festivals across the USA, Neville won a Best Director award in the 2023 Jersey Shore Film Festival and Best Edited Film at the Winter 2024 San Diego Film Awards.

Farmer's theatrical work has included both writing and producing the play "The Devil's Interval" about the composer, George Frideric Handel and rock guitarist, Jimi Hendrix. The play subsequently featured in the Long Island City Open Studios theater festival in Queens in 2012. He wrote the comedy "Murder for Dummies" in 2021 for the Bath Theatrical Costume Company. He was also invited to produce the music for the London stage show, "Stormforce", by Rophn Vianney in 2006, which successfully blended Irish and African rhythms, and the musical "Strange Kind of Hero" (originally titled "Blinded by the Light") about Paul of Tarsus, by Sue Pomeroy and Chris Eaton and performed at London’s famous Roundhouse venue.

As a writer on music and the music industry, Farmer has been employed by Beatles producer, Sir George Martin, Peter Gabriel, Andy Partridge, the Bert Kaempfert Organisation, Abbey Road Studios and international publications such as Billboard, Music Week, Pro Sound News and Mix Magazine. His books include the history of German composer, Bert Kaempfert for the Songwriters Hall of Fame Museum in New York, and XTC – Song Stories, the story of the music of British cult band XTC, for Disney's Hyperion Books. He has written on many subjects, including history, architecture, politics, food, horticulture, travel and religion.

Executive producer and recording credits

• Allison – Douglas Pashley, 2024 - lyricist
• Face The Sun – Clara Ponty, 2020 – lyricist
• The Year She Turns - Jennifer Crook, 2017 - lyricist and backing vocalist
• Grit – Kevin Brown, 2015 – producer
• West Of Thunder – the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – The Fishkillers, 2013 – co-composer, lead vocalist, musician, co-producer
• Late Developer – Suzanne Rhatigan, 2012 – backing vocalist
• Mermaids Live Inside – Jacqueline Kroft, 2011 – producer
• Globe Jam – various artists, 2008 – executive producer
• Metropolis – various artists, 2008 – executive producer
• Globe Trekker Latin American Journeys – various artists, 2005 – executive producer
• Globe Trekker Asian Journeys – various artists, 2005 – executive producer
• More Music From The Lonely Planet – various artists, 2003 – executive producer
• Globe Trekker Original Journeys – various artists, 2003 – executive producer
• Music From The Lonely Planet – various artists, 2002 – executive producer
• Globe Trekker Volume 2 – various artists, 2002 – executive producer
• Globe Trekker Ambient Journeys – various artists, 2002 – executive producer
• Globe Trekker Volume 1 – various artists, 2001 – executive producer
• Lifting The Veil – Susanne Bramson, 1998 – producer
• Books Are Burning – Nonsuch – XTC, 1992 – backing vocalist
• Poor Skeleton Steps Out – Oranges And Lemons – XTC, 1989 – backing vocalist
• Bags of Fun With Buster – Single, 1987 – co-composer, backing vocalist with Andy Partridge, David Gregory, and John Otway
• Take Good Care of Your Soul – Real World Presents – various artists – co-composer, backing vocalist
• Look What You've Done to My Skin – The Passion of Darkly Noon Film Soundtrack (demo version) – Nic Bicat – lead vocalist

Television and film music credits

• Wounded: The Battle Back Home: Angela Peacock’s Story – MSNBC – co-composer, producer
• West of Thunder - feature-length movie – co-composer, performer, producer
• The World Music Awards – seasons 1–5 – Marcor International / ABC TV – scriptwriter / announcer
• Lonely Planet – seasons 1–12 – Pilot Productions – musical director
• Treks in a Wild World – seasons 1–4 (2000–2008) – Pilot Productions – musical director
• Into Africa – Wall To Wall Television – music producer
• Supertwins – Wall To Wall Television – music producer
• Into The Fire – Wall To Wall Television – music producer
• Grand Designs – Season 2 – Talkback Thames Productions
• Jesus in the Himalayas – National Geographic (2001) – musical director
• Lost Worlds – The Discovery Channel – musical director
• Adventure Golf – Seasons 1–2 (2010) – Pilot Productions – musical director
• Planet Food – Seasons 1–3 – Pilot Productions (2009–2011) – musical director