Kris Bowers facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kris Bowers
Bowers in 2024
Background information
Birth name	Kristopher Bowers
Born	(1989-04-05) April 5, 1989 (age 36) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, classical, electronic, ambient
Occupation(s)	Composer, musician
Instruments	Piano, keyboards
Years active	2010–present
Children	1

Kristopher Bowers (born April 5, 1989) is an American composer, pianist, and director. He creates music for movies and TV shows. Some of his famous works include the music for Green Book, King Richard, The Color Purple, and The Wild Robot. He also composed for TV series like Bridgerton and When They See Us.

In 2024, Bowers won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film for The Last Repair Shop. He co-directed this film with Ben Proudfoot. Their earlier film, A Concerto Is a Conversation, was also nominated for an Academy Award. Bowers has also won a Daytime Emmy Award for his music. He has been nominated for many other awards, including Grammy Awards and Critics' Choice Movie Awards.

Throughout his career, Bowers has worked with famous musicians like Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. He has also teamed up with well-known filmmakers such as Ava DuVernay.

Early Life and Learning

Kristopher Bowers was born in Los Angeles, California, on April 5, 1989. His father writes for movies and TV, and his mother works as an executive. Even though his parents did not go to college, they wanted Kris to play the piano. They even played piano music for him before he was born!

Bowers started piano lessons when he was just 4 years old. He began taking private classical music lessons around age 9. As he grew up, he listened to many types of music. These included classic soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical music, and film scores.

He studied jazz and classical piano at a special high school for the arts in Los Angeles. His teachers there were famous jazz pianists. After high school, he went to the Juilliard School, a very famous music school. He earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in jazz performance. While studying, he often performed music in New York City.

Music Career

Starting Out as a Performer (2011–2016)

Bowers played piano on Jay-Z and Kanye West's album Watch the Throne in 2011. He then toured with musician Marcus Miller in 2012. Bowers released his first album, Heroes + Misfits, in 2014. It quickly became number one on the iTunes Jazz charts. Critics said his music mixed jazz with modern R&B, film scores, and electronic music.

His first film music was for a documentary called Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me in 2013. In 2014, Bowers performed at big jazz festivals in Japan, Spain, and London.

Bowers gained more attention for his music in the 2015 documentary Kobe Bryant's Muse. This showed his skill in many different music styles. That same year, he scored two other documentaries about famous football players. In 2015, he was one of six composers chosen for a special workshop called the Sundance Composers Lab. He also worked with a choreographer named Kyle Abraham on dance pieces.

In 2016, Bowers performed at The White House for the International Jazz Day Concert. President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted the event.

Bowers also combined his music with special dining experiences. He created music to go with meals prepared by famous chefs.

Focusing on Film and TV Music (2017–2019)

Bowers started to focus more on creating music for movies and TV shows. In 2017, he scored the documentary Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You and the film Little Boxes. He also worked on TV shows like Religion of Sports and Dear White People.

His music for the Amazon Christmas special The Snowy Day (2016) won him a Daytime Emmy Award. For his music in Ava DuVernay's mini-series When They See Us (2019), Bowers received his first Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards nomination.

Bowers composed the music for the movie Green Book (2019). This earned him a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score. Green Book won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. For this film, Bowers also helped actor Mahershala Ali learn to play the piano. He even acted as Ali's hand-double for close-up piano scenes in the movie.

Oscar Wins and Directing (2020–Present)

Bowers started directing films with A Concerto Is a Conversation (2020). This short documentary was about his conversations with his grandfather. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 2021.

For their next film, The Last Repair Shop (2023), Bowers and his co-director Ben Proudfoot won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film. The film shows people who repair musical instruments for public school students in Los Angeles. After the film's success, Bowers helped start a campaign to support music education for students in Los Angeles.

In 2022, the Monterey Jazz Festival asked Bowers to create a new music piece. He presented his piece, Ásylo, at the festival. It celebrated the 30th anniversary of a nearby marine sanctuary. Bowers had performed at this festival before, as a high school student.

Since 2020, Bowers has composed the music for Netflix's popular show, Bridgerton. This show has been one of Netflix's most-watched series. For his work on Bridgerton, Bowers received Emmy nominations. He also produced two soundtracks for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023). One was the show's music, and the other featured classical versions of pop songs. He worked with Alicia Keys to create a new version of her song "If I Ain't Got You" for the album.

Bowers has continued to score many films. These include Bad Hair (2020), Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), and Chevalier (2022). In 2023, he scored three films and two TV projects. These included Haunted Mansion, Origin, and The Color Purple. His music for The Color Purple was nominated for a Grammy Award.

He also received praise for his music in DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot (2024). This score was nominated for awards from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Critics' Choice Movie Awards. He won an award for Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film from the Society of Composers and Lyricists.

Music Style

In 2011, The New York Times reviewed one of Bowers' early shows. They described his piano playing as "serious, thoughtful, organized, restrained". They said he made the piano sound good and that his music had "range and ambition".

Bowers is inspired by many famous musicians. These include Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly, Duke Ellington, Ahmad Jamal, and Count Basie. He also looks up to film composer John Williams.

Awards and Honors

Honor

• Honor - DownBeat magazine: “25 for the Future”, 2016
• Honor - ROBIE Pioneer Award from the Jackie Robinson Foundation, 2019.

Film and TV Work

Movies

Television Shows

Documentaries

Video Games

Music Albums

An asterisk (*) means the year is when the music was released.

As a Leader or Co-Leader

As a Sideman (Playing with Others)