Ludwig Emil Tomas Göransson is a Swedish composer, conductor, and record producer. His work includes Fruitvale Station, the Rocky franchise entries Creed and Creed II, and Venom. For his work on the 2018 superhero film Black Panther, he won the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and the Academy Award for Best Original Score, as well as a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Göransson is also known for his work on U.S. TV series Community, Happy Endings, New Girl, and The Mandalorian. As a producer, he has frequently collaborated with Childish Gambino, producing his studio albums Camp, Because the Internet and "Awaken, My Love!" among others. Göransson's producing work on Gambino's single "This Is America" was met with acclaim and accolades. The song earned him two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Overall, his work with Gambino earned him six Grammy Award nominations. He has also produced for other recording artists such as Haim, Chance the Rapper and Pell.
Early life
Göransson was born and raised in Linköping, Sweden. His mother, Maria, is a Pole from Warsaw and his father Tomas is a Swede. He has an older sister named Jessika. He is named after Ludwig van Beethoven. He began music lessons at a young age and went on to graduate from the Stockholm Royal College of Music. In 2007, he moved to Los Angeles to study at the University of Southern California Scoring for Motion Picture and Television program. It was at USC that Ludwig met Ryan Coogler. Ludwig composed music for the award-winning short film Fig in 2011, which Ryan directed while at USC. The pair would eventually go on to work together on Fruitvale Station,Creed and Black Panther. Soon after graduating USC he began work assisting Theodore Shapiro known for films such as Along Came Polly, The Devil Wears Prada, Idiocracy, and Tropic Thunder. Ludwig's first break came in 2009 as the composer for the comedy Community.
Film and TV composer
In 2013, Göransson's first feature film came from fellow former USC graduate Ryan Coogler. Göransson composed the score to Coogler's critically acclaimed drama Fruitvale Station, based on the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant on 1 January 2009. The film won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience awards in the Dramatic category at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, also taking home the Avenir Prize and Un Certain Regard awards at the Cannes Film Festival. In August 2013, Göransson signed a management deal as a composer for Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation. That year he also composed the music for the movie We're the Millers. In 2015, Coogler and Göransson again worked together this time on the critically acclaimed Rocky franchise film Creed. By 2016-17, he was scoring True Memoirs of an International Assassin, Central Intelligence and Everything, Everything. In 2018, Göransson and Coogler arrived at their third collaboration Black Panther. Göransson set out to create a score that would sit somewhere between traditional African instrumentation and a traditional superhero score. In order to do this he travelled to Senegal to research traditional African music and instruments. There he met musician Baaba Maal whose voice is featured in the score who sings in his native Fula language. He later traveled to the International Library of African Music in South Africa, founded by Hugh Tracey, where he listened to recordings of traditional musicians to ensure the score had a culturally traditional sound. In 2019, Göransson's score for Black Panther won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. On 22 May 2019, it was announced that Göransson will compose the film score for Christopher Nolan's Tenet. He worked on original songs and music with Justin Timberlake for the 2020 film Trolls World Tour. In 2019, Göransson composed the score for the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian, which is set in the Star Wars universe.
Record producer
In 2010, when Donald Glover first approached Göransson about his side project, Childish Gambino, the two were working on the set of Community. Since then they have released three albums Camp, Because the Internet, and "Awaken, My Love!". Inspired by Parliament-Funkadelic and black power music of the ‘70s, "Awaken, My Love!" Göransson served as producer and writer for every song on the album. In November, they earned four Grammy nominations for their work, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Redbone." In 2012, Göransson produced HAIM's debut EP and helped establish the band with a brand new sound on the song "Forever". He also produced two songs on HAIM's debut album Days Are Gone. On 5 May 2018, "This Is America" was released. Produced by Gambino and Ludwig Göransson the song features a gospel-style choir and background contributions from various American rappers Young Thug, Slim Jxmmi, BlocBoy JB, 21 Savage, Quavo and Offset. "This Is America" debuted at number one on the US BillboardHot 100, becoming the 31st song to do so in the chart's history. The song won in all four of its nominated categories at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance, and Best Music Video.
Personal life
Göransson is married to American violinist Serena McKinney. They were married in 2018, and their son Apollo was born in 2019.
