Heitor Pereira

Heitor Teixeira Pereira (Portuguese pronunciation:[ejˈtoʁ tejˈʃejɾɐ peˈɾejɾɐ]) (born November 29, 1960), or Heitor TP, is a Brazilian composer. In his career, Pereira has recorded with the band Simply Red and several famous musicians, such as Elton John, Rod Stewart, k.d. lang, Milton Nascimento, and Jack Johnson, and currently works as a film score composer, as well as a musician at Hans Zimmer’s studio, he is best known for being the composer of the Despicable Me franchise. Although primarily a guitarist, he also provided backing vocals live for the Simply Red song “Thrill Me”. He also collaborates with film directors Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda, Raja Gosnell, and Cal Brunker.

In 1994, he released a solo album in the UK called Heitor TP, which featured a guest appearance from Mick Hucknall on the track “Manchester.” Heitor left Simply Red to concentrate on his solo career. He played guitar and composed additional music for soundtracks like Gladiator, Mission: Impossible 2, The Road to El Dorado, Pearl Harbor, I Am Sam, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Rango, Madagascar, and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

In 2003, Pereira contributed the song “Remember Me” to the soundtrack for Something’s Gotta Give.

In 2006, Heitor Pereira won a Grammy Award for ‘Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist’ on a version of the song “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” by Chris Botti and Sting.

In 2011, he played guitar on the film Cowboys & Aliens soundtrack.

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