Birthday profile

Michael Kamen

Michael Kamen, American composer and conductor (died 2003)

Born
April 15, 1948
Died
November 18, 2003
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1948

About Michael Kamen

Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer, arranger, conductor, songwriter, and musician. He began his work as a pop and rock music arranger, notably for Pink Floyd, and was a member of the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble and the Roger Waters Band. Starting in the mid-1980s, he achieved further prominence as a composer of film scores. Kamen's best known scores include the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon franchises, the Terry Gilliam films Brazil (1985) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Highlander (1986), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Don Juan DeMarco (1994), What Dreams May Come (1998), The Iron Giant (1999), X-Men (2000), and the television series Edge of Darkness, Tales from the Crypt, and Band of Brothers. During his career, Kamen won four Grammy Awards, out of nine total nominations, and a BAFTA TV Award, and was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Song, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Kamen became friends with Martin Fulterman (later known as Mark Snow), who later composed the theme music for The X-Files, among other projects. Kamen became a highly sought-after arranger in the realms of pop and rock music.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Michael Kamen was born

Michael Kamen was born in 1948. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1948

  • #1 song"Twelfth Street Rag" – Pee Wee Hunt
  • Top movieHamlet
  • Top TV showTexaco Star Theater (Milton Berle)
  • Best-selling bookThe Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentCleveland Indians win the World Series
  • Top headlineState of Israel declared
  • Technology milestoneLong-playing vinyl record (LP) introduced
  • Defining fadTelevision sets in homes
  • Notable inventionVelcro
  • World population2.50 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championCleveland Indians (World Series)
  • Also wonBaltimore Bullets (BAA)
  • U.S. population146.6M

1948 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Michael Kamen's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19482026
Gas$0.26$3.45/gal
Average home$8,300$435,000
Average income$5,000$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.40$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population146.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.