Shirley Walker

Her apprenticeship in film music included working as orchestrator and conductor with a substantial list of established film composers such as Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, Brad Fiedel, Mark Snow and Carter Burwell. It is not unusual to be a composer, orchestrator, or a conductor, but what is unusual is to be one that does all three, and Walker was such an example. She reportedly knew exactly how music worked, how it was written, and how (or if) it could be played by musicians. Her roles would include making sure each cue was recorded how it needed to be with the speed, tone, and musical sound design in mind, based on the composer's wishes as well as her own. While she was still writing for television in the early 1980s, Walker would be frequently hired by other composers to orchestrate or conduct their scores. Some of these included Murder in Coweta Country (1980) for Brad Fiedel, Cujo (1983) for Charles Bernstein, and Ghost Warrior (1984) for Richard Band for which she also wrote additional music. Shirley would also team up with Band as co-composers on The Dungeonmaster (1984) and Ghoulies (1985). Walker's imprint makes these latter two scores stand out. The score for Ghoulies specifically sounds much like a classic Danny Elfman score, though it predates Walker's work with Danny, and even his very first film score for Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) by six months. Walker continued to score various television projects and work simultaneously as an orchestrator/conductor into the late 1980s, continuing a long-running collaboration with Brad Fiedel. Around the time of orchestrating and conducting Fiedel's score for The Accused (1988), Walker would conduct the score for Scrooged (1988), marking her first work with Danny Elfman. She would go on to orchestrate or conduct his scores for Batman (1989), Nightbreed (1990), Dick Tracy (1990), Darkman (1990), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Article 99 (1992). Walker also composed additional cues for both Nightbreed and Dick Tracy, and unless it was Elfman regular Steve Bartek, she likely orchestrated and conducted the theme for Tales from the Crypt. One of Walker's most important efforts was the uncredited job of conducting the score for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). Chevy Chase, who would play the lead in John Carpenter's 1992 film Memoirs of an Invisible Man, recalled visiting a recording session for Christmas Vacation and being impressed by the conductor. She was suggested to work on Memoirs of an Invisible Man when Jack Nitzsche fell through – a landmark decision, not just because Carpenter often composed his own scores, but because it was one of the first times a female composer had a solo credit on a major studio picture. It would become Walker's first official solo film score. Walker has the distinction of being the first woman to have composed an entire symphonic score, which she also orchestrated and conducted alone. "The first two days of that score, there were a lot of people who had come to visit the scoring stage because they were here to witness this event," Walker said in an interview in a 1998 issue of Soundtrack Magazine. "I was almost in tears about that. I had to ask somebody why all those people were here, and when they told me it was just incredible." Walker later collaborated with Carpenter on Escape from L.A. Walker served as composer for numerous productions, including films such as Willard, the first three Final Destination installments, and television series such as Falcon Crest, Space: Above and Beyond, China Beach, and The Flash. The Flash was one of many collaborations Walker did with composer Danny Elfman. While managing her working relationships with Elfman and Fiedel, Walker would mentor and collaborate with up-and-comer Hans Zimmer (who would provide synths for Mask of the Phantasm). She would orchestrate or conduct his scores for Black Rain (1989), Bird on a Wire (1990), Backdraft (1991), A League of Their Own (1992), and Toys (1992), among others. She would also collaborate with Carter Burwell at the end of her orchestrating/conducting-for-others days, including the score for Fear (1996). She served as a Board Member (1986–1994) and Vice President (1988–1992) for The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), often speaking out on behalf of composers and their working conditions. Articles and interviews are written by and about Shirley Walker in the SCL's publication, THE SCORE, a publication in print since 1986 by and about professional film/television/video game composers, songwriters and lyricists—and where Walker would speak her mind.

According to fellow composer and friend Laura Karpman, Walker was among the few female composers who managed to make her mark in the highly competitive world of Hollywood scoring: "She's one of a tiny little group, and was the first one to poke through," Karpman said. "She's been an incredible mentor to a lot of men and women in Hollywood. She was an important role model." Not only did Walker compose, she also conducted, orchestrated, arranged, and oftentimes did all three. Walker had an incredible impact not only on the films and television shows she worked on, but also on the musicians she worked with. When Warner Bros. hired her in 1990 to supervise the music for Batman: The Animated Series, Walker decided to see if she "could find the next generation of orchestral film composers and give them a chance to do this work," Walker told Daily Variety in 2002. According to a statement by one of more than 30 composers Walker brought in to work on the Batman series, Walker's "determination to open doors of opportunity for aspiring composers is unrivaled in our industry." Walker not only supported up-and-coming composers in the industry, she also watched over the orchestra and ensured the musicians would not burn out. In the DVD commentary for Final Destination, Walker recounts a time when there was a problem with music being recorded for a Disney picture she was conducting. The composer and producers were sitting in the control booth, playing back the recordings and bickering, leaving the musicians idle for forty-five minutes. Rather than have them be paid to do nothing, the producers suggested to Shirley that they rehearse music not yet recorded. Walker agreed but quietly told the orchestra how she felt this was ridiculous, that she didn't want them wearing out, and she had a different plan. In this particular studio, Walker was on an elevated platform to where the orchestra was essentially hidden below and only Walker could be seen from the booth. She utilized this, and knowing that the orchestra couldn't actually be heard unless recording was in progress, she mimed conducting, waving her arms, pointing to the score, and completely putting on an act for the producers, but all the while telling jokes and keeping things light with the musicians. Despite the fact that very few female composers had worked in Hollywood at the time of her death, Walker was not recognized during the "In Memoriam" segment of the 79th Academy Awards. Walker was considered by some to be one of the industry's most unsung talents, often overlooked in popular media even with the strides she made for women composers and her huge influence in the film industry, such as being one of the first women to receive sole composing credit on a Hollywood studio picture, on Memoirs of an Invisible Man in 1992. However, in 2014, eight years after Walker's passing, The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) created the Shirley Walker Award to honor those whose achievements have contributed to the diversity of film and television music. It has been awarded to Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, Deborah Lurie, Germaine Franco, and Pinar Toprak to date.

For her work on Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond, Walker won two Daytime Emmys in 1998 and 2001, respectively.