Daniel James Licht (March 13, 1957 – August 2, 2017) was an American soundtrack composer and musician, best known for writing the score of Showtime TV series Dexter.
Daniel Licht grew up in Detroit and started playing music at the age of eight with his first instrument being the clarinet. He began his musical career while still in high school playing guitar with a small jazz ensemble.
He attended Hampshire College in Massachusetts then moved to New York City and established himself as a musical artist. He would often travel to Germany, the Netherlands and Northern Europe to perform and compose music for theatre and dance companies.
Licht then moved to Los Angeles and pursued a career in film scoring. His first major project was the 1991 feature film Children of the Night. He was spotted by macabre director Clive Barker, and would compose for many more horror films, such as: Amityville: It’s About Time (1992); Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992); Ticks (1993); Amityville: A New Generation (1993); Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995); Thinner (1996); Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996); Bad Moon (1996); Legion of Fire: Killer Ants! (1998); Disney’s Halloween movie Don’t Look Under The Bed (1999); Cabin by the Lake (2000); Soul Survivors (2001); and Ghostmates (2016).
Licht scored all seasons of Dexter, which he considered to be one of his “more visible projects”, but was reluctant to refer to it as his best work. From 2012 to 2015 he was the main composer of the Silent Hill: Downpour and Silent Hill: Book of Memories video games.
