A native of Toronto, Canada, Howard Shore first came to prominence as the musical director of Saturday Night Live during the show's formative years. In this capacity, Shore helped to create the Blues Brothers with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, as well as helping perform many of Saturday Night Live's most memorable songs.

Beginning with 1979's The Brood, Shore established a relationship with Canadian director David Croenenberg that has lasted until this day, scoring such films as the 1986 remake of The Fly. Shore's powerful score on that film led to his most visible role to date: composing over ten hours of music for Peter Jackson's celebrated Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 2006, Shore scored his first video game, the Korean-made MMORPG Soul of the Ultimate Nation.

"I wrote for text that was written in ancient Korean. I probably had more flexibility with this project because I wasn't writing to pictures or movement. There was creative room to spread out a little."