Biography
Éric Serra (born September 9, 1959) is a French composer and musician, known for his frequent collaborations with film director Luc Besson.
Born in Saint-Mandé, Serra was introduced to music early on through his father, Claude, a renowned French songwriter from the 1950s and 1960s. His mother passed away when he was seven years old.
In the early 1980s, Serra met Luc Besson and was commissioned to compose the score for Besson's debut film, Le Dernier Combat (1983). He has since composed the music for all of Besson's directed films, except Angel-A (2005), which was scored by Anja Garbarek, and several films Besson wrote, including Wasabi.
In 1995, Serra was selected to score the James Bond film GoldenEye, creating a modern, avant-garde soundtrack that diverged from previous Bond scores. The reception was mixed: while some praised its innovation, many fans criticized the absence of the traditional Bond theme originally by Monty Norman and John Barry. Consequently, producer John Altman was brought in to compose the score for the tank chase scene, which featured a classic arrangement of the Bond theme. Serra was succeeded by David Arnold as the Bond composer until 2008.
Sometimes referred to as RXRA—reflecting the French pronunciation of his name—Serra is credited as RXRA for the song "Little Light of Love" on The Fifth Element soundtrack.
He has been in a long-term relationship with Australian model Jodi Luschwitz for 17 years, and they have two children, Ashani and Mitivaï.
From 1980 to 1988, Serra played bass guitar for French singer Jacques Higelin.
As a songwriter, Serra has penned tracks such as "It's Only Mystery" for Subway, "My Lady Blue" for Le Grand Bleu, and "Little Light of Love" for The Fifth Element. In 1998, he released a rock album titled RXRA, echoing the pronunciation of his name's initials in French.
Serra composed the music for the 2008 Las Vegas show Criss Angel: Believe, a collaboration between Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil.
Though primarily working behind the scenes, Serra has made several on-screen appearances, especially on French television performing music. Notably, he appeared as 'Enrico the bassist' in Luc Besson's film Subway.
