Our condolences to the family of Normand Corbeil, an award-winning composer who worked on Heavy Rain, who reportedly passed away on Friday (25th January). A user on The Cancer Forums – Orly83 – posted this message in the Pancreatic Cancer forum late that evening:
My father, Normand Corbeil, 56, passed away today at 2:56 PM. He was a great composer and an amazing dad… I am in shock.
According to the user's signature, Corbeil was diagnosed with Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer on August 15th last year, which means that sadly his family only had a few months to come to terms with the news before his passing. The forum is full of kind messages from others who are either suffering from or are close with people suffering from similar cancers.
Corbeil worked on many films, but gamers will know his name for his work on Heavy Rain, for which he won awards including “Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and a Bafta for Original Music in 2011. His many other awards are listed on his website, where you can also read a quote from David Cage – founder of Quantic Dream – praising Corbeil's work on “Ethan's theme”:
The first notes raise the hairs on the back of my neck; Ethan's theme fills the studio, swelling with emotion from the breath of the brass and the stroking of the strings. Ethan is born for the third time, first in the writing, secondly in the image and now in the music.
