A former Altrincham Grammar School for Boys pupil has won a Grammy award for his part in creating the music for a blockbuster Star Wars video game.
Max McGuire, from Hale, was part of the team that composed the musical score for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, one of the most downloaded PlayStation games of 2023.
Earlier this month, at a glittering ceremony held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the team won Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, beating the likes of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Hogwarts Legacy.
Lead composers Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab collected the award on the night with McGuire watching from home in Hale - but he was name-checked in Barton's acceptance speech for his role as assistant composer on the score.
"It was mad," McGuire told Altrincham Today. "It was actually really emotional - this industry is not easy and I've been through many years of really tough times. We've made financial sacrifices. To get to this point is fantastic."
McGuire, 30, studied music at GSCE and A-Level at Altrincham Grammar before going on to study music production at the Leeds College of Music, now known as Leeds Conservatoire.
He has run his own production company, Metronomix Studios, since his college days but his big break came when he connected with Barton, an established composer originally from Preston who has worked on dozens of major film, television and video game projects.
Since then he has worked with Barton on the likes of video games Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and MultiVersus and TV series Star Trek: Picard.
The score for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was an incredible eight and a half hours in length and McGuire was tasked with composing various parts.
He also wrote the score for the orchestra to record it over 28 days at the legendary Abbey Road studios in London.
"Just getting the nomination was really difficult because you're up against 200-plus other titles," added McGuire.
"It feels like it's been a really long journey because this game is connected to the first Star Wars game which started in 2019, and I went to some test recordings in 2018. So to get to this point and get recognition from the Academy is amazing."
