Born in Missouri, Eric grew up in Orange County, California. His family spent summers in his mother's native Norway, and Eric credits this time in the land of Ibsen, Grieg and Munch for helping fuel his artistic desires. By the time he graduated from high school, his fate was sealed: he was determined to make a life in music.
Giving up plans to be a doctor, Eric enrolled in the prestigious music program at UCLA, where during the day he was mentored by famed composer David Raskin (Laura) and at night fronted a busy rock band, Witness. After graduating with a double major in music and theatre, he took the route of countless artists before him and moved to Paris. It was in "The City of Light" that Eric was exposed to computers, synthesizers and sequencers, which led him to the dark and decadent city of Berlin to explore these emerging musical technologies. Barely scraping by with piano gigs in hotels and bars, Eric landed his big break working with the legendary electronic group Tangerine Dream, who exploded into popularity with their landmark score for the Tom Cruise classic Risky Business. After scoring Ridley Scott's Legend with Tangerine Dream, Eric was commissioned to compose a new score for Sergei Eisenstein's epic masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin. The premiere was a big hit at the Berlin Film Festival, generating offers that led him back to Los Angeles.
While he's best known for the prodigious amount of film and television work he's done since his return to L.A., Eric has stayed true to his classical roots by writing music for ballet, opera, theatre, and solo piano. He's also released several CD's featuring his operas, ballet, songs, piano compositions, children's music and Native American music.
Graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles with a double major B.A. in both Music and Theater.
His mother is Norwegian and, as a boy, he spent summer vacations with his family in Norway.
He began to study piano at age 7, later adding guitar, sitar and tabla as other instruments he plays.
Has one younger brother, Christen.
Father of two sons named Von Essex and Tristan Leif.
Eric is an avid surfer and skier and spends his free time pursuing both activities around the world.
Eric speaks German and French, and has lived and worked in both countries.