Pursuing a circuitous route to a life in music, Richard Henderson graduated film school at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo in the late 1970s and, after moving to Manhattan, briefly joined a band whose membership included Brian Eno and Michael Brook. He then scored commercials and provided incidental film music from his Manhattan studio throughout the 1980s.

Migrating to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, Henderson worked in a music supervision office, finding source cues and assisting composers on films. He also began a parallel career in music writing. During ten years as a freelance writer for Billboard, he covered all aspects of the music industry. His writings on world music and avant-pop have appeared in The Wire (U.K.), The Beat, Soma, LA Weekly and Murder Dog. His book about recording artist and film composer Van Dyke Parks, 33 1/3 Song Cycle, appeared in 2009.

Richard Henderson’s work with his one-time bandmate, producer/film composer Michael Brook, led to his present career in music editing. A recent credit, “Whiplash” directed by Damien Chazelle, won both Jury and Audience awards at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Additionally, Henderson was music editor and music supervisor for four features starring Sacha Baron Cohen: “Borat: Cultural Learnings…,” “Brüno,” “The Dictator,” and most recently, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” He won the MPSE Golden Reel Award for his work on director Sean Penn’s “Into The Wild” and was awarded a subsequent Golden Reel for music editing the IMAX feature “Journey To Mecca.” In addition to his work with Michael Brook, Henderson has also music edited scores by composers Cliff Martinez, Harry Gregson-Williams, Mark Mothersbaugh and music producer Nick Launay.