‘Music was my first desire’: Anthony Hopkins releases single

Hollywood actor signs recording deal with Decca after decades of composing pieces inspired by his Welsh childhood Anthony Hopkins says he has achieved his “first desire” of signing a record deal, with a single being released on Friday. The 88-year-old Hollywood actor’s first album, Life Is a Dream, will be released next month by Decca Classics . It is a collection of pieces he has composed over six decades. The single, Bracken Road, is inspired by his childhood memories of Margam in south Wales and the streets, meadows, farmland and mountains that surrounded his family home in the 1940s. Hopkins, who won Oscars for his roles in Silence of the Lambs and The Father, said: “Music was my first desire, my first wish, I’ve been composing music all my life. Some of these pieces have lived with me for decades and I still find myself returning to them. My whole life is a dream. Signing with Decca is the honour of a lifetime.” His music is performed by the Grammy-winning conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Philharmonia Orchestra. The actor, who was born in Port Talbot, has composed music since his childhood and began playing the piano at the age of four. He said: “It has been a t