Answer: Stewart Copeland

In the late 1990s, Insomniac Games had a smash hit on their hands with the 1998 release of Spyro the Dragon—a quirky and charming PlayStation title that put players in control of Spyro, a plucky dragon tasked with traveling across multiple dragon realms to rescue his friends from the clutches of Gnasty Gnorc (a half gnome/half orc).

Not only was the game play engaging and the story compelling, but the music for the series was surprisingly good for a video game. The secret sauce in the soundtrack recipe came courtesy of Stewart Copeland, former drummer for The Police, who was tasked with creating the musical score for the game. The progressive-rock themed soundtrack was a very hands on experience for Copeland—not only did he meet with the development team and learn about the game, but he actually played through the entire game, studying and replaying each level for inspiration on the composition that would go with it.

His work on the original title was so well received that Copeland was in charge of the soundtracks for Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, and Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.