Fenton, born George Howe in Bromley, Kent, in 1949, began as a musician and actor before turning to composition. As a young man he recorded a cover of Maxwell's Silver Hammer that became a Top 10 hit in Sweden, and in 1968 he appeared in Alan Bennett's West End production Forty Years On, taking the stage name George Fenton. He later had a recurring role in the television soap Emmerdale Farm.
His composing career began in 1974 with a commission from the Royal Shakespeare Company for Twelfth Night, followed by television work from 1976. His partnership with director Stephen Frears began in 1978 and eventually spanned 11 productions, including Dangerous Liaisons, Hero, Mary Reilly and Mrs Henderson Presents. With Richard Attenborough he worked on Gandhi, Cry Freedom, Shadowlands, In Love and War and Grey Owl.
Gandhi brought his first Oscar nomination, shared with Ravi Shankar. Cry Freedom drew two nominations, for best original score and for best original song, the latter shared with Jonas Gwangwa. Fenton sang the nominated song at the Academy Awards, a performance he later described as "like some bad waking dream," saying he was "virtually rigid with fear" singing live to an audience of over a billion people. He also scored theatre, documentary and television news, and Mrs Henderson Presents was later developed into a stage musical with his music.