BestSoundTracker | May 05, 2008 | 1,105 likes, 19 dislikes
John Barry - Dances With Wolves .
John Barry, Bond films' man with the golden musical touch, dies aged 77
The legendary Oscar-winning composer was best known for his scores for 11 James Bond adventures
York-born composer scored 11 Bond films and won five Oscars in an illustrious career. In these clips from award ceremonies in later life, he reflects on his success
John Barry, who composed the score for 11 James Bond films, has died aged 77.
The legendary Oscar-winning composer was best known for his scores for 11 James Bond adventures
York-born composer scored 11 Bond films and won five Oscars in an illustrious career. In these clips from award ceremonies in later life, he reflects on his success
John Barry, who composed the score for 11 James Bond films, has died aged 77.
John Barry Prendergast, OBE (3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011) was an English film score composer. He was best known for composing 11 James Bond soundtracks and was hugely influential on the 007 series' distinctive style.
In a career spanning almost 50 years, Barry received a number of awards for his work, including five Academy Awards; two for Born Free, and one each for The Lion in Winter (also won a BAFTA), Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves (which also won a Grammy Award).
Barry was educated at St Peter's School, York, and also received composition lessons from Francis Jackson, Organist of York Minster. Living in his native England until the mid 1970s, Barry spent some time in Spain (for tax reasons)[citation needed] but subsequently lived for many years in the United States, mainly in Oyster Bay outside New York
Barry suffered a rupture of the oesophagus in 1988, following a toxic reaction to a health tonic he had consumed. The incident rendered him unable to work for two years and left him vulnerable to pneumonia.
In a career spanning almost 50 years, Barry received a number of awards for his work, including five Academy Awards; two for Born Free, and one each for The Lion in Winter (also won a BAFTA), Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves (which also won a Grammy Award).
Barry was educated at St Peter's School, York, and also received composition lessons from Francis Jackson, Organist of York Minster. Living in his native England until the mid 1970s, Barry spent some time in Spain (for tax reasons)[citation needed] but subsequently lived for many years in the United States, mainly in Oyster Bay outside New York
Barry suffered a rupture of the oesophagus in 1988, following a toxic reaction to a health tonic he had consumed. The incident rendered him unable to work for two years and left him vulnerable to pneumonia.
Barry was married four times. His three marriages to Barbara Pickard (1959-63); Jane Birkin (1965-68); and Jane Sidey (1969-71) all ended in divorce. He was married to Laurie from 3 January 1978 until his death. Barry has four children, one each from his first, second, and fourth marriages, and one with Ulla Larsson, with whom he lived for a while in the 1960s John Barry died suddenly from a heart attack on 30 January 2011.
After the success of Dr. No, Barry scored eleven of the next 14 James Bond films (but with Monty Norman continually credited as the composer of the "James Bond Theme").
In his tenure with the film series, Barry's music, variously brassy and moody, appealed to film aficionados, as witnessed in the sales of the soundtrack albums. For From Russia With Love he composed "007", an alternative James Bond signature theme, which is featured in four other Bond films (Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker). The theme "Stalking", for the teaser sequence of From Russia With Love, was covered by colleague Marvin Hamlisch for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). (The music and lyrics for From Russia With Love's title song were written by Lionel Bart, whose musical theatre credits included Oliver!). Barry also (indirectly) contributed to the soundtrack of the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale: his Born Free theme appears briefly in the opening sequence.
In Goldfinger, he would perfect the "Bond sound", a heady mixture of brass, jazz and sensuous melodies. There is even an element of Barry's jazz roots in the big-band track "Into Miami", which follows the title credits and accompanies the film's iconic image of the camera lens zooming toward the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.
As Barry matured, the Bond scores concentrated more on lush melodies, as in Moonraker and Octopussy. Barry's score for A View to a Kill was traditional, but his collaboration with Duran Duran for the title song was contemporary and one of the most successful Bond themes to date, reaching number one in the United States and number two in the UK Singles Chart. Both A View to a Kill and the Living Daylights theme by a-ha blended the pop music style of the artists with Barry's orchestration. In 2006, a-ha's Pal Waaktaar complimented Barry's contributions "I loved the stuff he added to the track, I mean it gave it this really cool string arrangement. That's when for me it started to sound like a Bond thing".
