John Barry PrendergastOBE (3 November 1933– 30 January 2011)[1][2] was an English composer and conductor of film music. Born in York, Barry spent his early years working in cinemas owned by his father. During his national service with the British Army in Cyprus, Barry began performing as a musician after learning to play the trumpet. Upon completing his national service, he formed a band in 1957, the John Barry Seven. He later developed an interest in composing and arranging music, making his début for television in 1958. He came to the notice of the makers of the first James Bond film Dr. No, who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman.[3] Noel Rogers, the head of music at United Artists, approached Barry.[4] This started a successful association between Barry and the Bond series that lasted for 25 years.
Barry received awards including five Academy Awards: two for Born Free and one each for The Lion in Winter (for which he also won the first BAFTA Award for Best Film Music), Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves (both of which also won him Grammy Awards). He also received ten Golden Globe Award nominations, winning once for Best Original Score for Out of Africa in 1986. Barry completed his last film score, Enigma, in 2001 and recorded the successful album Eternal Echoes the same year. He then concentrated chiefly on live performances and co-wrote the music to the musical Brighton Rock in 2004 alongside Don Black.
Barry was born John Barry Prendergast in York, the youngest of four children. His mother, a classical pianist, was English; his Irish father, John Xavier "Jack" Prendergast from Cork, was a projectionist during the silent film era and later owned a chain of cinemas across northern England.[5][6][7] As a result of his father's work, Barry was raised in and around cinemas in northern England[5] and he later stated that this childhood background influenced his musical tastes and interests.[6] He had two older brothers and one older sister.[8] Barry was educated at St Peter's School, York, and received composition lessons from Francis Jackson, Organist of York Minster.[6]
By 1959 Barry was gaining commissions to arrange music for other acts, starting with a young trio on Decca, coincidentally called the Three Barry Sisters, though unrelated both to Barry and American duo The Barry Sisters.[12] The career breakthrough for Barry was the BBC television series Drumbeat, when he appeared with the John Barry Seven. He was employed by EMI from 1959 until 1962 arranging orchestral accompaniments for the company's singers, including Adam Faith.[13] He also composed songs (along with Les Vandyke) and scores for films in which Faith was featured. When Faith made his first film, Beat Girl (1960), Barry composed, arranged and conducted the film score, his first. His music was later released as the UK's first soundtrack album.[14]
Barry also composed the music for another Faith film, Never Let Go (also 1960), orchestrated the score for Mix Me a Person (1962), and composed, arranged and conducted the score for The Amorous Prawn (also 1962). In 1962, Barry transferred to Ember Records, where he produced and arranged albums.[15]
These achievements caught the attention of the producers of a new film called Dr. No (1962) who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman. Barry was hired and his arrangement of Norman's composition created the "James Bond Theme". When the producers of the Bond series sought to hire Lionel Bart to score the next James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963), they learned that Bart could not read or write music. Though Bart wrote a title song for the film, the producers remembered Barry's arrangement of the James Bond Theme and his composing and arranging for several films with Adam Faith. Bart also recommended Barry to producer Stanley Baker for his 1964 film Zulu.[16] That same year Bart and Barry collaborated on the film Man in the Middle; and then, in 1965, Barry worked with director Bryan Forbes in scoring the World War II prison-camp drama King Rat.
Barry was often cited as having had a distinct style which concentrated on lush strings and extensive use of brass.[citation needed] He was one of the first to employ synthesizers in a film score (On Her Majesty's Secret Service, also 1969),[18] and to make wide use of pop artists and songs in Midnight Cowboy.[19] Because Barry provided not just the main title theme but the complete soundtrack score, his music often enhanced the critical reception of a film, notably in Midnight Cowboy, The Tamarind Seed, the first remake of King Kong (1976), Out of Africa (1985), and Dances with Wolves (1990). Barry would often watch films and would note down with pen and paper what worked or what did not.[7]
Barry composed the theme for the TV series The Persuaders! (1971), also known as The Unlucky Heroes, in which Tony Curtis and Roger Moore were paired as rich playboys solving crimes.[20] The instrumental recording features the cimbalom (which Barry also used for The Ipcress File (1965) and other themes) and Moog synthesizers. The theme was a hit single in many European countries (including France, Germany, and the Benelux states), contributing to the cult status of the series in Europe, and the record featured Barry's The Girl with the Sun in Her Hair on the B side, an instrumental piece featured in a long running TV advert for Sunsilk shampoo. Barry also wrote the scores to a number of musicals, including the 1965 Passion Flower Hotel (lyrics by Trevor Peacock), the successful 1974 West End show Billy (lyrics by Don Black),[21] and two intended Broadway musicals that never opened on Broadway, Lolita, My Love (1971), with Alan Jay Lerner as lyricist, and The Little Prince and the Aviator (1981), again with lyricist Don Black.[22] Barry also composed the soundtrack for the Bruce Lee film Game of Death (1978).
In 2001, the University of York conferred an honorary degree on Barry, and in 2002 he was named an Honorary Freeman of the City of York.[23][24]
During 2006, Barry was the executive producer on an album entitled Here's to the Heroes by the Australian ensemble The Ten Tenors. The album features a number of songs Barry wrote in collaboration with his lyricist friend, Don Black. Barry and Black also composed one of the songs on Shirley Bassey's 2009 album, The Performance. The song, entitled "Our Time Is Now", is the first written by the duo for Bassey since "Diamonds Are Forever".[25]
James Bond
After the success of Dr. No, Barry was hired to compose and perform eleven of the next fourteen James Bond films.
In his tenure with the film series, Barry's music, variously brassy and moody, achieved very wide appeal. 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, and 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). Barry also contributed indirectly to the soundtrack of the spoof version of Casino Royale (1967): his Born Free theme appears briefly in the opening sequence.
In Goldfinger (1964), he perfected the "Bond sound", a heady mixture of brass, jazz elements 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.
Barry's love for the Russian romantic composers is often reflected in his music; in his Bond scores he unites this with brass-heavy jazz writing. His use of strings, lyricism, half-diminished chords and complex key shifting provides melancholy contrast; in his scores this is often heard in variations of the title songs that are used to underscore plot development.[26]
As Barry matured, the Bond scores became more lushly melodic (along with other scores of his such as The Tamarind Seed and Out of Africa) as in Moonraker (1979) and Octopussy (1983). Barry's score for A View to a Kill was traditional, but his collaboration with Duran Duran for the title song was contemporary and reached 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 bands 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."[27]
Barry's last score for the Bond series was The Living Daylights (1987), Timothy Dalton's first film in the series, with Barry making a cameo appearance as a conductor in the film.[28] Barry was intended to score Licence to Kill (1989) but was recovering from throat surgery at the time, and it was considered unsafe to fly him to London to complete the score. The score was completed by Michael Kamen.[29]
David Arnold, a British composer, saw the result of two years' work in 1997 with the release of Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album of new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. Arnold thanks Barry in the sleeve notes, referring to him as "the Guvnor". Almost all of the tracks were Barry compositions, and the revision of his work met with his approval– he contacted Barbara Broccoli, producer of the then upcoming Tomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.[30] Arnold also went on to score four subsequent Bond films: The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
Monty Norman, who was contracted as composer for Dr. No, received sole compositional credit for the "James Bond Theme". Nearly 40 years later, in 2001, the disputed authorship of the theme was examined legally in the High Court in London after Norman sued The Sunday Times for libel for publishing an article in 1997 in which Barry was named as the true composer; Barry testified for the defence.[31][32]
In court, Barry testified that he had been handed a musical manuscript of a work by Norman (meant to become the theme) and that he was to arrange it musically, and that he composed additional music and arranged the "James Bond Theme". He also claimed that Norman received sole credit because of his prior contract with the producers. Barry said that a deal was struck whereby he would receive a flat fee of £250 and Norman would receive the songwriting credit.[33] Barry said that he had accepted the deal with United Artists Head of Music Noel Rogers because it would help his career. Despite these claims, the jury ruled unanimously in favour of Norman.[33]
On 7 September 2006, Barry reiterated his claim of authorship of the theme on the Steve Wright show on BBC Radio 2.[34]
Personal life and death
Barry was married four times. His first three marriages, to Barbara Pickard (1959–63), Jane Birkin (1965–68) and Jane Sidey (1969–78) all ended in divorce.[10] He was married to his fourth wife, Laurie, from January 1978[10] until his death. The couple had a son, Jonpatrick. Barry had three daughters: Suzanne with his first wife, Barbara; Kate with his second wife, Jane; and Sian, from a relationship with Ulla Larson between the first two marriages.[6]
In 1975, Barry moved to the US. A British judge later accused him of emigrating to avoid paying £134,000 due the Inland Revenue.[10] The matter was resolved in the late 1980s, and Barry was able to return to the UK.[10] He subsequently lived for many years in the United States, mainly in Oyster Bay, New York, in Centre Island on Long Island, from 1980.[6][35]
Barry suffered a rupture of the esophagus 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.[36]
Barry died of a heart attack on 30 January 2011 at his Oyster Bay home, aged 77.[37][38]
Barry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998.[50] Also wrote the theme for raise the titanic much under rated too
Filmography
Bond films
Barry worked on the soundtracks for the following James Bond films (title song collaborators in brackets):
Dr. No (1962)– "James Bond Theme" (composed by Monty Norman) as arranged by Barry used on main and end titles, key points such as Bond's arrival in Jamaica
The Best of Bond... James Bond is the title of various compilation albums of music used in the James Bond films made by Eon Productions up to that time. The album was originally released in 1992 as The Best of James Bond, as a one-disc compilation and a two-disc 30th Anniversary Limited Edition compilation with songs that had, at that point, never been released to the public. The single disc compilation was later updated five times in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, and 2021. The 2008 version was augmented with the addition of a DVD featuring music videos and a documentary. Another two-disc edition, this time containing 50 tracks for the 50th anniversary of the franchise, was released in 2012.
David Arnold is an English film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films (1997-2008), as well as Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998), Shaft (2000), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Four Brothers (2005), Hot Fuzz (2007), and the television series Little Britain and Sherlock. For Independence Day, he received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and for Sherlock, he and co-composer Michael Price won a Creative Arts Emmy for the score of "His Last Vow", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC / Amazon Prime series Good Omens (2019) adapted by Neil Gaiman from his book Good Omens, written with Terry Pratchett. Arnold is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
Leslie Bricusse OBE was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films Doctor Dolittle; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Scrooge; Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory; Tom and Jerry: The Movie; the titular James Bond film songs "Goldfinger" and "You Only Live Twice"; "Can You Read My Mind? " from Superman; and "Le Jazz Hot!" from Victor/Victoria.
Monty Norman was a British film score composer and singer. A contributor to West End musicals in the 1950s and 1960s, he is best known for composing the "James Bond Theme", first heard in the 1962 film Dr. No. He was an Ivor Novello Award and Olivier Award winner, and a Tony Award nominee.
Since its inception in 1962, the James Bond film series from Eon Productions has featured many musical compositions, many of which are now considered classic pieces of British film music. The best known piece is the "James Bond Theme" composed by Monty Norman. Other instrumentals, such as "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", and various songs performed by British or American artists such as Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice", Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better", Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only", Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill", Tina Turner's "GoldenEye" also become identified with the series.
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the James Bond films and has been used in every Bond film since Dr. No in 1962. Composed in E minor by Monty Norman, the piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in every Eon Productions Bond film besides Casino Royale.
"A View to a Kill" is a song by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 7 May 1985. Written and recorded as the theme for the James Bond film of the same name, it became one of the band's biggest hits. It is the only James Bond theme song to have reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; it also made it to number two for three weeks on the UK Singles Chart while stuck behind Paul Hardcastle's "19". The song was the last track recorded by the most famous five-member lineup of Duran Duran until their reunion in 2001 and was also performed by the band at Live Aid in Philadelphia, their final performance together before their first split.
Charles Ira Fox is an American composer for film and television. His compositions include the sunshine pop musical backgrounds which accompanied every episode of the 1970s ABC-TV show Love, American Style; the theme song for the late 1970s ABC series The Love Boat; and the dramatic theme music to ABC's Wide World of Sports and the original Monday Night Football; as well as the Grammy-winning hit song "Killing Me Softly with His Song", written in collaboration with Fox's longtime writing partner, Norman Gimbel.
"You Know My Name" is the theme song of the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, performed by American musician Chris Cornell, who wrote and produced it jointly with David Arnold, the soundtrack's composer. The track was leaked onto the Internet on September 20, 2006, and later released as an official single on November 13, 2006 through Interscope Records. It was not included in the Casino Royale soundtrack, but appeared on Cornell's second solo album, Carry On.
"Goldfinger" is the title song from the 1964 James Bond film of the same name. Composed by John Barry and with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, the song was performed by Shirley Bassey for the film's opening and closing title sequences, as well as the soundtrack album release. The single release of the song gave Bassey her only Billboard Hot 100 top forty hit, peaking in the Top 10 at No. 8 and No. 2 for four weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart, and in the United Kingdom the single reached No. 21.
Live and Let Die is the soundtrack to the eighth James Bond film of the same name, scored by George Martin. The title song was written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Paul McCartney and Wings. It was the first Bond film score to not involve John Barry.
The Man with the Golden Gun is the soundtrack for the ninth James Bond film of the same name.
Dr. No is the film score for the 1962 film of the same name composed by Monty Norman.
From Russia with Love is the soundtrack for the second James Bond film, From Russia With Love. This is the first series film with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer.
Goldfinger is the soundtrack of the 1964 film of the same name, the third film in the James Bond film series, directed by Guy Hamilton. The album was composed by John Barry and distributed by EMI. Two versions were released initially, one in the United States and the United Kingdom, which varied in terms of length and which tracks were within the soundtrack. In 2003, Capitol-EMI records released a remastered version that contained all the tracks within the film.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service ("OHMSS") is the soundtrack for the James Bond film. It was composed, arranged, and conducted by John Barry; his fifth in the series.
A View to a Kill is the soundtrack for the film of the same name, the 14th instalment in the James Bond film series.
The Living Daylights is the soundtrack title for the film The Living Daylights and the eleventh and final Bond soundtrack to be scored by composer John Barry. The soundtrack is notable for its introduction of sequenced electronic rhythm tracks overdubbed with the orchestra – at the time, a relatively new innovation.
John Altman is an English film composer, music arranger, orchestrator and conductor.
"You Only Live Twice", performed by Nancy Sinatra, is the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film of the same name. The music was by veteran Bond film composer John Barry, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The song is widely recognized for its striking opening bars, featuring a simple 2-bar theme in the high octaves of the violins and lush harmonies from French horns. It is considered by some to be among the best James Bond theme songs, and has become one of Nancy Sinatra's best known hits. Shortly after Barry's production, Sinatra's producer Lee Hazlewood released a more guitar-based single version.
References
↑ The Sunday Times Magazine (London). 18 December 2011. p. 64.
↑ Pete Frame The restless generation: how rock music changed the face of 1950s Britain 0952954079 2007 – Page 414 "Meanwhile, Barry was winning commissions to arrange music for other acts, starting with a young trio on Decca, the unrelated (to him) Barry Sisters. Together, they cut two singles, Tall Paul and Jo Jo The Dog-faced Boy, which had been consecutive American hits for Annette Funicello. Neither excited retail interest – and nor did any of the three singles he made with Larry Page"
↑ Madden, Karl. "The Melancholy Touch: Romantic Shades of John Barry's Bond"Archived 16 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine in James Bond in World and Popular Culture: The Films Are Not Enough. Eds. Robert G. Weiner, B. Lynn Whitfield, and Jack Becker. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 1st Edition 2010, 116–126, 2nd Edition 2011, 121–131. Print.
↑ Waaktaar, Pal (interviewee) (2006). James Bond's Greatest Hits (Television). UK: North One Television.
1 2 "John Barry". The Daily Telegraph. London. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
↑ Moriarty (5 November 2004). "AICN Animation Double-Header! Moriarty Interviews Brad Bird!!". Ain't It Cool News. Archived from the original on 18 July 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2013. Yeah. We worked on it for a little while, and I'm a huge fan of John Barry. But I kind of wanted him to go back to a style that he used in the past, and use that as kind of a starting place. I think he kind of felt like he'd already done that.
Further reading
Fiegel, Eddi. John Barry: A Sixties Theme: From James Bond to Midnight Cowboy (Faber & Faber: London, UK, 2012)
Leonard, Geoff, Pete Walker and Gareth Bramley. John Barry – The Man with the Midas Touch (Redcliffe Press: Bristol, UK, 2008)
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