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Quick Facts
- NAME: John Barry
- OCCUPATION: Songwriter
- BIRTH DATE: November 03, 1933
- DEATH DATE: January 30, 2011
- PLACE OF BIRTH: York, England, United Kingdom
- PLACE OF DEATH: Oyster Bay, New York
- AKA: John Barry Prendergast
- AKA: John Barry
- Full Name: Jonathan Barry Prendergast, OBE
- AKA: Jonathan Barry Prendergast
Best Known For
John Barry was a British film composer best known for his memorable work on James Bond films.
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Play NowJohn Barry. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:05, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/john-barry-21066105.
John Barry. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/john-barry-21066105 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"John Barry." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 02:05 http://www.biography.com/people/john-barry-21066105.
"John Barry," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/john-barry-21066105 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"John Barry," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/john-barry-21066105 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
John Barry [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/john-barry-21066105.
John Barry, http://www.biography.com/people/john-barry-21066105 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
John Barry. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/john-barry-21066105. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Synopsis
John Barry was a film composer born on November 3, 1933 in York, England. He worked on the scores for 12 James Bond films from Dr. No in 1963 through The Living Daylights in 1987. Over his career he garnered five Academy Awards and two nominations for his work on films such as Born Free, The Lion in the Winter, Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves. He died on January 30, 2011 in New York.
Contents
Quotes
''I like to score the inner feelings of a character—get into their shoes in an imaginative way and take the audience there and enlighten them in a poetic rather than realistic way.''
Early Life
John Barry Prendergast was born on November 3, 1933, in York, England. By the age of 9, John Barry had developed an interest in playing the piano. By age 15, he had dropped out of school, working thereafter as a projector at one of his father's movie theaters. During this time, he composed music to the movies he watched.
In addition to piano, Barry played the trumpet in dance bands. He also perfromed with an army band until 1955, playing in Egypt and Cypress. In 1957, Barry formed the rock band The John Barry Seven. Three years later, he wrote music for the films Beat Girl (released as Wild for Kicks in America) and Never Let Go, the later of which was directed by Peter Sellers.
Creating Music for 'Dr. No'
By the early 1960s, Barry had become recognized in the industry for his unique musical style of jazz and pop. However, his big breakthrough came in 1962, after he was asked to arrange the title song for the first film of the popular James Bond franchise, Dr. No, based on Ian Fleming's novel. Of all music featured in Bond movies over the years (the series included 23 installments as of 2012), this tune has been the most famous.
Controversy ensued decades later, when Barry took credit for the Dr. No composition in a 1997 interview with The Sunday Times of London. The original composer selected for the film, Monty Norman, claimed that Barry had only created the orchestration for the song "Dr. No," and successfully sued the publication for libel.
Later 'James Bond' Compositions
Barry went on to work on 11 more Bond films, stamping each with his unforgettable and titillating jazz scores; he composed music for the soundtracks of From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), Moonraker (1979), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985) and The Living Daylights (1987).
Other Projects
Beyond the Bond films, Barry composed memorable tunes for Midnight Cowboy (1969), featuring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight; The Cotton Club (1984), showcasing Richard Gere and Gregory Hines; and many other films.
Over his decades-long career, Barry won five Academy Awards: Two for his work on Born Free (1966), and single Oscars for his work on The Lion in the Winter (1968), Out of Africa (1985) and Dances with Wolves (1990). He also received Academy Award nominations for Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) and Chaplin (1992).
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Included In These Groups
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James Bond Soundtrack Artists
View groupBond—James Bond—was introduced to movie fans with the release of the first 007 film, Dr. No, in 1962. The past five decades of James Bond films have included a gamut of soundtrack artists, including Paul McCartney & Wings, who performed the song "Live and Let Die" for the Bond film of the same name; Shirley Bassey, who sang tracks for the films Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfinger; Jack White and Alicia Keys, who performed "Another Way to Die" for Quantum of Solace; Gladys Knight, who sang the title track for License to Kill; Louis Armstrong, who performed "We Have All the Time in the World" (secondary theme) for On Her Majesty's Secret Service; and Adele, who sang the title track for the newest film of the Bond franchise, Skyfall.
James Bond Soundtrack Artists 23 people in this group
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Famous Scorpios 511 people in this group
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Famous Songwriters and Composers
View groupBrowse notable songwriters and composers such as Irving Berlin, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Leonard Bernstein.
Famous Songwriters and Composers 427 people in this group
