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Friday, October 30, 2020

In Memory 2011: John Barry


Composer John Barry, famous for his work on Born Free, Out of Africa and the James Bond films, has died in New York of a heart attack aged 77.
Born John Barry Prendergast in 1933, the York-born musician first found fame as leader of the John Barry Seven.
His arrangement of Monty Norman's James Bond theme led to him composing scores for 11 films in the series, among them Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice.
In the 1970s he did "Diamonds Are Forever"






His work saw him win five Oscars.,

The last James Bond Theme film of the 1970s was Moonracker, another John Barry and Shirley Bassey mix.

Of course prior to that was the superior "Man With The Golden Gun", sung by Lulu.
i"Film seemed to bring out the very best in him," he said of a man who "was able to catch the mood of a scene or a whole film by the genius of orchestration with fairly conventional instruments".


Barry's son-in-law, BBC business reporter Simon Jack, said he "truly loved writing music as much as people enjoyed listening to it".
"He saw himself as much a dramatist as a composer and his music was inextricably linked to the stories told on the screen."
Jack also remembered him as "a wickedly funny man" whose "passion, genius and sense of humour will be terribly missed by his family and friends".

John Barry was famous for several TV themes in the 1970s too, the most famous being "The Persuaders"

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