John Barry PrendergastOBE (3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011)[1][2] was an English composer and conductor of film music. Born inYork, Barry spent his early years working in cinemas owned by his father. During hisnational service with the British Army inCyprus, Barry began performing as a musician after learning to play thetrumpet. 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 filmmakers of the first James Bond filmDr. No, who were dissatisfied with a theme forJames Bond given to them byMonty 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 fiveAcademy Awards: two forBorn Free and one each forThe Lion in Winter (for which he also won the firstBAFTA Award for Best Film Music),Out of Africa andDances with Wolves (both of which also won himGrammy Awards). He also received tenGolden Globe Award nominations, winning once forBest Original Score forOut of Africa in 1986. Barry completed his last film score,Enigma, in 2001 and recorded the successful albumEternal Echoes the same year. He then concentrated chiefly on live performances and co-wrote the music to the musicalBrighton Rock in 2004 alongsideDon Black.
Barry was born John Barry Prendergast inYork, the youngest of four children. His mother, a classical pianist, was English; his Irish father, John Xavier "Jack" Prendergast fromCork, was aprojectionist during the silent film era and later owned a chain of cinemas acrossnorthern 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. Barry was educated at Bar Convent (primary) School thenSt Peter's School, York, and received composition lessons fromFrancis Jackson, Organist ofYork Minster.[8][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 duoThe Barry Sisters.[12] The career breakthrough for Barry was the BBC television seriesDrumbeat, when he appeared with the John Barry Seven. He was employed byEMI from 1959 until 1962 arranging orchestral accompaniments for the company's singers, includingAdam Faith.[13] He also composed songs (along withLes 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 forMix Me a Person (1962), and composed, arranged and conducted the score forThe Amorous Prawn (also 1962). In 1962, Barry transferred toEmber Records, where he produced and arranged albums.[15]
These achievements caught the attention of theproducers of a new film calledDr. No (1962) who were dissatisfied with a theme forJames Bond given to them byMonty 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 hireLionel Bart to score the next James Bond filmFrom 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 producerStanley Baker for his 1964 filmZulu.[16] That same year Bart and Barry collaborated on the filmMan in the Middle; and then, in 1965, Barry worked with directorBryan Forbes in scoring the World War II prison-camp dramaKing Rat.
Barry was often cited as having had a distinct style which concentrated on lush strings[18] 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),[19] and to make wide use of pop artists and songs inMidnight Cowboy.[20] Because Barry provided not just the main title theme but the complete soundtrackscore, his music often enhanced the critical reception of a film, notably inMidnight Cowboy,The Tamarind Seed, the first remake ofKing Kong (1976),Out of Africa (1985), andDances 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 seriesThe Persuaders! (1971), also known asThe Unlucky Heroes, in whichTony Curtis andRoger Moore were paired as rich playboys solving crimes.[21] The instrumental recording features thecimbalom (which Barry also used forThe Ipcress File (1965) and other themes) andMoog 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'sThe Girl with the Sun in Her Hair on the B side, an instrumental piece featured in a long running TV advert forSunsilk shampoo. Barry also wrote the scores to a number of musicals, including the 1965Passion Flower Hotel (lyrics byTrevor Peacock), the successful 1974 West End showBilly (lyrics byDon Black),[22] and two intendedBroadway musicals that never opened on Broadway,Lolita, My Love (1971), withAlan Jay Lerner as lyricist, andThe Little Prince and the Aviator (1981), again with lyricist Don Black.[23] Barry also composed the soundtrack for theBruce Lee filmGame of Death (1978).
In 2001, theUniversity of York conferred an honorary degree on Barry, and in 2002 he was named an HonoraryFreeman of the City of York.[24][25]
During 2006, Barry was the executive producer on an album entitledHere's to the Heroes by the Australian ensembleThe 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 onShirley 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".[26]
After the success ofDr. No, Barry was hired to compose and perform eleven of the next fourteenJames Bond films.
In his tenure with the film series, Barry's music, variously brassy and moody, achieved very wide appeal. ForFrom 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, andMoonraker). The theme "Stalking", for the teaser sequence ofFrom Russia with Love, was covered by colleagueMarvin Hamlisch forThe Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Barry also contributed indirectly to the soundtrack of the spoof version ofCasino Royale (1967): hisBorn Free theme appears briefly in the opening sequence.
InGoldfinger (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 theFontainebleau Hotel inMiami 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.[27]
As Barry matured, the Bond scores became more lushly melodic (along with other scores of his such asThe Tamarind Seed andOut of Africa) as inMoonraker (1979) andOctopussy (1983). Barry's score forA View to a Kill was traditional, but his collaboration withDuran Duran for thetitle song was contemporary and reached number one in the United States and number two in theUK Singles Chart. BothA View to a Kill andThe Living Daylights theme byA-ha blended the pop music style of the bands with Barry's orchestration. In 2006, A-ha'sPal 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."[28]
Barry's last score for the Bond series wasThe Living Daylights (1987),Timothy Dalton's first film in the series, with Barry making a cameo appearance as a conductor in the film.[29] Barry was intended to scoreLicence 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 byMichael Kamen.[30]
David Arnold, a British composer, saw the result of two years' work in 1997 with the release ofShaken 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 contactedBarbara Broccoli, producer of the then upcomingTomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.[31] Arnold also went on to score four subsequent Bond films:The World Is Not Enough,Die Another Day,Casino Royale andQuantum of Solace.
Monty Norman, who was contracted as composer forDr. 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 theHigh Court in London after Norman suedThe Sunday Times for libel for publishing an article in 1997 in which Barry was named as the true composer; Barry testified for the defence.[32][33]
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.[34] 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.[34]
On 7 September 2006, Barry reiterated his claim of authorship of the theme on theSteve Wright show onBBC Radio 2.[35]
Barry was married four times. His first three marriages, to Barbara Pickard (1959–1963),Jane Birkin (1965–1968) and Jane Sidey (1969–1978) 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 Los Angeles in the US. He had originally intended to stay there for only a few weeks, but stayed on the west coast for almost 5 years.[18] A British judge later accused him of emigrating to avoid paying£134,000 due theInland 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 inOyster Bay, New York, inCentre Island onLong Island, from 1980.[6][36]
Barry suffered arupture 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 topneumonia.[37]
Barry worked on the soundtracks for the following James Bond films (title song collaborators in brackets):
Dr. No (1962) – "James Bond Theme" (composed byMonty Norman) as arranged by Barry used on main and end titles, key points such as Bond's arrival in Jamaica
^Pete FrameThe 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 theWayback Machine inJames 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.
^ab"John Barry".The Daily Telegraph. London. 31 January 2011. Retrieved1 February 2011.
^Moriarty (5 November 2004)."AICN Animation Double-Header! Moriarty Interviews Brad Bird!!".Ain't It Cool News. Archived fromthe original on 18 July 2007. Retrieved27 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.
