MBELDOG BLOG

OBITUARY: John Barry. Composer. Born York, England, November 3, 1933. Died New York, January 30, aged 77.

JOHN Barry did not get the chance to see any footage and had not read any of Ian Fleming's books when he was called in to work on the music for the first James Bond film, Dr No (1962), for which Monty Norman had originally been commissioned to write the score.

"I was just given a timing and told that it was about this Secret Service guy," said Barry, who'd had a few instrumental hits and was already a minor pop star.

The resulting piece of music became one of the most familiar themes in cinema and also one of the most argued over. The official composer credit went to Norman, though the music, as it is used in the film, has the distinctive mix of twangy guitar and brass that was so characteristic of Barry at that time.
During the next quarter century, Barry composed music for a series of James Bond films. He perfected the formula for the big, ballsy theme song on the third instalment, Goldfinger (1964), with the aid of the lyricists Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley and the singer Shirley Bassey. He combined sweeping strings and aggressive brass, fusing pop, jazz, cabaret and musical theatre in something akin to a mini-opera. His monumental theme tunes and powerful scores became vital elements in the classic Bond movies.

Although Barry is most widely celebrated for Bond, he composed for more than 100 films and television programs. He won five Oscars - best song and musical score for Born Free (1966), The Lion in Winter (1968), Out of Africa (1985) and Dances with Wolves (1990) - but never got a nomination for the Bond films.

Born John Barry Prendergast in York in 1933, he showed early musical talent. His father owned several cinemas and Barry became a keen filmgoer, making notes about the films he enjoyed and why. He played the piano as a boy and developed an interest in trumpet in his teens.

After leaving school he played in a dance band and did his national service as a bandsman in Egypt and Cyprus. He left the army and formed his own band, the John Barry Seven, who became regulars on the BBC pop show Drumbeat (1959), with Barry on trumpet. Barry also wrote and arranged songs for Adam Faith, and this association led to Barry first getting involved in films. Faith was cast in Beat Girl (1959) and Barry composed the music.

He had his first Top 20 hit in 1960 with Hit and Miss, the theme for the popular BBC show Juke Box Jury (1959-67). Other hits followed, a mix of original compositions and cover versions, and he also worked on another Faith film, Never Let Go (1960).

No one had any idea just how successful the James Bond films would become when production began on Dr No early in 1962. The producers wanted a piece of music that could serve as a signature theme across several movies. There was talk of bringing in someone of the calibre of William Walton to do further work, but the producers Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli opted for Barry, who was young, cheap and fashionable. Another option was Cliff Richard's group the Shadows.

Crucially, however, Barry had experience of film soundtracks and of arranging pre-existing music. He was hired for a flat fee of pound stg. 250 plus possible involvement in future Bond films.

Although Barry did not get to see any footage, he did meet Norman, who had suggested several pieces of music as the main theme. The basic melody of the eventual theme appears to bear similarity to a piece of music written by Norman for an unproduced stage musical, though the mix of twanging guitar and brass was characteristic of Barry.

Norman retained the composer credit for the tune while Barry and his band recorded it. In 2001, Norman won a libel case against The Sunday Times for an article that falsely suggested Barry had written it. Norman was awarded damages after successfully arguing that the article had damaged his reputation by suggesting that he had wrongly taken credit (and royalties) for the Bond theme.

Goldfinger was the first in a series of theme songs for which Barry wrote the music. Bricusse said later he and Newley tried to match the tongue-in-cheek humour of the action. "I thought it was the silliest lyric I ever wrote," he said. Barry believed the entire score was important, and the Goldfinger soundtrack topped the charts in Britain and the US.

Barry left his first wife for a Swedish woman but that relationship faltered, too, and he enjoyed the single life in London, often in the company of Michael Caine and Terence Stamp.

He wrote his first stage musical, Passion Flower Hotel (1965), with lyricist Trevor Peacock and writer Wolf Mankowitz. The cast included Pauline Collins, Francesca Annis and the 18-year-old Jane Birkin, who had a tiny part in The Knack and would shortly become Barry's second wife, despite the marked gap in their ages. The marriage lasted only a few years.

Barry would go through a third marriage and third divorce by the early 1970s. His fourth marriage, in the late 70s, proved more lasting. He and his wife Laurie, who survives him, lived on Long Island, New York, with their son. Barry had three other children from other relationships.

Some of his best music was for non-Bond projects: the wistful, rolling theme on harmonica from Midnight Cowboy (1969), the haunting score for the BBC mafia drama Vendetta (1966-68), and his optimistic piece The Girl with the Sun in Her Hair (1968), used for a shampoo commercial.

He had another go at musical theatre, teaming up with Alan Jay Lerner in 1971 for a short-lived musical version of Lolita. He fared much better with Billy (1974-76), a West End adaptation of Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar.

Barry collaborated with several lyricists on the Bond theme songs, including, on Live and Let Die (1973), Paul McCartney. He remained one of cinema's top composers through the 70s and 80s. His last two Bond theme songs, for A View to a Kill (1985) and The Living Daylights (1987), were top 10 hits for Duran Duran and A-ha. His melancholy, nostalgic scores contributed significantly to the Oscar triumphs of Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves.