007 - James Bond Music
Legendary music composer John Barry passed away at age 77 in New York.
Barry is mostly famous for his iconic compositions in the James Bond movies. Over his lifetime, he won five academy awards for his compositions of “The Lion in Winter”, “Out of Africa,” and “Dances with Wolves.”
His family released a statement through EON productions, the Bond production company, expressing their sadness in his passing. Barry, who hails from Yorkshire England, composed the James Bond, 007 music theme for the spy movie ‘Dr. No’. After its great success, he composed music for 11 of the next James Bond movies.
Barry spent his childhood in Yorkshire, where his father ran eight cinemas and his mother was a piano player. At a young age, Barry was trained as a classical piano player, but later was attracted to jazz. “I’m strongly attracted to subjects that deal with loss: ‘Out of Africa,’ ‘Dances with Wolves,’ ‘Somewhere in Time.’ All these movies are about a sense of loss,” he said in an interview 10 years ago. Barry claimed that experiencing the Nazi bombing in the northern English city had a great effect on his music.
Barry has won four Grammy awards and a BAFTA fellowship, which was awarded to him by the British film industry in 2005.
“It was with a heavy heart that I tell you John Barry passed away this morning. I am profoundly saddened by the news but profoundly thankful for everything he did for music and for me personally,” wrote David Arnold, his fellow bond composer, on twitter.
His wife Laurie, four children and five grandchildren survive him. The family plans a private funeral.