John Barry Prendergast, OBE - The Man With the Golden Pen

For those who don't recognize the name, John Barry set the standard for James Bond soundtracks having composed them for 11 of the 1st 14 movies done by Eon Productions (the non Eon 67 version of Casino Royale did contain a short bit of Born Free. But the 83 Never say Never Again as Well as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang being the only ones he didn't write the music for). Debate still rages, despite 2 court cases, as to how much he actually conttributed to the James Bond theme in Dr. No. It is certain he did the arrangement that his orchestra performed for the movie. Dr. No, Live and Let Die & The Spy Who Loved Me were the only exceptions. David Arnold, who took over as the regular composer with Tomorrow Never Dies was a huge fan of Berry. Arnold's Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project album so impressed Barry that he recommended Arnold to Barbara Broccoli to take over.

Of course, the Bond movies were only a small part of the many movies & TV shows that he composed for. His work included such movies as Born Free, Midnight Cowboy & The Cotton Club.

John Barry, age 77, died of a heart attack on 30 January 2011 at his Oyster Bay home.

007 became known as the alternate James Bond Theme:









Louis Armstrong sang this song based on the closing line of OHMSS:





I could go on & on but before I end here is Born Free, probably the best known of his non-Bond themes. (Although, as I said a bit of this did get used in Casino Royale.)



Finally a medley of many of the great, & not so great songs he wrote: