John Barry was born on November 3, 1933 in York (England).
He was a trumpet player in a local jazz band: The Modernaires.
In the army he joined a military band and later worked as an arranger.
Together with some friends he founded the band The John Barry Seven in 1955. In 1957 they appeared on the program "Six Five Special". On television they play in shows like "Oh Boy", achieving great notoriety. They sign with EMI and record highly popular singles.
In 1960, John Barry made his first film work: "Beat Girl" and later for "Until Your Last Breath." Internationally recognized for his romantic soundtracks and for his extensive collaboration in the James Bond film series. In 1962, after acquiring the film rights to Ian Fleming's novels, Albert R. Broccoli presented the first film in the series: "Dr. No" and then an entire concept was born where music was a key element. Monty Norman was in charge of the music for this first installment. The show's producers called John Barry because they were apparently dissatisfied with Norman's work and wanted a new version of the theme song. Thus was born the true and unforgettable James Bond Theme, which to date has accompanied the British agent throughout his 18 films and which provoked legal disputes over the rights to the theme between Norman and Barry.
He did work for Bond with "From Russia with Love", and ousted the Beatles with the sale of his song for "Goldfinger". He combines cinema with works for television, such as the "Vendetta" series, documentaries about cities ("Elizabeth Taylor in London", "Sophia Loren in Rome" ...) or "The Persuasors".
He worked on "The Lion in Winter", the musical "Billy", "The Last Valley", "Mary, Queen of Scots" and great soundtracks to diverse genres, such as space ("Black Abyss", "Clash of Galaxies "), even western ("Monte Walsh") or adventure ("King Kong", "Robin and Marian"). "Moonraker" deserves special mention as a return to the Bond series. During the 80s he composed the music for "En Algún Lugar del Tiempo". He says goodbye to the Bond series with the scores for "A View to a Kill", "Octopussy" and "007 High Tension". "Out of Africa" earned him recognition from the Academy. After a long illness, he composed for "Bailando con Lobos", "Mi Vida" and "La Letra Escarlata". In "Chaplin" he does a magnificent job full of sensitivity, and in "The Specialist" he composes like the best Bond music.
Nominated 7 times for the Oscars, he won 5 statuettes: Born Free (1966), for which he won the award in the categories of Best Soundtrack and Best Song; The Lion in Winter (1968); Out of Africa (1985) and Dances with Wolves (1990).
John Barry died in Oyster Bay, New York, on January 30, 2011 of a heart attack.
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