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The John Barry Seven

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50-541: The John Barry Seven was a band formed by John Barry in 1957, after he abandoned his original career path of arranging for big bands . Barry contacted three musicians with whom he had served in the Army and three local musicians and invited them to join his new band. The first line-up was: Barry (vocals and trumpet), Mike Cox (tenor saxophone), Derek Myers (alto sax), Ken Golder (drums), Fred Kirk (bass guitar), Ken Richards (lead guitar) and Keith Kelly (rhythm guitar). For

100-508: A Kill and The Living Daylights theme by A-ha blended the pop music style of the bands with Barry's orchestration. In 2006, A-ha's Pal 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." Barry's last score for the Bond series was The Living Daylights (1987), Timothy Dalton 's first film in

150-504: 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 film Dr. No , who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman . Noel Rogers, the head of music at United Artists, approached Barry. This started a successful association between Barry and

200-594: A cover of the Johnny Smith song " Walk Don't Run "; and a cover of the theme for the United Artists western The Magnificent Seven . 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 duo The Barry Sisters . The career breakthrough for Barry

250-420: A hard taskmaster on Oh Boy! Rehearsals were lengthy, intense and arduous to perfect what was a fast-paced show. When compounded by a tough touring schedule and regular recording commitments, morale began to suffer among the band's members. Some resentment towards Barry simmered to the boil, because he did not have to appear when accompanying other artists on the bill. Add the homesickness, caused by travelling, to

300-650: A heart attack on 30 January 2011 at his Oyster Bay home, aged 77. A memorial concert took place on 20 June 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , Shirley Bassey , Rumer , David Arnold , Wynne Evans and others performed Barry's music. Sir George Martin , Sir Michael Parkinson , Don Black , Timothy Dalton and others also contributed to the celebration of his life and work. The event

350-659: A job in aviation. When Ken Richards announced he wanted to return to Scarborough, Ken Golder felt it was time for him to go too. Mike Peters and Jimmy Stead (both from Ossett, near Leeds) replaced Kirk and Myers respectively. Peters then introduced the Londoner Dennis King as a replacement for Cox, while Stead brought in Dougie Wright, a drummer with whom he had played in the Leeds-based Bill Marsden Big Band. It meant that with

400-443: 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. Barry said that he had accepted

450-438: A number of songs Barry wrote in collaboration with his lyricist friend, Don Black. Barry and Black also composed one of the songs on Shirley 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 ". After the success of Dr. No , Barry was hired to compose and perform eleven of the next fourteen James Bond films. In his tenure with

500-475: A pianist into the group as a replacement for Keith Kelly , who had decided to try a solo career. Vic Flick suggested his flatmate Les Reed , then playing jazz piano in London night clubs. The new line-up lasted until 1961 when Barry became too busy arranging and composing to continue. He installed Vic Flick as the leader and brought in Bobby Carr on trumpet to take his place. The band enjoyed some success in

550-598: A session player led to his decision to leave. Although he gave three months notice, Barry was unable to find a suitable replacement, thereby forcing him to temporarily disband the group. Flick's last performance as a member of the Seven was at Torquay in August 1963. By October 1963, after a temporary hiatus, Barry was able to assemble the nucleus of a resurrected JB7 with the assistance of session drummer Bobby Graham . According to Graham, he had been requested by Barry to take over

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600-415: A short time, the John Barry Seven became John Barry & the Seven when he introduced a vibraphone player, John Aris, but by the time the band began recording for EMI (Parlophone) the experiment had been abandoned. The John Barry Seven (JB7) appeared on British TV shows such as Six-Five Special and Oh Boy! during 1957 and 1958, but discontent began spreading through the band. Jack Good proved to be

650-634: 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 producer Stanley Baker for his 1964 film Zulu . That same year Bart and Barry collaborated on the film Man in the Middle ; and then, in 1965, Barry worked with director Bryan Forbes in scoring the World War II prison-camp drama King Rat . This

700-536: A very short time they experimented with a female singer, Liza Page, the sister of the TV star Jill Day . Drumbeat was created to fill a spot in the BBC 's summer schedules, and was intended to threaten the popularity of ITV's Oh Boy! Producer Stewart Morris offered the band an audition with a view to appearing in its own right and also to back a variety of other artists, just as in the early days of Oh Boy! Barry introduced

750-772: The Inland Revenue . The matter was resolved in the late 1980s, and Barry was able to return to the UK. He subsequently lived for many years in the United States, mainly in Oyster Bay , New York, in Centre Island on Long Island , from 1980. Barry suffered a rupture 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 to pneumonia . Barry died of

800-493: The Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998. Also wrote the theme for raise the titanic much under rated too Barry worked on the soundtracks for the following James Bond films (title song collaborators in brackets): In addition, a brief excerpt from the song "Born Free" is heard during a sequence in the non-EON Productions Bond film, Casino Royale (1967). (Excludes co-composed hits, e.g. Duran Duran 's "A View to

850-519: The UK Singles Chart , as well as appearing regularly on radio and TV and on pop package tours – often with Adam Faith . During 1962, Dougie Wright and Les Reed departed – the former in search of more regular work and the latter to forge a career in writing and producing. Dickie Harwood and then Andy White replaced Wright for a short period, while Brian 'Rachmaninoff' Hazelby initially took over from Les Reed, before Kenny Salmon also joined

900-772: The Aviator (1981), again with lyricist Don Black. Barry also composed the soundtrack for the Bruce Lee film Game of Death (1978). In 2001, the University of York conferred an honorary degree on Barry, and in 2002 he was named an Honorary Freeman of the City of York. During 2006, Barry was the executive producer on an album entitled Here's to the Heroes by the Australian ensemble The Ten Tenors . The album features

950-812: The Benelux states), contributing to the cult status of the series in Europe, and the record featured Barry's The Girl with the Sun in Her Hair on the B side, an instrumental piece featured in a long running TV advert for Sunsilk shampoo. Barry also wrote the scores to a number of musicals, including the 1965 Passion Flower Hotel (lyrics by Trevor Peacock ), the successful 1974 West End show Billy (lyrics by Don Black ), and two intended Broadway musicals that never opened on Broadway, Lolita, My Love (1971), with Alan Jay Lerner as lyricist, and The Little Prince and

1000-470: The Bond scores became more lushly melodic (along with other scores of his such as The Tamarind Seed and Out of Africa ) as in Moonraker (1979) and Octopussy (1983). Barry's score for A View to a Kill was traditional, but his collaboration with Duran Duran for the title song was contemporary and reached number one in the United States and number two in the UK Singles Chart . Both A View to

1050-675: The Bond series that lasted for 25 years. He composed the scores for eleven of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1987, as well as arranging and performing the " James Bond Theme " for the first film in the series, 1962's Dr. No . He wrote the Grammy- and Academy Award-winning scores to the films Dances with Wolves (1990) and Out of Africa (1985), as well as the scores of The Scarlet Letter (1995), Chaplin (1992), The Cotton Club (1984), Game of Death (1972), The Tamarind Seed (1974), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) and

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1100-615: The UK chart. John Barry (composer) John Barry Prendergast OBE (3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011) was an English composer and conductor of film music. Born in York , Barry spent his early years working in cinemas owned by his father. During his national service with the British Army in Cyprus , Barry began performing as a musician after learning to play the trumpet . Upon completing his national service, he formed

1150-410: The United States in 1975 and lived there until his death in 2011. Barry was born John Barry Prendergast in York , the youngest of four children. His mother, a classical pianist, was English; his Irish father, John Xavier "Jack" Prendergast from Cork , was a projectionist during the silent film era and later owned a chain of cinemas across northern England . As a result of his father's work, Barry

1200-457: The attention of the producers of a new film called Dr. No (1962) who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty 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 hire Lionel Bart to score the next James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963), they learned that Bart could not read or write music. Though Bart wrote

1250-649: The camera lens zooming toward the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami 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. As Barry matured,

1300-506: 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. On 7 September 2006, Barry reiterated his claim of authorship of the theme on the Steve Wright show on BBC Radio 2 . Barry was married four times. His first three marriages, to Barbara Pickard (1959–63), Jane Birkin (1965–68) and Jane Sidey (1969–78) all ended in divorce. He

1350-520: The ensemble. With Barry concentrating on his own future, the band was unable to find the same amount of work, particularly after having severed links with Adam Faith. Also, after " The James Bond Theme " had peaked at No. 13 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1962, further chart success was proving elusive. Vic Flick had been with the Seven since late 1958 and had led the band on stage for the past two years, but increasing demands on his time as

1400-796: The exception of Barry and Keith Kelly, the original band line-up had disintegrated. Another Leeds lead guitarist, Jack Oliver, lasted a week, before Barry decided to approach Vic Flick , then working with The Bob Cort Skiffle Group. Flick arrived in time to rehearse for an important show at the Metropolitan in Edgware Road on 10 November 1958. The Seven was contracted to perform a 20-minute act as well as backing several other artists, including Marty Wilde . The line-up now read: John Barry (trumpet), Vic Flick (lead guitar), Mike Peters (bass guitar), Keith Kelly (rhythm guitar), Jimmy Stead (baritone sax), Dennis King (tenor sax) and Dougie Wright (drums). For

1450-434: The film score, his first. His music was later released as the UK's first soundtrack album. Barry also composed the music for another Faith film, Never Let Go (also 1960), orchestrated the score for Mix Me a Person (1962), and composed, arranged and conducted the score for The Amorous Prawn (also 1962). In 1962, Barry transferred to Ember Records , where he produced and arranged albums. These achievements caught

1500-555: The film series, Barry's music, variously brassy and moody, achieved very wide appeal. For From 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 , and Moonraker ) . The theme "Stalking", for the teaser sequence of From Russia with Love , was covered by colleague Marvin Hamlisch for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Barry also contributed indirectly to

1550-549: The following films were nominated: Grammy Award Grammy Award nominations Emmy Award nominations Golden Raspberry Award Max Steiner Lifetime Achievement Award (presented by the City of Vienna) Lifetime Achievement Award from World Soundtrack Academy (presented at the Ghent Film Festival) In 2011, he received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music . Barry was inducted into

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1600-412: The leadership. Graham had been a member of The Outlaws , Joe Brown and The Bruvvers and Marty Wilde 's Wildcats before moving into regular session work. At this point, the band consisted of Graham (drums), Ray Styles (bass guitar), Tony Ashton (keyboards), Ray Russell (lead guitar), Terry Childs (baritone sax), Bob Downes (tenor sax) and Alan Bown (trumpet). After only a few months, Dave Richmond

1650-467: The line-up involved Mike O'Neil, who was replaced on keyboards/vocals by Jeff Bannister. Bown admitted to having been disappointed when Barry gave him three months' notice of intent to permanently disband the group. Bown formed the Alan Bown Set , which included Stan Haldane, Jeff Bannister and Dave Green from the remains of the group. The four highest-charting hits all spent more than 10 weeks in

1700-669: The list of grievances plus irregular work, meant that the band had arrived back home in Yorkshire, by the time that the London-based Barry was in a position to call them south again for a few more dates. Moreover, they were losing a certain amount of work on Oh Boy! resulting in a substantial reduction in wages. As a consequence, Derek Myers accepted an offer to play with a big band in Scotland. Mike Cox also left; likewise, Fred Kirk (a trained aircraft fitter), after spotting

1750-489: The series, with Barry making a cameo appearance as a conductor in the film. Barry was intended to score Licence 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 by Michael Kamen . David Arnold , a British composer, saw the result of two years' work in 1997 with the release of Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project , an album of new versions of

1800-409: The soundtrack of the spoof version of Casino Royale (1967): his Born Free theme appears briefly in the opening sequence. In Goldfinger (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

1850-503: The successful album Eternal Echoes the same year. He then concentrated chiefly on live performances and co-wrote the music to the musical Brighton Rock in 2004 alongside Don Black . In 2001, Barry became a Fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors , and, in 2005, he was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . Barry was married four times and had four children. He moved to

1900-413: The theme for the TV series The Persuaders! (1971), also known as The Unlucky Heroes , in which Tony Curtis and Roger Moore were paired as rich playboys solving crimes. The instrumental recording features the cimbalom (which Barry also used for The Ipcress File (1965) and other themes) and Moog synthesizers . The theme was a hit single in many European countries (including France, Germany, and

1950-676: The theme for the television series The Persuaders! , in a career spanning over 50 years. In 1999, he was appointed with an OBE for services to music. Barry received awards including five Academy Awards : two for Born Free and one each for The Lion in Winter (for which he also won the first BAFTA Award for Best Film Music ), Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves (both of which also won him Grammy Awards ). He also received ten Golden Globe Award nominations, winning once for Best Original Score for Out of Africa in 1986. Barry completed his last film score, Enigma , in 2001 and recorded

2000-584: 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 contacted Barbara Broccoli , producer of the then upcoming Tomorrow Never Dies , to recommend Arnold as the film's composer. Arnold also went on to score four subsequent Bond films: The World Is Not Enough , Die Another Day , Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace . Monty Norman , who

2050-460: The trumpet, working from a correspondence course with jazz composer Bill Russo . After national service he worked as an arranger for the orchestras of Jack Parnell and Ted Heath , forming his own band, the John Barry Seven , in 1957. The John Barry Seven recorded hit records on EMI's Columbia label including "Hit and Miss", the theme tune he composed for the BBC's Juke Box Jury programme;

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2100-498: Was contracted as composer for Dr. 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 the High Court in London after Norman sued The Sunday Times for libel for publishing an article in 1997 in which Barry was named as the true composer; Barry testified for the defence. In court, Barry testified that he had been handed

2150-430: Was keen to book the new line-up into a studio, the result of which was the single "24 Hours Ago", the first JB7 vocal since Barry's early efforts seven years previously. This recording featured new vocalist and keyboard player Mike O'Neil, and apart from Bown and Childs, the line-up was Dave Green (tenor sax), Stan Haldane (bass guitar), Ernie Cox (drums) and Ron Menicos (lead guitar). The one remaining significant change to

2200-451: Was married to his fourth wife, Laurie, from January 1978 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. In 1975, Barry moved to the US. A British judge later accused him of emigrating to avoid paying £ 134,000 due

2250-662: Was one of the first to employ synthesizers in a film score ( On Her Majesty's Secret Service , also 1969), and to make wide use of pop artists and songs in Midnight Cowboy . Because Barry provided not just the main title theme but the complete soundtrack score , his music often enhanced the critical reception of a film, notably in Midnight Cowboy , The Tamarind Seed , the first remake of King Kong (1976), Out of Africa (1985), and Dances with Wolves (1990). Barry would often watch films and would note down with pen and paper what worked or what did not. Barry composed

2300-399: Was raised in and around cinemas in northern England and he later stated that this childhood background influenced his musical tastes and interests. He had two older brothers and one older sister. Barry was educated at St Peter's School, York , and received composition lessons from Francis Jackson , Organist of York Minster . Barry spent his national service in the British Army playing

2350-510: Was recruited to replace Styles on bass guitar, while Ron Edgeworth took over from Ashton on keyboards and vocals. In 1964, Graham – like Flick and Richmond before him – decided to concentrate on ever-increasing studio session work. At that point, Alan Bown took over as leader of the JB7, leaving only him and Terry Childs remaining from the Graham-led band. As soon as he took charge of the JB7, he

2400-829: Was sponsored by the Royal College of Music through a grant by the Broccoli Foundation. In 1999, Barry was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to music. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 2005. In 2005, the American Film Institute ranked Barry's score for Out of Africa No. 15 on their list of the greatest film scores . His scores and original songs for

2450-414: Was the BBC television series Drumbeat , when he appeared with the John Barry Seven. He was employed by EMI from 1959 until 1962 arranging orchestral accompaniments for the company's singers, including Adam Faith . He also composed songs (along with Les Vandyke ) and scores for films in which Faith was featured. When Faith made his first film, Beat Girl (1960), Barry composed, arranged and conducted

2500-474: Was the turning point for Barry, and he subsequently won five Academy Awards and four Grammy Awards , with scores for, among others, Born Free (1966), The Lion in Winter (1968), Midnight Cowboy (1969) for which he did not receive an on-screen credit, and Somewhere in Time (1980). Barry was often cited as having had a distinct style which concentrated on lush strings and extensive use of brass. He

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