Noted Composer John Barry Dies at 77

John Barry Prendergast

John Barry Prendergast, an Oscar winning English film score composer, and best known for composing 11 James Bond soundtracks died at age 77 last Sunday because of heart attack.

For almost 50 years in his career, Barry received a number of awards in his work, and that includes the five Academy Awards: two for Born Free, and one each for The Lion in Winter (for which he also won a BAFTA Award), Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves (for which he also won a Grammy Award).

“A profound loss”, that’s what how David Arnold described John Barry’s death.

According to him, James Bond would have been far less cool without John Barry. Although it is not Barry who composed the distinctive Bond tune, the noted composer made it famous because of the arrangement he made.

Arnold also described Barry’s composed songs as “extraordinary melodies.”

That was John’s gift — not only his way with harmony but the fact that he could state within a five- or ten-second phase everything you need to know about a movie,” the composer told BBC radio.

He added: “The music that he wrote transcends the movies that it was written for and became part of popular culture.”