1.

A Yorkshire lad
John Barry was one of the all-time great masters of movie music. His career spanned
some 50 years - from Midnight Cowboy and Born Free to Dances with Wolves and Out of
Africa - taking in 11 James Bond films along the way. The five-times Oscar winner
was born in York on 3 November 1933.

John Barry
2. A trumpeter in the army
The movies and music were in John Barry's blood. He spent his early years working
in cinemas in the north of England, owned by his father. Barry's mother was a
talented pianist who had abandoned her dream to be a concert artist. The young John
wanted to join the family business and become a projectionist, but the combination
of film and music made a deep impression on him. He began performing during his
National Service in Cyprus, having learned to play the trumpet.

John Barry Seven

3. The John Barry Seven
After leaving the army, Barry took a jazz composing course and went on to work as
an arranger for the Jack Parnell and Ted Heath Orchestras. He formed The John Barry
Seven in 1957. They had a number of hit records including the theme tune Barry
composed for TV's Juke Box Jury.

John Barry Adam Faith Beat Girl

4. Meeting Adam Faith
Barry was employed by EMI from 1959 - 1962 arranging for its singers including Adam
Faith. He also composed songs and scores for movies starring Faith. His first film
was Beat Girl in 1960. Barry also composed the music for another Faith film, Never
Let Go, orchestrated the score for Mix Me a Person, and composed, arranged and
conducted the score for The Amorous Prawn.

John Barry James Bond

5. The name's Bond...
Barry's success caught the attention of the producers of the James Bond films. He
composed and performed the scores for eleven Bond movies. By the time Goldfinger
came along, Barry had perfected the 'Bond sound', a heady mixture of brass, jazz
and lush melodies. The soundtrack album for Goldfinger knocked the Beatles' A Hard
Day's Night off the top of the American charts in 1964, and earned the composer his
first gold disc. His last Bond score fwas 1987's The Living Daylights, in which
Barry made a cameo appearance as a conductor.

John Barry Lion in Winter

6. An Oscar winner
Scoring Bond was the turning point for Barry. He went on to become one of the most
celebrated film composers, winning five Academy Awards and four Grammys, with
scores for, among others, The Lion in Winter - pictured, Midnight Cowboy, Born
Free, and Somewhere in Time.

John Barry Don Black Born Free

7. Born Free
For Born Free, Barry took the Academy Award for Original Music Score and another
for Best Song, which he co-wrote with lyricist Don Black.

John Barry Midnight Cowboy Harry Nilsson

8. Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy was one of the first film to make extensive use of pop artists and
songs. John Barry supervised the music and composed the score, winning a Grammy for
Best Instrumental Theme. "That movie is still shown at the cinema school at UCLA as
the epitome of how songs should be used in the movies," Barry said in 1997. "We
only bought in a couple of songs, Everybody's Talkin', sung by Harry Nilsson, and a
John Lennon song, and for the rest we got young songwriters to score the scenes
with songs. The songs work because they were written for the movie."

John Barry
9. The Persuaders
Barry composed the theme for the 1971 TV series, The Persuaders! in which Tony
Curtis and Roger Moore were paired as wealthy playboys investigating crimes that
the police can't solve. Barry's theme which featured Moog synthesizers became a hit
single in some European countries.