James Bond composer, John Barry, has died from a heart attack, aged 77.
John Barry, an internationally acclaimed composer of Yorkshire, England, who had five Academy Awards and one Grammy, died on Sunday of a heart attack at the age of 77, his family said Monday.
He is best known for his composition of the James Bond Theme.
But he also wrote scores for more than 90 films including Out of Africa, Midnight Cowboy and Zulu.
His five Academy Awards, otherwise known as Oscars, came for his compositions for ‘Born Free,’ ‘The Lion of Winter,’ ‘Out of Africa,’ and ‘Dances with Wolves,’ which also earned him a Grammy.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998, Barry successfully composed the James Bond theme for Dr. No in 1962, then went on to score 11 of the next 14 James Bond movies.
Among the 007 scores, he composed music for Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and You Only Live Twice.
Barry’s composition for You Only Live Twice was sampled, at great expense, for the Robbie Williams hit, Millennium.
Barry, whose father ran eight cinemas in York and whose mother was a pianist, learned to play the trumped and piano at an early age, and began a rock band before beginning his score career.
He loved sweeping orchestral sound and would often work all through the night to perfect a score.
He regarded himself as a dramatist as much as a composer.
While he nabbed the five Oscars and even garnered two other nominations, he never actually won for Bond.
Barry lived in Oyster Bay, New York, with wife Laurie for more than 30 years but he never lost his Yorkshire accent.
Broadcaster Stephen Fry tweeted: “John Barry has died. How sad. One of the greats and a real mensch.”
TV presenter and classically-trained pianist Myleene Klass wrote: “Terribly sad. The world has lost a genius of a man, John Barry.”
A memorial service will be held later this year.
