Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John Barry was born John Barry Prendergast in York, England on November 3, 1933 the youngest of four children, his mother, a classical pianist, his father a projectionist.  Raised in and around cinemas, this childhood background influenced his musical tastes and interests. He was educated at St. Peter’s School, York, and received composition lessons from Francis Jackson, Organist of York Minster.

Spending his national service in the British Army playing the trumpet and working from a correspondence course with jazz composer Bill Russo, after his 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, they recorded hit records on EMI’s Columbia label. By 1959 he gained commissions to arrange music for other acts, and his career breakthrough 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. He began composing songs and scores for films and when Adam Faith made his first film, Beat Girl in 1960, Barry composed, arranged and conducted the film score, his first. His music was later released as the UK’s first soundtrack album. His composition and orchestration caught the attention of the Bond producers and he went on to have an accomplished career as a composer and arranger with the series.

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. Fiancial issues in Britain forced him to emigrate to the United States where he lived for many years mainly in Oyster Bay, New York, in Centre Island on Long Island

He 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.

Composer, arranger and conductor John Barry, who won five Academy Awards and four Grammy Awards with scores for Born Free, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy and Somewhere in Time, died of a heart attack on January 30, 2011 at his Oyster Bay home, aged 77.

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