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John Barry "…Though much of his most famous music was written to accompany the outlandish adventures of 007, his work covered a huge variety of moods and styles…" (the Guardian, 2011). Iconic composer John Barry is recognized as one of the most prolific and renowned person in the history of the movie industry. His credits are impressive and his legacy will live unendingly because the movies he wrote scores for will be available many years from now.

The son of a classical pianist mother and a father who was owner of a number of movie theaters, Barry was born in York, England in November, 1933 (as John Barry Prendergast) and "…as a young child developed a strong proclivity for music," according to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He actually knew what he wanted to do when he was about 15 years old -- to be a film composer -- and while serving in the British Army he took correspondence courses on music composition and orchestration (Songwriters Hall of Fame, 2013).

Barry learned the trumpet and study classical piano but he also liked rock and roll and played in a band called "The John Barry Seven" (they had hit records including "Hit and Miss") (Beyond Chron, 2011). John Barry's "…sweeping string sounds" in the Oscar-winning film "Dances With Wolves" won an Academy award for "Best Original Score" (Classic FM).

The epic nature of this film by director Kevin Costner -- filmed in Wyoming and other vast expanses of the American west -- required music that fit that genre, and John Barry's composition was passionate and powerful (Classic FM, 2007). The Academy Award for "Dances with Wolves" wasn't the only Oscar that Barry received.

According to Beyond Chron he also won Oscars for "Out of Africa," "The Lion in Winter," and he won 2 Oscars for "Born Free." Barry went beyond making movie music in 1998 when he produced his "…first non-soundtrack album in 20 years, 'The Beyondness of Things,'" which was viewed by critics as nearly as good or better than his excellent film work (Billboard, 1999). Barry was well-known for his music accompanying the James Bond series. In fact Barry scored 11of the James Bond movies.

A few of the better-known movies he wrote music for -- in addition to the films previously mentioned -- include: "Body Heat"; "Cotton Club"; "Diamonds are Forever"; "From Russia with Love"; "Goldfinger"; "Indecent Proposal"; "King Kong"; "Moonraker"; and he also scored (Songwriters Hall of Fame). The way that Barry actually got involved with the Bond themes was when London songwriter Monty Norman -- who had written "most of the score for 'Dr. No'" -- could not come up with the flashy sound that the produces wanted.

The film company wanted "…a more exciting and possibly commercial sound, so they sought the services of a 28-year-old arranger-producer" whose name was John Barry (Biography in Context, 2012). David Arnold, who has composed many Bond themes subsequent to Barry's work, said "John Barry uniquely, single-handedly, created the spy genre of music" (Biography in Context). Barry's career was helped along by a chance meeting he had with a singer named Adam Faith; he met Faith on the BBC television program "Six-Five Special" in 1957 (IMDB).

It turns out that Faith had not had much success as a recording artist but when Barry helped Faith re-do the arrangement for Faith's song, "What Do You Want?" The song went to number one on the British charts and the careers of both men took off (IMDB). Barry was a "highly inventive" artist who could come up with musical themes that showed a wide variety of sounds and tempos; as an example of that versatility Barry composed jazz numbers for Bryan Forbes, who directed "The L-Shaped Room" (IMDB).

This was the break that got Barry in movie music, and clearly this was a perfect genre for the talented musician and songwriter. Barry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998 and another honor he received was to be named "Officer of the Order of the British Empire" in 1999 (Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, 2011). If anyone wants proof of the genius of John Barry, all one needs to do is "…close your eyes and think of the film 'Born Free'.

The first thing that comes back to you is the music," according to Don Black, who was Barry's lyricist "…for many of the past 50 years" (Mail Online). "He was passionate about his work" and he "had a way of connecting emotionally with a story," Black explained. In 2000, Barry told the New York Times, "I like to score the inner feelings of a character -- get into their shoes in an imaginative way and take the audience there and enlighten them in a poetic rather than realistic way" (Grimes, 2011).

What is probably not well-known about John Barry is that he actually helped launch British singer Matt Monro into stardom when Monro sang Barry's theme song from "From Russia With Love"; and he helped Shirley Bassy's career when he had her sing "Goldfinger" (International Who's Who in Popular Music, 2002). Barry also produced music for Nancy Sinatra and Donna Summer. According to the book Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion, Barry played "a prominent role in the early development of British rock and roll" (Perone, 2009).

In fact Barry's band -- and the artists he worked with -- performed rock and roll "…with a jazz grounding"; he played the trumpet and backed "…up all the major British pop stars of the late 1950's" (Perone). In conclusion, there is no doubt that history.