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 will be very kind to John Barry because his awesome resume of music will continue to be heard as...
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