Friends and fans of the late film composer John Barry – who died in January at the age of 77 – have celebrated his life and career at a memorial charity concert. Dame Shirley Bassey was amongst the performers at the event, held at the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Barry’s song Goldfinger, written for the James Bond franchise, became her signature tune. Ex-James Bond Timothy Dalton and Beatles producer Sir George Martin were among the speakers and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed selections from a host of Barry scores.
Sir Michael Parkinson opened the tribute, remembering the composer – who died in January at the age of 77 – as “a great man of music. He had an intuitive understanding of how to create the perfect union of music and the moving image”.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.
Anything to do with the life and talents of John Barry / P…goes to the top of my list of musical composition.