Musical stars including Dame Shirley Bassey and Rumer have been named in the line-up for award-winning composer John Barry’s memorial concert.The event will be held in Barry’s honour at the Royal Albert Hall on June 20th and is due to feature several guests connected to the composer paying tribute.
The composer, who was best known for his work on the James Bond films, died in January of a heart attack aged 77 years.
Performers will include Dame Shirley Bassey, who sung the Bond themes Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker. The performance will raise funds for a scholarship, established in Barry’s name, at the Royal College of Music.
Also contributing to the evening are the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, tenor Alfie Boe, lyricist Don Black, former Bond Timothy Dalton and Sir Michael Parkinson. Tributes from friends including Sir Michael Caine, Sir George Martin and Sir Tim Rice will also be broadcast throughout the night.
Over the course of his career, Barry composed scores for 11 James Bond films, including Goldfinger, From Russia With Love and You Only Live Twice, as well as for numerous other movies. He also worked on celebrated film scores including Midnight Cowboy, The Ipcress File and Born Free – for which he won two of his five Oscars.
The three additional Academy Awards came for his work on The Lion In Winter, Out Of Africa and Dances With Wolves. Barry also won four Grammys, a Bafta for The Lion in Winter and a Golden Globe for Out of Africa. In 1999, he was presented with an OBE for services to music and he received a Bafta Fellowship in 2005.