Monty Norman, the composer who created the iconic James Bond theme, has died at the age of 94 after a battle with a short illness. The news was released through his official website.
Norman composed the score for the first Bond film “Dr. No” in 1962 including Ursula Andress’ famed “Under the Mango Tree” song which was sung by Norman’s first wife Diana Coupland.
Norman created the Bond theme and a young fellow Englishman by the name of John Barry arranged it – beefing up some parts of it. This resulted in one of the most famous bits of music of the past sixty years.
Norman was never asked back to the franchise as Barry took over composing duties with the second film “From Russia with Love” and remains the name most identified with the sound of Bond.
Other Norman works included “The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll,” “The Day the Earth Caught Fire,” “Dickens of London,” and “Quick Before They Catch Us”. He was also a famed stage musical composer on titles such as “Songbook,” “Poppy,” “Make Me an Offer” and “Expresso Bongo”.
Source: Variety
