Monty Norman, known for his iconic composition of the James Bond theme, has died. He was 94 years old.
A short statement was released on Norman’s official website. It confirmed the cause and date of the composer’s death. A funeral date was not made available to the public.
“It is with sadness we share the news that Monty Norman died on 11th July 2022 after a short illness.”
Norman grew up in East End London and was a child of two Latvian immigrants. His passion for music began at age 16 when his mother gave him his first guitar – a 1930s Gibson. He took guitar lessons with Bert Weedon and later took vocal lessons due to a recommendation from his mentor.
Norman’s music career started in the early 50s when performed in jazz bands, orchestras, and stage shows as a singer. It wasn’t until 1958 that he composed the music for the stage play titled Make Me An Offer which played on the West End for a year. Norman worked on various stage shows, winning numerous awards until the 1960’s when he began to write film music.
Norman was well-known for composing the James Bond theme song in 1962 and was used throughout the entire 007 series. In a 2001 report made by the BBC, Norman won £30,000 (more than $35,000 USD) in libel damages due to an article that claimed that he didn’t write the iconic theme song.
According to Norman, people would still come up to him, asking if he really wrote the 007 theme.
“Quite often these days people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, you’re the man who wrote dum-diddy-dum-dum’. They don’t even sing the melody! but everyone seems to know what they mean!”
Rest in peace.
