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James Bond songwriter Don Black to receive award
at Thunderball 40th anniversary event...
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Don Black To Receive Award
8th September 2005
| Oscar-winning songwriter Don Black is to
receive an award at the 40th anniversary of Thunderball
event this November in London, UK.
The world-famous lyricist, who has penned over 100 songs
for the movies - including Thunderball for composer John
Barry - is being given an award by Cinema
Retro magazine for his ‘Outstanding Contributions
to Song Writing in the Motion Picture Industry’.
Don, who won an Oscar for Born Free and collaborated with
John Barry on Out of Africa and Dances With Wolves, is responsible
for penning five James Bond theme songs: Thunderball (1965),
Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Man With The Golden Gun
(1974), Surrender from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and The
World Is Not Enough (1999).
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About Don Black
Don Black has written over a hundred songs for motion pictures
including The Italian Job, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, True
Grit, Dances With Wolves, Out of Africa and a quintet of James
Bond theme songs.
Don started out as a stand-up comedian and blames himself entirely
for the death of Variety. He made his West End debut as a lyricist
with composer John Barry on the musical Billy, starring Michael
Crawford (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane).
Don received two Broadway Tony Awards for best book and best
lyrics of a musical for his work on Sunset Boulevard. This marked
his third theatrical collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber. They
first joined forces to write the song cycle Tell Me On A Sunday,
which was developed to form the basis for the stage show Song
& Dance. They were reunited for Aspects of Love. Don also
wrote the love duet Next Time You Fall In Love, for the re-vamped
Starlight Express.
In a career that has won him many glittering prizes (an Oscar
for his song Born Free, five Academy Award nominations, three
Tony nominations, five Ivor Novello Awards, a Golden Globe and
many platinum, gold and silver discs) he has worked with some
of world's leading composers Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Quincy
Jones, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand, Marvin Hamlisch, Charles
Aznavour, etc. Among his many popular songs are Michael Jackson's
Ben and Lulu's To Sir With Love, both U S. number one hits.
His most recent musicals are the Andrew Lloyd Webber produced
Bombay Dreams which recently completed a two year London run and
will soon start an American tour. Dracula, the musical he wrote
with Christopher Hampton is currently playing in Europe. A biography,
Wrestling With Elephants, was published last year by Sanctuary.
He is currently working on a musical to be produced in Shanghai
and is also working on a new version of Bar Mitzvah Boy, a musical
he wrote with Jule Styne, for the Paper Mill Theatre in New Jersey
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