ONE LAST NOTE The composer of the James Bond theme song leaves a huge £6.5 million in his will.
The famous composer who wrote the theme song for James Bond left £6.5 million in his will.
Monty Norman died at the age of 94. He was best known for writing the famous theme music for the first James Bond movie, Dr. No (1962), starring Sir Sean Connery. This theme has been used in all 24 films that have come after it.
He went to court against The Sunday Times because they printed a story saying that Norman didn’t really write the Bond song.
He took the 2001 libel case to the High Court and got £30,000 from the paper as compensation.
Following a short illness, he passed away. Probate records showed that his estate was worth a total of £6,536,065 (net of any debts), which is what he left behind.
Norman was born Monty Noserovitch in Stepney, East London. His parents were Jewish, and the family had to leave their home in the early days of the Blitz.
When he was 16, his mom bought him a guitar by negotiating with the seller to lower the price from £17 to £15. He then began to listen to music by the Beatles and Eric Clapton.
During the 1950s and early 1960s, he sang with big bands led by Cyril Stapleton, Ted Heath, and Nat Temple. He also joined comedy acts like Tony Hancock and Spike Milligan on variety shows.
Later, he and comedian Benny Hill took their variety show on the road together. Depending on the town they were in, they would switch between comedy and music as the main act.
He started writing music and wrote songs for Sir Cliff Richard and early rock and roll star Sir Tommy Steele. He also wrote lyrics for musicals.
