Monty Norman was an English singer and film composer best known for composing the “James Bond Theme”. He was the first husband of actress Diana Coupland.
Monty Norman whose birth name is Monty Noserovitch was born on April 4, 1928, until his death on July 11, 2022, at age 94. He was born and raised in Stepney in the East End of London, United Kingdom. He is the only child of Jewish parents, Annie Berlin and Abraham Noserovitch, on the second night of Passover in 1928. When Norman’s father Abraham was young, he traveled from Latvia to England with his mother (Norman’s grandmother).
| Name | Monty Norman |
| Occupation | Singer, Film composer |
| Age | 94 years |
| Ex-wife | Diana Coupland |
| Children | 1 (Daughter) |
| Died | July 11, 2022 |
As a child during World War II, Norman was evacuated from London but later returned during the Blitz. As a young man, he did national service in the RAF, where he became interested in pursuing a career in singing.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, Norman was a singer for big bands such as those of Cyril Stapleton, Stanley Black, Ted Heath, and Nat Temple. He also sang in various variety shows, sharing top billing with other singers and comedy stars such as Benny Hill, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Harry Worth, Tommy Cooper, Jimmy James, and Tony Hancock, Jimmy Edwards, and Max Miller. One of his songs, “False Hearted Lover”, was successful internationally.
From the late 1950s, he moved from singing to composing, including songs for performers such as Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele, Count Basie, and Bob Hope, and lyrics for musicals and (subsequently) films. In 1957 and 1958, he wrote lyrics for the musicals Make Me an Offer, the English-language version of Irma la Douce (based on 1956 French musical written by Alexandre Breffort and Marguerite Monnot; the English version was nominated for a Broadway Tony Award), and Expresso Bongo (which Time Out called the first rock and roll musical).
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Expresso Bongo, written by Wolf Mankowitz was a West End hit and was later made into a 1960 film starring a young Cliff Richard). Norman’s later musicals include Songbook (aka The Moony Shapiro Songbook in New York), which was also nominated for a Broadway Tony and won an Ivor Novello Award; and Poppy (1982), which was also nominated for the Ivor Novello Award, and won the SWET award (renamed “the Laurence Olivier Awards” in 1984) for “Best Musical”.
Monty Norman’s further film work included music for the Hammer movie The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960), The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), the Bob Hope Eon Productions movie Call Me Bwana (1963), and the TV miniseries Dickens of London (1976).
Cause of death
Monty Norman died on 11 July 2022, at the age of 94. His cause of death was not immediately released. However, as of 2004, Monty Norman was working on an autobiography, to be entitled A Walking Stick Full of Bagels, and musical versions of the 1954 Kingsley Amis novel Lucky Jim and his 1970s musical, Quick Quick Slow.
James Bond Theme
Monty Norman is famous for writing the score to the first James Bond film, Dr. No, including the “James Bond Theme”, the signature theme of the James Bond franchise. Norman received royalties for the theme from 1962 on. However, as the producers were dissatisfied with Norman’s arrangement, John Barry re-arranged the theme.
Barry later claimed that it was actually he who wrote the theme, but Norman won two libel actions against publishers for claiming that Barry was the composer, the last against The Sunday Times in 2001. In the made-for-DVD documentary Inside Dr. No, Norman performs a music piece that he wrote for an unproduced stage musical based on A House for Mr. Biswas several years earlier, entitled “Bad Sign, Good Sign”, that he claimed resembles the melody of the “James Bond Theme” in several places.
Also of note, the “James Bond Theme” introduction is very similar to a portion of Celia Cruz’s Plegaria a La Roye as recorded in Cuba with La Sonora Matancera in 1954. Norman collected around £485,000 in royalties between 1976 and 1999 for the use of the theme since Dr. No.
Wife
Monty Norman was married to Diana Coupland. He and his first wife actress Diana Coupland divorced after 20 years of marriage, having had one daughter. In 2001, she gave evidence in a High Court case after her former husband Norman sued The Sunday Times following a 1997 article suggesting that Norman had falsely taken credit and royalties for the James Bond theme music, which was claimed actually to have been written by John Barry. Coupland described the article as “blatantly untrue”; Norman was awarded £30,000. Norman’s first wife Diana died on November 10, 2006.
Monty Norman net worth
How much was Monty Norman worth? Monty Norman net worth was estimated at around $5 million. His main source of income was from his career as a singer nad composer. Norman salary per month with other career earnings was over $1.2 million annually. He was one of the richest and most influential composers in the United Kingdom. Monty Norman stood at an appealing height of 1.75m and has a good body weight which suits his personality.