Roland Shaw (born Roland Edgar Shaw-Tomkins; 26 May 1920 – 11 May 2012) was an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

musical arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...

, and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

leader. Shaw was born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and attended the

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

. He served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in World War II leading RAF No 1 Band of the Middle East Forces. Following wartime service he arranged music for Ted Heath,

Mantovani Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 30 March 1980) was an Italian British conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book '' British Hit Singles & Albums'' ...

and many others. The popularity of Shaw's arrangements of Bond themes led to ''More Themes from the James Bond Thrillers'' for the release of '' Thunderball'' with tracks from both albums released on a 1965 UK album called ''James Bond in Action''. In 1966, his orchestra released a compilation entitled ''Themes for Secret Agents''. In 1967 ''Themes from the James Bond Thrillers Vol.3'' (released in the UK as ''More James Bond in Action'') followed the release of '' Casino Royale'' and '' You Only Live Twice''. Shaw came back in 1971 with a double album ''The Return of James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever'' (released as a single album in the UK as ''The Phase 4 World of Spy Thrillers'') for the release of

Sean Connery Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to Portrayal of James Bond in film, portray the fictional British secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in motion pic ...

's return as Bond in '' Diamonds Are Forever''. Shaw recruited guitarist Vic Flick to repeat his guitar playing on the ''Gypsy Camp'' track. Shaw arranged the music in several films and composed the scores for '' The Secret of My Success'' (1965) and '' Straight on Till Morning'' (1972).

Notes

References

* Dellar, Fred CD Liner Notes ''James Bond in Action'' (2008)

External links

*
Shaw at Spaceage Pop Shaw's James Bond music recordings
amphonic.com; accessed 13 March 2017. 1920 births 2012 deaths English bandleaders Easy listening musicians Royal Air Force officers {{UK-musician-stub