English composer and conductor John Barry Prendergast spent his early years working in cinemas his father owned which influenced his musical taste and interests. He composed the scores for 11 of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1987, and also arranged and performed the James Bond Theme to the first film in the series, 1962's Dr. No. He wrote the Grammy- and Academy Award-winning scores to the films Dances with Wolves and Out of Africa, as well as The Scarlet Letter, The Cotton Club, The Tamarind Seed, Mary, Queen of Scots, Game of Death, and the theme for the British television cult series The Persuaders! In a career spanning over 50 years he was appointed OBE for services to music.
Barry's music, variously brassy and moody, achieved very wide appeal. His love for the Russian romantic composers is often reflected in his music; in his Bond scores he unites this with brass-heavy jazz writing. His use of strings, lyricism, half-diminished chords, and complex key shifting provides melancholy contrast – in his scores this is often heard in variations of the title songs that are used to underscore plot development. As Barry matured, the Bond scores became more lushly melodic.
Barry received many awards for his work, including five Academy Awards and a BAFTA Award for the Best Film Music as well as two Grammy Awards and ten Golden Globe Awards nominations, winning once for Best Original Score for Out of Africa. He became a Fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and in 2005 was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Apart from the Bond films, his body of work includes some 90 other film scores, some dozen television film scores, five musicals, and about a dozen singles.

Bruce David Barth was born on September 7, 1958, in Pasadena, California.

He is an American jazz pianist, composer, and producer. He began playing the piano at around the age of five. From 1978 to 1980, he took private jazz lessons from pianist Norman Simmons. He studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in the early 1980s, where he learned under Jaki Byard and George Russell. Barth moved to New York in 1988 and participated in groups led by Stanley Turrentine from 1989 to 1990 and Terence Blanchard from 1990 to 1994. His first album as a leader, "In Focus," was released by Enja Records and featured jazz standards. The follow-up album, "Morning Call," was released by Enja and primarily consisted of Barth's original compositions. Since 1993, he has led his own small groups and worked as a freelance pianist and arranger. Additionally, he was on the teaching faculty at Berklee College of Music from 1985 to 1988 and at Long Island University starting in 1990. Barth has also served as a record producer, including work with vocalist Carla Cook.

Italian composer and pianist Riccardo Barthélemy was born in Izmir, Turkey (then called Smyrna) to French-born Joseph Bonaventure Barthélemy and his Italian-born wife Victoria Cocchino, Greek citizens. He is best known as the accompanist for Enrico Caruso, whose brief biography he wrote. He studied at the San Pietro a Majella conservatory of music in Naples and wrote songs and stage works there until 1898 when he moved to Paris with his widowed mother. He began working with Caruso in 1904 and went to New York City to accompany him when Caruso sang at the Metropolitan Opera in 1908, 1909 and 1916. In 1912, his composition “Marcia Trionfale Olimpica” won the Gold Medal in the first Music competition in the Olympics at Stockholm. From 1912 to 1926 he was a singing teacher in Paris where soprano Grace Moore was among his students. In 1925 he began working for the Prince of Monaco, living at the palace and instructing his children in music. He divided his time between Monaco and Paris until 1930. He accompanied the soprano Ellen Dosia at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. He finally settled permanently in Monaco in 1938.

William Bartholomew was an English librettist, composer, and writer. He is best remembered as the translator/text author for the premieres of many of Felix Mendelssohn's works in England; most notably the anthem Hear My Prayer (1845) and the oratorio Elijah for its premiere at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival in 1846. As a composer, he produced several hymns, The Nativity oratorio, and children's songs.