Bill Conti

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Bill Conti

Background information
Born April 13, 1942 (1942-04-13) (age 66)
Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Genre(s) Film score
Occupation(s) Composer, Conductor
Years active 1969–present

Bill Conti (born April 13, 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island) is an Italian American film music composer who is frequently the conductor at the Academy Awards ceremony.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Bill Conti is a graduate of Louisiana State University. Bill also studied at the Juilliard School of Music. He is a past winner of the Silver Knight Award presented by the Miami Herald.

[edit] Rocky series

His big break into celebrity came in 1976, when he was hired to compose the music for a small United Artists film called Rocky. The film became a phenomenon, and Conti's training montage tune, "Gonna Fly Now" topped the Billboard singles chart in 1977. He also composed music for the sequels Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky V (1990) and Rocky Balboa (2006).

[edit] Other film and television credits

Conti also worked for some other films and, eventually, for television series. In 1981, he wrote the music for the James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, when John Barry was unwilling to return to the United Kingdom for tax reasons, and provided the score for playwright Jason Miller's film version of his Pulitzer Prize winning play That Championship Season the following year.

In 1983, he composed the score for HBO's first film, The Terry Fox Story. Bill composed music for the film Bad Boys. Then in 1984, he received an Academy Award for composing the score to 1983's The Right Stuff followed by composing music for the TV series North and South in 1985. He also composed the score for The Karate Kid as well as the Masters of the Universe live action movie. In 1999 he composed the score for The Thomas Crown Affair remake, starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo.

He also composed the themes to television's Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Cagney & Lacey, and The Lifestyles of The Rich And Famous. Conti also composed the theme song to American Gladiators, worked with CBS on the movie jingle, and wrote PrimeTime Live for ABC News. In addition he composed the score to the studio altered American version of Luc Besson's The Big Blue.

[edit] Awards and nominations

Bill Conti has received many award nominations for his work. He received a Best Song nomination for "Gonna Fly Now." He won an Oscar for the largely electronic score for The Right Stuff. He also scored 1984's The Karate Kid.

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
John Barry
1979		 James Bond film score composer
1981		 Succeeded by
John Barry
1983-1987
v • d • e
The Karate Kid series
Films
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Cast
Crew
Music
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