Shortly after Star Wars, he continued at an incredible pace – amazingly, that same year, Williams composed, conducted, and produced the music to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which contained yet another iconic pop culture reference point with the “five-tone” motif whose arrival, during the key moment of contact with the alien life force, still brings a tear to the eye. Williams’ themes are not just an accompaniment to the action – they often are the action, preceding the main event and taking the listener into unknown worlds – underwater or deep space – while raising the neck-hairs. You don’t need to be a musicologist to understand why his scores resonate. In terms of official recognition, however, Williams’ original motion picture soundtrack to Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) has been even more feted, with the American Film Institute citing its stirring score as the most memorable of any US film. A clever reinterpretation of the staccato music that accompanies the shower scene in Psycho, it remains the ultimate in classic suspense and, on release, had audiences transfixed – or, in many cases, hiding behind their cinema seats. In 1975, he cemented his friendship with Spielberg on Jaws, which many consider to contain the most recognizable theme tune of all. Knowledge of these, along with Williams’ first collaboration with Steven Spielberg, on Sugarland Express (Spielberg’s directorial feature debut, following the earlier Duel, which was made for TV), is paramount to tracing the development of Williams’ genius. Williams’ learning curve was swift, from Valley of the Dolls to the Robert Altman thriller Images. Often described as a modern neo-romantic with a flair for leitmotif à la Tchaikovsky and Richard Wagner, our hero was in the right place at the right time – though despite his successes as a musician working for Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, and Mancini, he could hardly have expected to compose eight of the Top 20’s most lucrative film scores of all time. Subsequently returning west, he struck up a relationship with Henry Mancini, from whom he learned much about the wit, brevity, and subtlety needed to score movies. The list is vast, but John Williams occupies the peak with those legends.īorn in Floral Park, New York, he moved to Los Angeles in 1948, then back to NYC to study at the prestigious Juilliard School, where he majored in classical piano and composition. The soundtrack world is packed with great composers and memorable themes: the aforementioned Bernstein ( West Side Story), Bernard Herrmann ( Citizen Kane, North By Northwest, Psycho), Maurice Jarre ( Doctor Zhivago), Ennio Morricone ( The Dollars Trilogy, Once Upon A Time In The West, Once Upon A Time In America), and Vangelis ( Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire). American Journey (1999) is another triumph, commissioned by then-President Bill Clinton for the United States’ official millennium celebrations. To pick at random – and his discography is truly vast – his tribute to Leonard Bernstein, “For New York,” which aired in 1988, saw him conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His recording career goes back to the 50s and encompasses concertos, orchestral and chamber works, and gospel music. In a specialist field, his albums have sold in the multi-millions.

Williams has won multiple Academy Awards, Golden Globes, British Academy of Film and Television Awards, and Grammys. He remains an extraordinary force of nature in his field: his long-standing relationship with Stephen Spielberg is a given, ditto his work for George Lucas and, more recently, the ever-so-slightly popular Harry Potter movies. He is also a creator of contemporary classical music with a post-romantic style, and a grand conductor, pianist, and jazz buff who used to play piano for Mahalia Jackson. John Williams isn’t just a soundtrack composer, he is the undisputed master of the film score. The term “genius” is far too often, bandied about – alongside its catchall companion, “icon.” But in the case of John Williams both words apply, while barely doing justice to the magnitude of his talent.

John williams composer