John Williams And His Orchestra - Songs

ABOUT

John Williams (b. February 8, 1932) is a celebrated and influential film music composer, pianist, trombonist, and a longtime former conductor of the Boston Pops (1980-1993) who became famous beginning in the early 1970s. Over his long career, he penned some of the most iconic film scores of all time for such movie blockbusters as "The Poseidon Adventure," "Jaws," "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind," "Superman," "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial," "Schindler's List," "Jurassic Park," "Saving Private Ryan," the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" series, and the first three Harry Potter films. In addition to making Williams a household name, several of his best known movie themes also became top hits on the radio during the late 1970s and are now considered to be oldies classics. They include the ominous "Theme From Jaws" (1975), the majestic "Star Wars (Main Title)" (1977), and the mysterious and whimsical "Theme From Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" (1977).

Born in Floral Park, New York, Williams attended UCLA where he studied composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He began his music career in 1951 when he was drafted into the U.S. Air Force where, as part of his assignments, he played the piano and trombone and served as a conductor and music arranger. After his military service ended, he moved to New York City in 1955 where he studied piano at the Juilliard School with Rosina Lhevinne and worked as a jazz pianist in nightclubs. He then returned to Los Angeles where he worked as a session pianist on such recordings as Henry Mancini's soundtrack to the "Peter Gunn" TV series. Williams began composing music for TV in the late 1950s and wrote for hundreds of episodes from such series as "Playhouse 90," "Kraft Suspense Theatre," "Gilligan's Island," "Lost In Space," and "Wagon Train." His first feature film soundtrack came in 1958 for the B-movie, "Daddy-O," and he received his first Oscar nomination for the background music to the 1967 cult classic, "Valley Of The Dolls." In 1972, Williams won his first Academy Award for his work on the music for the movie adaptation to "Fiddler On The Roof," and his fame continued to take off during the early 1970s with his scores to such disaster movies as "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972), "The Towering Inferno" (1974), and "Earthquake" (1974). Williams has composed the soundtracks to over 100 films, working with such top directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, George Lucas, and most famously Steven Spielberg, with whom he has had a long and fruitful artistic collaboration spanning over four decades.

John Williams had his first charting songs in the early 1960s (billed as Johnny Williams & His Orchestra) with his dark, jazz-infused theme to the CBS-TV detective series, "Checkmate," which became a minor hit in 1961 and was followed soon after by his cover of the P. Knauer-penned "Montreal" (1962). He re-emerged many years later in 1975 with "Theme From Jaws," which was a Top 40 hit on both the Adult Contemporary and Pop/Rock charts. This smash was followed in 1977 by "Theme From Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" and "Star Wars (Main Title)" which both made the Pop/Rock Top 20. The latter movie theme as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra became his greatest hit, reaching #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Williams' final chart hit came in 1979 with the rousing "Theme From Superman (Main Title)," also performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Considered by many to be film music's all-time top composer, John Williams' numerous honors and accolades include 25 Grammys, five Oscars (and a record-breaking 52 nominations), seven British Academy Film Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmys, a Kennedy Center Honor (2004), the National Medal of Arts (2009), and the AFI Life Achievement Award (2016), as well as a long string of gold and platinum records. In 2004, the Library of Congress included his soundtrack to "Star Wars" in the National Recording Registry, and the following year, the American Film Institute named it as the greatest film score of all time. In addition to his award-winning movie soundtracks, Williams has also composed chamber music, concertos, symphonies, and many other classical orchestral works.

LINKS

MERCHANDISE

Disclosure: The following links will take you to various online merchants outside of allbutforgottenoldies.net that sell recordings and other merchandise for the performing artist featured on this page. Please note that these are referral or affiliate links from which allbutforgottenoldies.net may receive, at no additional cost to you, a commission if you should make any purchases through them.

SONGS

To listen to a song clip, click any song title that has a speaker icon. This will take you to a list of links to CD and/or MP3 product pages from one or more online merchants that have sound samples.

John Williams And His Orchestra

Jump to:
Previous Artist | Next Artist