Bill Conti

Most famous for scoring the soundtrack to Sylvester Stallone's classic boxing movie Rocky, American composer Bill Conti has produced theme tunes for film and television shows for over 40 years as well as leading orchestras across the world. Raised in a musical family with a love of opera, his father taught him piano as a child and he began playing in saloons on Miami Beach at the age of 14, before studying composition at Louisiana State University and the Juilliard School of Music. His desire to make dramatic music took him to Rome in 1967, where he arranged music for Italian films and got his break when he worked on the American movie Blume In Love in 1973. The film led to Conti returning to the US where he made his name in 1977 with his score for Rocky which became became a huge hit. He would go on to write the music for the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, which included a hit single of the title track sung by Sheena Easton, and composed soundtracks for the Rocky sequels as well as for Escape To Victory in 1980, Karate Kid in 1984, The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999 and a long list of Hollywood productions. He also found success in television, writing the theme tunes to Dynasty, Cagney & Lacey and He-Man, and worked as the musical director of the Academy Awards shows.