World-famous film theme: He played the James Bond theme: Guitarist Vic Flick is dead

The exceptional British guitarist Vic Flick, who became famous in the 1960s with the iconic James Bond theme, has died at the age of 87. As his son Kevin announced on Facebook, Flick had already fallen asleep peacefully on November 14th after suffering from Alzheimer’s for a long time.

The “James Bond Theme” is also considered one of the most famous melodies in film history thanks to its guitar riff (“Dam, da-da-da, daaam. Da-da-da, dam, da-da-da, dam!”).

Big sound for a small fee

Flick was lead guitarist on the recording of the world-famous instrumental piece, which was first heard in the 1962 film “James Bond – 007 Chases Dr. No”. He is said to have received six pounds for his game – an amount that is equivalent to almost 20 euros today. Monty Norman had written the melody for a musical that never came to fruition. It was originally intended to be played on a sitar. The James Bond theme as we know it today was ultimately arranged by John Barry.

Flick had already been an influential member of his rock’n’roll band The John Barry Seven (“Beat Girl”) in the 1950s. He then worked on several soundtracks composed by John Barry for other James Bond films. Among other things, Flick played the guitar for Shirley Bassey’s 007 classic “Goldfinger” in 1964.

Vic Flick was born in Surrey in 1937 and over the course of his career worked with greats such as Tom Jones (“It’s Not Unusual”), the Bee Gees (“Spicks & Specks”) and Cliff Richard (“Theme From A Dream”).

In 2013, Flick received a lifetime achievement award from the National Guitar Museum. The museum honored him as “one of the world’s greatest guitarists” and said Wednesday: “We were proud of our association with him. He will be missed. Rest in peace, Guitar Man.”