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BILL CONTI

“GONNA FLY NOW (THEME FROM “ROCKY”)”

(BILL CONTE, Carol Connors, Ayn Robbins)

United Artists 940

No. 1   July 2, 1977

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William Conti was born April 3, 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island.  Bill’s father was an accomplished

pianist, and piano lessons was a must for the boy.  He majored in piano and composition at Louisiana

State Universi­ty, and earned a master’s degree at Juilliard School of Music in New York.

In the mid-’60s–under the influence of Hugo Weisgall, his composition instructor at Julliard–Conti

moved to Rome, where he directed the Italian version of Hair, wrote the music to The Garden of the Finzi­

Continis (1971)–winner of an Oscar as “Best Foreign Language Film”; and arranged, composed, and con­

ducted other creations such as Liquid Subway, Candi­date for Killing, and Bloom in Love.  In 1972, Bill

and wife returned to the United States to score Harry and Tonto (1972), starring Art Carney, and

Sylvester Stal­lone’s Rocky (1976).   The soundtrack went to number four on Billboard’s top pop albums

chart.  Conti has since scored Stallone’s Rocky sequels II, III, and V, F.I.S.T. (1978) and Paradise Alley

(1978), and other films such as An Unmarried Woman (1978), The Karate Kid (1984), Baby Boom

(1987), Broadcast News (1987), For Your Eyes Only (198I)–which garnered Conti his second Oscar

nomination for his co-authored title tune, and The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993).  He received an

Academy Award for his music to the adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff (1983).  Bill has also

written the themes for a number of TV series: “Dallas,” Dynasty,” Falcon Crest,” “Lifestyles of the Rich

and Famous,” and “Cagney & Lacey.”

In 1995, Bill Conti was given the Golden Sound­track Award for his lifetime achievements by ASCAP.