James Bond Theme Song Guitarist Vic Flick Dies

Vic Flick, the English guitarist best known for playing on the “James Bond Theme,” died on Nov. 14 at the age of 87.

The news was shared on social media by his son, Kevin.

“With great sadness my mother – Vic’s wife Judith, his grandchild Tyler and I must announce that my father Vic Flick passed away peacefully last Thursday and so ending his battle with Alzheimers,” the post said.

Flick was born in Surrey, England in 1937. It was in 1962 that composer John Barry enlisted him to play on Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme,” which appeared in the very first James Bond film, Dr. No. He was paid a one-off fee of £6 for his work.

Listen to Vic Flick on the ‘James Bond Theme’

“I placed the DeArmond pickup near the bridge,” he explained to Guitar Player in 2021, describing the song’s recording process. “I put a crushed cigarette packet underneath it to get it nearer the strings. That helped to get that round sound. Most important, sound-wise, was the Vox AC15 amplifier. I used it on tour. It wouldn’t let me down – until it fell eight feet into a music pit and disintegrated. … [The guitar] was picked up by the mics for the orchestra, and it gave the guitar a mysterious, powerful sound. It was a sound we created, to a certain extent, and it had a bite that they loved. It was all go, go, go from then on.”

Beyond James Bond

Flick contributed to several other Bond soundtracks, including From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, and also worked with the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, the Beatles and more.

READ MORE: 60 Years Ago: The Beatles and James Bond Debut on the Same Day

“I knew Sir George [Martin] when he was working at Abbey Road EMI,” Flick said to Guitar Player. “He had a bit of an attitude, a bit of, ‘I say, old chap, come on.’ He’d ask the fixers, or contractors, to line up session musicians. … Mostly, the Beatles kept apart, sitting at the table in the corner, unlike the session guys who would come in and spread themselves all over the place. I did some special pieces, like [the instrumental] ‘This Boy’ theme in A Hard Day’s Night, where I play my Fender Strat when Ringo is walking along the river.”

Listen to Vic Flick on ‘Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)’