ITALIAN soundtrack scion Ennio Morricone has died, aged 91, in his birth city of Rome.
Morricone’s life almost took an entirely different path: a talented footballer, he signed for his hometown club AS Roma. But it was to be his other talent, the trumpet, which won the day.
Stints playing in jazz bands in the 1940s led to a role for RCA Victor in 1955, for whom he arranged music for film and theatre.
His first, uncredited co-composition on a score was Mario Nascimbene’s Morte Di Un Amico (Death of a Friend) in 1959; but it was in the 1960s that Enzo’s talents flourished, with his name becoming synonymous with the spaghetti western genre, peaking with his eerie, exploratory and instantly recognisable score for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in 1965, which received an induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
His soundtrack for Once Upon A Time in the West, from 1968, has sold an estimated ten million copies.
In later life he re-emerged to soundtrack Quentin Tarantino’s films, including Inglorious Basterds and The Hateful Eight.
Enzo: ti salutiamo.
