He passed away on Sunday in New York, reportedly from a heart attack.

Barry was best known for his work on the James Bond films -- he scored 11 films including "Goldfinger" and "You Only Live Twice" -- and his atmospheric scores are credited with giving 007 much of his smooth persona.

"I think James Bond would have been far less cool without John Barry holding his hand," said David Arnold, his successor as the 007 score composer, who described Barry's death as a "profound loss".

Although Barry did not compose the distinctive Bond theme tune -- that was the work of Monty Norman -- he provided the arrangement that made it famous.

However, the adventures of 007 represented only a handful of the more than 100 films Barry worked on during a career spanning three decades, which earned him an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1999.

He won Oscars for "Out of Africa", "Dances With Wolves" and "The Lion in Winter", and two for "Born Free", for best song and best music score. He also earned a Grammy Award for "Midnight Cowboy" (1969).

"It is with great sadness that the family of composer John Barry announce his passing on the 30th of January 2011 in New York," a family statement said.

"Mr. Barry is survived by his wife of 33 years, Laurie, and his four children and five grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be strictly private and a memorial service will be held later this year in the UK."

Barry grew up in the northern English city of York, but left Britain in the mid-1970s and set up home in Oyster Bay, New York, although friends remarked that he never lost his Yorkshire accent.

Born John Barry Prendergast in 1933, Barry was surrounded by movies and music through his cinema-owning father and classical pianist mother.

He lived for a time in Chelsea, at the heart of the swinging Sixties scene in London, reportedly renting out his spare room for a few months to the then unknown Michael Caine.

It was there that he met sex siren Jane Birkin, the second of his four wives.

His big break came when he worked on the 1962 Bond film "Dr. No", although he was not credited for his contribution.

Thereafter his scores -- mixing big band music, guitar riffs, strings and the beats of his jazz heroes Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington -- became integral to the image of the British spy.

In an interview with Time Magazine in 1999, Barry described how he sought to use his music to help the low-profile George Lazenby when he took over the role from Sean Connery in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".

"I was trying to impose on Lazenby the suaveness, the humour, and I really overdid the score," he said.

Fellow British composer Arnold, who wrote the music for "Tomorrow Never Dies" among other Bond movies, praised Barry's "extraordinary melodies".

"That was John's gift -- not only his way with harmony but the fact that he could state within a five- or ten-second phase everything you need to know about a movie," the composer told BBC radio.

He added: "The music that he wrote transcends the movies that it was written for and became part of popular culture."

Barry first achieved success playing trumpet and singing with the John Barry Seven, a pop group, and went on to play a key role in the success of one of the first major British pop stars of the early 1960s, Adam Faith.

Later, he returned to pop, working with Duran Duran and A-Ha in the 1980s.

Barry also had a long and fruitful partnership with the lyricist Don Black, who paid tribute Monday to his old friend.

"The thing about John that I will always remember was he never changed," Black said, adding: "There was no trace of America about him, he brought York to New York."

Barry's son-in-law, Simon Jack, remembered him to the BBC as a "wickedly funny man" whose "passion, genius and sense of humour will be terribly missed by his family and friends".