Bond Producer Recalls ‘Distressing’ Meeting With Amy Winehouse to Record ‘Quantum of Solace’ Theme Song: ‘It Was Very Sad’
While it’s been known for several years that Amy Winehouse was courted to sing the theme song for the 2008 James Bond tentpole “Quantum of Solace,” franchise producer Barbara Broccoli opened up about the process for the first time during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. Winehouse’s short-lived Bond experience is a small part of the upcoming Amazon Prime Video documentary “The Sound of 007,” which also references Radiohead’s scrapped theme song for “Spectre.”
“Well, that was a very very distressing meeting, she was not at her best and my heart really went out to her,” Broccoli said about meeting with Winehouse for the “Quantum of Solace” theme song. “She was very fragile emotionally and, you know, you understood how she could create such moving material, because she has a great depth of feeling and it was very very tragic.”
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Broccoli added, “What an incredible talent, what an incredible voice, what an incredible person she was and it was very, very sad.”
The “Quantum of Solace” theme song ended up being recorded by Jack White and Alicia Keys. The rocky-heavy duet, “Another Way to Die,” is one of the most divisive Bond themes. White revealed earlier this year that he was recruited for the song at the last minute once Winehouse exited the project.
“I got in because Amy Winehouse wasn’t showing up to the sessions or wasn’t delivering the song that they were asking her to do,” White said. “So it was, ‘We were running out of time, we need somebody else…’ And I thought, ‘Oh, this was great, because now I’m gonna get away with murder; I’m gonna put things in this song, they would never approve of this.’ And that happened. The music director was not down with anything. He was trying to convince me to turn it into a ballad or something like that.”
The upcoming documentary “The Sound of 007” is directed by Mat Whitecross and explores the history of Bond theme songs and original scores. The movie will begin streaming on Prime Video on Oct. 5, the same day all 25 James Bond movies hit the platform.
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