You can’t fault Jack White and Alicia Keys for courage.

The White Stripes frontman and the Grammy-laden R&B singer have recorded the title song for Quantum of Solace, the first duet on a Bond film soundtrack, it was announced yesterday.

The pair’s musical credibility, commercial popularity and diverse global fanbases attracted the producers and will certainly help to shield Keys and White from the inevitable ravings of the notoriously fierce 007 aficionados.

But it remains to be seen whether they will escape the curse of the Bond song. Frenzied speculation surrounds the choice of musical performer for every 007 film, providing acres of carefully orchestrated free publicity and fuelling pub debates.

Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Grace Jones and Leona Lewis were all strongly tipped this time around, and they may yet be grateful to have missed out. Very few of the artists who have recorded title songs for the longest-running series in cinema have gone on to greater success after their brush with Ian Fleming’s debonair spy.

Since Sir Paul McCartney and Wings were nominated for an Oscar for the theme song toLive and Let Die in 1974, only one singer’s career has been boosted by cutting a Bond title track. Sheena Easton, the daughter of a Lanarkshire steel worker, went on to sell more than 20 million records after her performance on For Your Eyes Only helped to make her name in the United States.

For 12 other artists and bands in the same period, a 007 commission offered more of a licence to fizzle out. Duran Duran and Garbage broke up soon after their contributions. Carly Simon, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow and Madonna are among the singers who have never threatened to match their greatest preBond successes in their postBond careers.

As for the last in the series, can anyone, with hand on heart, remember with great affection You Know My Name by the former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, which announced Daniel Craig’s arrival as Bond in Casino Royale?

Quantum of Solace, which opens in Britain on Hallowe’en, will be the 22nd official screen Bond adventure. Craig returns as Bond with Mathieu Amalric, the French actor from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, as the principal villain.

It picks up the action from where Casino Royale left off, with Bond setting out to avenge the apparent death of his lover. Not surprisingly, given its unwieldy title, Quantum of Solace will be the fifth Bond outing with a flagship song that does not include the film’s name.

The eccentric White, 33, wrote and produced Another Way to Die as well as singing and playing drums on the track. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of The White Stripes, the heavy blues rock band that he formed with his ex-wife, Meg.

However, he has enjoyed significant success with his side project, The Raconteurs, and also acted and sang in the film Cold Mountain.

Keys has been a big figure in American pop music since her 2001 debut, Songs In A Minor, sold more than ten million copies. Between them the pair have won 18 Grammy awards.

Bond fansites were divided over the choice. Where they did agree was in heaping scorn on the song title, with its echoes of Die Another Day – for many Bond fans the low point in the 46-year history of the films.

Charlie Higson, author of the Young Bond novels and a self-confessed Bond junkie, said that the glory days of the stirring Bond tune were long gone. “There were five or six of them that were really fantastic in the early days, likeDiamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, but I don’t think there’s been a true classic since Nobody Does It Better for The Spy Who Loved Me [in 1977].”

Of White and Keys, he said: “This pairing doesn’t sound that thrilling to me, but let’s not judge it before we’ve heard it. Think what they all said about Daniel Craig and look how good he turned out to be.”

Mood music

3

Bond title themes sung by Shirley Bassey, the only artist to record more than one (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker)

16

Grammy awards won by the Quantum of Solace title theme performers Jack White and Alicia Keys; 11 by her and another 5 by him

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title themes by bands: Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney and Wings); A View to a Kill (Duran Duran); The Living Daylights (AHa); and The World is Not Enough (Garbage)

1

Bond film with an instrumental title theme – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 5 Quantum of Solace is fifth film whose title song does not share its name with the film

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films scored by John Barry, more than any other composer

Source: Times Archive

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