Michel Legrand

Michel Jean Legrand 24 February 1932 26 January 2019 was a French musical composer arranger conductor and jazz pianist Legrand was a prolific composer having written over 200 film and television scores in addition to many songs His scores for the films of French New Wave director Jacques Demy The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 1964 and The Young Girls of Rochefort 1967 earned Legrand his first Academy Award nominations Legrand won his first Oscar for the song The Windmills of Your Mind from The Thomas Crown Affair 1968 Legrand was born in Paris to his father Raymond Legrand who was himself a conductor and composer and his mother Marcelle TerMikaëlian who was the sister of conductor Jacques Hélian Raymond and Marcelle were married in 1929 His maternal grandfather was Armenian Legrand composed more than two hundred film and television scores He won three Oscars and five Grammys He studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris from age 11 working with among others Nadia Boulanger and graduated with top honors as both a composer and a pianist He burst upon the international music scene at 22 when his album I Love Paris album became a surprise hit He established his name in the United States by working with such jazz stars as Miles Davis and Stan Getz His sister Christiane Legrand was a member of The Swingle Singers and his niece Victoria Legrand is a member of the dream pop band Beach House Legrand composed music for Jacques Demys films The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 1964 and The Young Girls of Rochefort 1967 and appeared and performed in Agnès Vardas Cléo from 5 to 7 1961 He also composed music for Joseph Loseys Eva 1962 The Thomas Crown Affair 1968 which features The Windmills of Your Mind Ice Station Zebra 1968 The Picasso Summer 1969 The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun 1970 The GoBetween 1971 Summer of 42 1971 Clint Eastwoods Breezy 1973 The Three Musketeers 1973 Orson Welless lastcompleted film F for Fake 1974 and would later compose the score for Welless posthumouslyreleased movie The Other Side of the Wind 2018 He also composed the score for Yentl 1983 as well as the film score for Louis Malles film Atlantic City 1980 His instrumental version of the theme from Brians Song charted 56th in 1972 on the Billboards pop chart Legrand died of sepsis during the night of 2526 January 2019 at the American Hospital of Paris in NeuillysurSeine where he had been hospitalized for two weeks for a pulmonary infection His funeral was held in Paris at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on 1 February 2019 He was interred at the Père Lachaise Cemetery He remained active until his death and had concerts scheduled to take place in the spring In 1997 Legrand composed the score for the musical Le Passemuraille with a book by Didier Van Cauwelaert It premiered on Broadway in 2002 as Amour and was translated into English by Jeremy Sams and was directed by James Lapine This musical was his Broadway debut and he was nominated for a Tony Award in 2003 for Best Score Later he recorded Legrand Affair with Melissa Errico a 100piece symphony orchestra that included songs with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman Source Article Michel Legrand from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30