Michel Legrand

Current Role

Michel Legrand is a multi instrumentalist and musical arranger. A talented lyricist and a fantastic composer, Legrand has written nearly two hundred film and television scores. A lot of his work has earned him BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards and as well as a host of other accolades. Recently he has been working on the music and lyrics for his first stage musical, Marguerite, based on he book La Dame aux Camélias. The production will be showing at the Royal Haymarket until November 1st 2008.

Early Life

Michel Legrand was born in Paris. His father, Raymond, was a light music conductor and musician, His sister Christiane is also a musician and has been a member of The Swingle Singers and The Double 6. Michel's musical talent became apparent at an early age when he began to play the piano at four. When he was ten he started studying at the Paris Conservatory of Music, he went to every instrumental class he was offered and managed to learn how to play over a dozen instruments. In 1947, after listening to a jazz concert, he began studying jazz musicians. Once he had left school he produced accompaniment for french pop singers and before long was commissioned by Columbia to make an album of English adaptations of classic French tunes. the result was released in the US as I Love Paris and sold 8 million copies. In 1955 he was hired as a musical director by Maurice Chevalier and joined him on a tour of America. Michel then released another album called Legrand Jazz, featuring music from jazz musicians such as Ben Webster and Miles Davis and some of his own arrangements of songs including Round Midnight. Later, he released a similar album called C'est Magnifique. In the following years he released more and more albums, Holiday In Rome in 1955, Michel Legrand Plays Cole Porter in 1957 and Legrand In Rio in 1958. In 1957 Michel was invited to the USSR to perform at the Student Youth Festival, where he met his future wife, Christine Bouchard, whom he had three children with, Hervé, Benjamin and Emilie. In 1959, with a bassist named Guy Pederson and a percussionist named Gus Wallez, Michel recorded an album of paris themed songs called Paris Jazz Piano. Michel Legrand is also a talented composer and has written nearly two hundred film and television scores including The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, The Thomas Crown Affair and Summer Of '42.

Career Highlights

In 1968 Michel Legrand composed a score for the film The Thomas Crown Affair which featured the song The Windmills Of Your Mind, this won him his first Academy Award for best original song. In 1971 he won a second Oscar for Best Original Dramatic Score for his compositions in the film Summer Of '42. In 1964 some of Michel Legrand's work appeared in the film The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, after this he became famous worldwide as the film was revolutionary at the time because of the fact that none of the dialogue was spoken, it was all sung.

Interesting Facts

• Michel Legrand's father married four times
• Michel Legrand could play the piano at the age of four
• Michel Legrand has composed nearly two hundred film and television scores

Awards

• Three Oscars
• Five Grammys
• Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Score
• BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
• Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
• 13 Oscar nominations
• An Emmy Nomination