Around the Music Festival

French media reported on Friday that Francis Lai (= left of the picture) had died. He was 86 years old. The causes of death etc are not disclosed. Lai was born in 1932, Nice, southeastern part of France.

From an accordionist to a composer, he was in charge of the music of the 1966 film “Un homme et une femme” and gained a lot of attention with music incorporating scat. In 1968, the music of the movie “13 Jours en France” which recorded the Grenoble Winter Olympic Games was also a worldwide hit.

In 1970 he won the Academy Award for Original Music Score in the US with the music of the movie “Love Story”. He worked on over 100 movie music, over 600 songs, and also provided music to French chanson singers such as Édith Piaf and Yves Montand.

In film music, he is famous for collaboration with film director Claude Lelouch (= right of the picture) . “Un homme et une femme”, “13 Jours en France”, “Vivre pour Vivre”, “Les Uns et les Autres”, “Les Misérables” and so on.

Photo：www.francis-lai.com