Marvin Hamlisch died on Monday August 6th in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 68 following a brief illness. I’ve long been a fan of his work and music.

Hamlisch was born in Manhattan and was a child prodigy entering the Juilliard’s pre-school division. The US’s pre-school division is akin to our UK junior departments which are held on Saturdays in term time for children at music colleges here. He attended Queen’s College graduating in  1967 before landing his first job as a rehearsal pianist for the movie Funny Girl, where he met Barbara Streisand.  Later he was hired by producer Sam Spiegel to play piano at Spiegel’s parties. This connection led to his first film score, The Swimmer.

Compositions and musical adaptations for films included: Sophie’s Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, The Sting, The Spy who Loved Me, Three Men and a Baby, Ice Castles, Take The Money and Run, Bananas, Save The Tiger, Shirley Valentine, Frankie and Johnny, and The Informant. Popular stage works: A Chorus Line (1975) and The Goodbye Girl (1993).

He was musical director and arranger for “Barbra Streisand: The Concert” in 1994 and has held the position of Principal Pops Conductor for the following orchestras: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Pops, and Pasadena Symphony and Pops.

Hamlisch wrote a classical orchestral suite in 1991 called  Anatomy of Peace (a symphonic suite in one movement for full orchestra, chorus and child vocalist), which was recorded and performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1992.

Marvin Hamlisch was one of only eleven people to claim an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award. He was also one of only two people to have won those four prizes and a Pulitzer Prize. Hamlisch also won two Golden Globes.

My association with his music however will always be the theme tune of his most successful film score, The Sting (1973), where he cleverly adapted Scott Joplin’s ever popular ragtime number, The Entertainer. This theme tune reached number three on the Billboard pop chart and spent a week at number one on the easy listening chart in 1974.

It was a regular feature in many of my concert programmes too and as a tribute here is my recording of The Entertainer.