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| Birth Name(s) : Marvin Hamlisch |
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Full Marvin Hamlisch Biography
Marvin Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944) is a multi award-winning American composer. He is one of only two people in history (the other being Richard Rodgers) to have won the five major artistic achievement awards, namely an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and the Pulitzer Prize.
Hamlisch was born in New York City to Viennese Jewish parents. His was a musical family with his father being an accordionist and bandleader. Marvin Hamlisch was a child prodigy and by age five he began mimicking music he heard on the radio on the piano. A few months before he turned seven, in 1951, he became the youngest person ever accepted to the Juilliard School. However anxiety issues kept him from pursuing a career as a concert pianist leading him to instead focus on composition, specifically for film and theater. His first job in "the business" was as a rehearsal pianist for Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand. Shortly after that he was hired by producer Sam Spiegel to play piano at Spiegel's parties. This connection led to his first film score, The Swimmer.
Hamlisch later attended night classes at Queens College. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968. In 2007, he received the prestigious Q Award, presented to Queens College alumni who have served as role models for the college.
Although Liza Minnelli's debut album included a song he did in his teens, his first hit did not come until he was 21 years old. This song was done by Lesley Gore, in the form of Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows. (The song, in Lesley Gore's version, later figured prominently in the "Marge on the Lam" episode of The Simpsons) His first film score was for The Swimmer although he had done some music for films as early as 1965. Later he did music for some of Woody Allen's early films like Take the Money and Run. In addition, Hamlisch co-wrote the song "California Nights" with Howard Liebling, which was recorded by Lesley Gore on her 1967 hit album titled the same. The song was on the pop charts as high as number 16.Marvin Hamlisch on TV's The Match Game
Currently, he is Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (the first person to hold this position), the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the San Diego Symphony.
He is one of only twelve people to win all four major US performing awards, Emmy Award, Grammy Award, the Oscar and Tony Award. (See List of people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. He and Richard Rodgers are the only two to have won all four of those plus a Pulitzer Prize.
In 1977, he wrote the score for the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, as John Barry was unable to work in the United Kingdom due to tax reasons. To date, this is the most disco-oriented Bond score.
In 1996, in his HBO stand-up special, comedian Jon Stewart mentioned Hamlisch during a bit about an appearance on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Stewart claims that he and Hamlisch were sitting backstage during the beginning of the show, when Kathie Lee intimated that no one in the audience knew who the (then-fledgeling) comedian was. Hamlisch turned to Stewart and said, "Oooh, burn."
American evangelist Jerry Falwell refused to rule out the possibility of Hamlisch being the Antichrist in response to a direct query on the matter from comedian Al Franken.
When Mad Magazine ran a parody of the movie The Sting, the first-page panel showed a building in the background with messages on two adjacent windows: "Scott Joplin--Music." "Marvin Hammisch, Exploiter." |
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