Marvin Hamlisch - Nobody Did It Better

It was announced today that Marvin Hamlisch died yesterday after a brief illness. I think it is safe to say that he was 1 of thehttp://www.nuttyprofessormusical.com/home/ greatest & most influencial composers of the 2nd half of the 20th Century. His musical career ranged from Broadway to Hollywood. Many of the songs he wrote became hit singles. He received virtually every major award out there, 3 Oscars, 4 Grammys, 4 Emmys, a Tony, 3 Golden Globe awards as well as a Pulitzer Prize.

His 2 biggest shows on Broadway were themusical A Chorus Line, for which he wrote the score, for which he won both a Tony Award & a Pulitzer Prize; & They're Playing Our Song, loosely based on his relationship with Carole Bayer Sager. His current work included the score for a musical version of The Nutty Professor, directed by Jerry Lewis.

His movie scores are way to many to list entirely. They included They Way We Were starring Barbra Streisand, Ordinary People, Sophie's Choice & Woody Allen's Bananas. But perhaps his most influencial score was that of The Sting. Instead of his own music, he used several Scott Joplin rags that brought Joplin's work back to the public attention it deserved. IMHO, doing that raised what was already a really good movie to a great movie. It showed the importance of a good score. He was on tap to do the score for an upcoming picture about Liberace.

Among his pop songs was "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows", that was sung by Lesley Gore.

He was conductor for Barbra Streisand's 1994 concert tour as well as several tours by Linda Rhonstad.

Speaking of conducting, he held the position of Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, & The Pasadena Symphony and Pops.

The song I most identify Hamlisch with is one that probably sums up his career, Nobody Does It Better, from the James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me. He wrote the music & the lyrics were by Carole Bayer Sager. It was sung by Carly Simon. The song was nominated for an Oscar (IMHO it should have won). Even though it was wriiten about Bond, I can think of no more fitting way to honor him then by ending this post with the video of the opening credits. Truly, nobody did it better.