Portrait

Francis Lai was born on the 26th of April in Nice, under the sign of the taurus. Fascinated by music at a very early age, he played his first scales in the local orchestras of his native region. Marseilles was where he discovered jazz and met Claude Goaty, a singer of popular songs in the 50s; he followed her to Paris, discovered Montmartre and settled there. Bursting with ideas and artistic movements, this was the district where he met the men and women who were to produce the musical works of the future. The "Taverne d'Attilio" at place du Tertre in Montmartre, was a favorite place of the talented and young Bernard Dimey with whom Francis Lai composed his first song, soon to be followed by a hundred or so others. After a short period with the orchestra of Michel Magne, he became Edith Piaf’s accompanist, and also one of her composers. He then met Pierre Barouh who introduced him to Claude Lelouch. Un Homme et Une Femme marked the beginning of Francis Lai's career in composing music for films. Francis Lai has written the music for more than 100 films and composed over 600 songs. Stars from all over the world and the famous international orchestras have all recorded his music. After a triumphant tour of Japan, he took up a new and difficult challenge : enabling the music world to discover the electronic accordion. This was in London in 1974 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

According to his friends and colleagues, he is little known to the public because of his discreet personality and yet Francis Lai is the French composer of film music with the highest record sales in the world. Just a few examples include : Un Homme et Une Femme 5.000.000 copies Vivre Pour Vivre 2.000.000 copies Love Story 6.000.000 copies Emmanuelle II 1.000.000 copies Bilitis 7.000.000 copies Les Uns et Les Autres 2.000.000 copies He has received awards from all over the world and in 1970 was presented with the most prestigious of all : a Hollywood Oscar for the music of Love Story He has been married for 30 years and is the father of three children. Francis Lai plays tennis with great assiduity and has a passion for sport in general a world in which he has numerous friends. His musical tastes are very varied ranging from Miles Davis and Charly Parker style jazz to British music and from contemporary music creations to classical. Francis Lai is one of the pioneers in the creation of synthesiser sounds, samples and the use of 'computer' music. He composes only at night, a habit he has kept ever since he first started to write music.