Michel Colombier

Born on 23 May 1939 in Lyon, Rhône, France, Michel Colombier passed away on 14 November 2004 in Santa Monica, California, USA. Piano, harmony, counterpoint, and conducting formed the core of his training under his father beginning at age six. Prior to adolescence he took up improvisation and performed in jazz ensembles while supplying their arrangements, all while extending his paternal lessons to encompass church organ and Gregorian chant. Military obligations with the French Army left his musical activities uninterrupted, allowing him to appear across numerous ensembles and to deepen his pursuits in composition and arrangement. Between 1961 and 1962 he worked with avant-garde composer Michel Magne, after which he assumed the role of musical director at Barclay Records and prepared the first English-language album by Charles Aznavour. Jingles for countless television commercials also occupied his time. From the mid-1960s onward and continuing until the end of his life, film scoring became his principal activity, first in France and subsequently in the United States, where he supplied cues, themes, songs, and full scores for dozens of productions. The resulting body of work includes Un Monde Nouveau (1966), Backtrack! (1969), Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), Paul And Michelle (1974), Le Couple Témoin (1977), Against All Odds and Purple Rain (both 1984), The Money Pit and Ruthless People (both 1986), Cop and Satisfaction (both 1988), Who’s Harry Crumb? and Astérix Et Le Coup Du Menhir (both 1989), Impulse and Buried Alive (both 1990), New Jack City (1991), Posse (1993), Élisa (1995), Barb Wire and Foxfire (both 1996), Screwed (2000), Messiah (2001), and Swept Away (2002). Recordings of his own music featured appearances by jazz musicians including Peter Erskine and Jaco Pastorius, notably on Wings (1970) and Old Fool Back On Earth (1979). Colombier succumbed to cancer in November 2004.