Leslie Bricusse


Leslie Charles Bricusse was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films Doctor Dolittle; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Scrooge; Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory; Tom and Jerry: The Movie; the titular James Bond film songs "Goldfinger" and "You Only Live Twice"; "Can You Read My Mind? " from Superman; and "Le Jazz Hot!" from Victor/Victoria.
WWW lesliebricusse.com

Early life and education

Bricusse was born in Southfields, London on 29 January 1931, the son of Annie Mary and Cedric Bricusse, who already had a daughter. His paternal grandfather was Belgian, whilst his mother's father came from Belfast in Northern Ireland. His father was employed by Kelmsley Newspapers for most of his working life. When Bricusse was two years old, his parents relocated to Pinner, Middlesex, and he was educated at University College School, Hampstead.
After completing a two-year period of National Service with the Royal Army Service Corps, he studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He was secretary of Footlights in 1952–53, and president the following year. He also formed the Cambridge University Musical Comedy Club, and wrote the lyrics for its first production, Lady at the Wheel, in 1953. It was during his college drama career that Bricusse began working for Beatrice Lillie. After later starring in her stage show An Evening with Beatrice Lillie for a year, he decided to concentrate on writing rather than performing.

Career

In the 1960s and 1970s, Bricusse enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Anthony Newley. They wrote the musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, which was the basis of a 1966 film version and featured the Grammy-winning Song of the Year “What Kind of Fool Am I?” Also in collaboration with Newley, Bricusse wrote the show The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd and music for the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, based on the children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. For the latter, they received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song Score. When he collaborated with Newley, the two men referred to themselves as "Brickman and Newburg" – nicknames which arose after an unsuccessful attempt to create a musical based on Ingmar Bergman's film comedy Smiles of a Summer Night. "Newburg" concentrated mainly on the music and "Brickman" on the lyrics, whilst Ian Fraser often did their arrangements.
Working solely as a lyricist, he collaborated with composer Cyril Ornadel on Pickwick, based on Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers, a successful vehicle for Harry Secombe. His later collaborators included Henry Mancini and John Williams.
Bricusse composed the music and lyrics for the songs in the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle, which co-starred Newley, and also wrote its screenplay. Although the movie flopped at the box-office, "Talk to the Animals" earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He also scored the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
Sammy Davis Jr. had hits with two songs by Bricusse, "What Kind of Fool Am I?", from Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, and "The Candy Man", from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. In the United States, the latter release topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for three weeks, and was the singer's biggest hit.
Other recording artists who recorded successful versions of his songs include Nina Simone, Matt Monro and Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, Harry Secombe, Nancy Sinatra, The Turtles, Maureen McGovern, and Diana Krall.
Bricusse partnered with George Tipton to write the opening theme of the American television sitcom It's a Living.
Pure Imagination: The World of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, devised and directed by Bruce Kimmel, opened at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California, on 7 December 2013. In 2015, it went to the St James Theatre, London.
Bricusse was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989. On 29 October 2001, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for "services to the film industry and the theatre" from Queen Elizabeth II at a Buckingham Palace investiture ceremony.
In 2015, he released a memoir entitled Pure Imagination: A Sorta-Biography, with a foreword by Elton John.

Personal life

Bricusse lived in California and in London, in an apartment overlooking the River Thames. He married actress Yvonne "Evie" Romain on 18 October 1958 at St James's Church, Marylebone. The couple's son, Adam Cedric, pursued a career as an artist after studying fine art at Merton College, Oxford.

Death

Bricusse died in his sleep in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, on 19 October 2021, aged 90. In 2024, his wife donated his papers, including 225 notebooks, to the Library of Congress.

Works

Musicals

Songs

Awards

Nominations