Just saw this on the news. Its amazing how the older I get the younger they seem at 65.

French film and TV composer Michel Colombier, who cowrote the score for Prince's movie Purple Rain, has died after a bout with cancer. He was 65.

http://www.azcentral.com/...ath18.html

http://www.reuters.com/ne...ID=6847131

http://noted.blogs.com/we...ombie.html

May his soul rest in beautiful peace.














Perhaps someone should tell WB how to spell his name. It's spelled COLOMBIKR on my dvd.

Didn't he arrange some strings on Madonna's American Life album?

wow...soo sad!!


:rip:

I have a poster with his name credited to the score on it.

A lot of respect

I really liked the stuff he did for Purple Rain, I thought it really added 2 it, and fleshed things out. I stopped by his website last year, and was surprised at his body of work. 4 any of u that haven't seen it, it's HERE

...May I suggest allowing the main page 2 play out it's beautiful and haunting piece too before looking throught the site? Quite moving.

U can also listen 2 Michel's wonderful 'Love Theme from Purple Rain' in the AUDIO section of the site.

RIP Michel.

From Michel's official website:

Famed composer Michel Colombier has passed away of cancer at age 65. He died peacefully at home in Santa Monica CA. He is survived by his wife Dana, three daughters Emily, Siena and Arabella, and his sister, Marie-Francoise Hoessler. There are also three other children from previous marriages in France, Christian, Agathe & David.

Michel Colombier scored over one hundred feature, cable and television films. In his native France, he worked with a legendary list of directors including Claude Lelouch, Philippe Labro, Agnes Varda, Vittorio de Sica, Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri Verneuil and Jacques Demi. In the United States, his credits were eclectic and diverse, including the box office hits "How Stella Got Her Groove Back', "New Jack City", "Ruthless People", "The Golden Child", "White Nights", "Against All Odds" and the legendary "Purple Rain". Michel received many film awards throughout his career including two Cesar Awards, a Golden Globe Nomination, a People's Choice Award and an Ace nomination.

In France, he began his musical education at the age of six. By age fourteen, he had discovered jazz and improvisation and was performing with small combos and big bands. At 22, he was hired as Musical Director of Barclay Records, and his freshman assignment was to arrange Charles Aznavour's first album in English for release in the United States. He composed the music for "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" at the Comedie Francaise, his only creation for stage. Michel entered the world of ballet with one of Maurice Bejart's masterpieces, "Messe Pour Le Temps Present, co-written with legendary avant-garde composer, Pierre Henry. He went on to co-write for many years with the legendary Serge Gainsbourg. He collaborated with some of the most prestigious artists in his native France including Charles Aznavour, Jean-Luc Ponty, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, and Stephane Grappelli.

Petula Clark chose him as her Musical Director and asked him to come with her to the U.S. She introduced him to Herb Alpert of A&M Records, who immediately signed him as an artist/composer/performer. This collaboration gave birth to the legendary album "Wings". It was hailed as the first pop symphony, and it garnered three Grammy nominations and a Genie award winning TV special. In Japan, he became known as "Fusion-sama". He has been referred to as the "Godfather of French Fusion." Michel's music is best described as part classical, part jazz, part visual sonics. . .but always full of beauty. Michel continued to inspire and influence other artists throughout his long and vast career. During the course of his career, Michel worked with an extremely diversified array of artists including the Beach Boys, Supertramp, Herb Alpert, Lani Hall, Quincy Jones, Roberta Flack, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Neil Diamond, Herbie Hancock, Earth Wind and Fire, Joni Mitchell, Jaco Pastorius, David Sanborn, Branford Marsualis, Bobby McFerrin, Prince, AIR, Mirwais and Madonna.

As a conductor, he led many of the world's great orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Covent Garden Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Chicago Orchestra, the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the Paris Opera, and the English Chamber Orchestra, among others. He wrote numerous classical and symphonic commissions, including works featuring Ernie Watts, Kronos String Quartet, Branford Marsalis, Jaco Pastorius, Michael Brecker, Stephane Grappelli, Toots Thielemans and Katia & Marielle Labeque.

Michel Colombier also wrote the music for over twenty ballets, and worked with some of the world's greatest dance companies and choreographers including Twyla Tharp, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Daniel Ezralow, Roland Petit and Maurice Bejart.

A Memorial Celebration is being planned and will be announced at a later date.

[Edited 11/18/04 12:01pm]

That's really sad. I remember chatting to him via e-mail about 2 years ago and he even burned me a cdr of the Purple Rain score, with his own handwriting on the disc and cover. Didn't ask me for money or anything. I remember thinking: wow, what a nice guy, and a down-to-earth one too. May he rest in peace.

...the song has ended but the melody lingers on...

I think the score he did for Purple Rain is excellent, it really adds to the atmosphere.

The love theme from Purple Rain that Michel wrote was not the song that's being played when The Kid & Apollonia are making out (that was written by Prince, right?), but instead it's the song that plays when Apollonia brings the guitar present to The Kid, which ends abruptly when The Kid smacks her in the face.

Michel has written some very beautiful atomospheric pieces. He will be missed!

'Tis quite saddening to hear this news. His Love theme played throughout the movie constantly moved me, so hearing this comes as quite a shock.

I wish his soul heaven...

Que descance en paz.
gracias por tu bella musica para "Lluvia Morada"
aaron soto

Snap said:

Correct - he still called it the love theme from Purple Rain however.

bananacologne said:

He will always be remembered and missed. Rest in Peace.
[Edited 11/20/04 12:32pm]

fudgeface said:

Is there any where I can purchase the actal Purple Rain score? I checked amazon and didn't see it...not sure if Mr. Colmbier has a greatest hits that has a few songs from it...if anyone can help, I would appreciate it.

looking4theladder said:

The score was never commercially released. Mr Columbier was the only one with a master tape. He has, on occassion, given copies to fans on cassette in the 80's, and apparantly that is the source of the bootlegs. Others, more recently, got cdr copies straight from him before his untimely death.