Raymond Legrand

Raymond Legrand

Raymond Legrand (May 23, 1908, Paris - November 25, 1974, Nanterre) was a French composer and conductor. Legrand studied harmony and orchestration as a pupil of Gabriel Faure. He married Marcelle Der Mikaëlian (sister of Jacques Hélian) in 1929; their children were the singer Christiane Legrand, born in 1930 and the composer Michel Legrand, born in 1932. By 1935, he abandoned his wife and children. In 1943, he had a son, Michel-Patrick Legrand with the singer Irène de Trébert. During the Second World War, he participated in the Collaboration with the Vichy government. In 1946, he divorced, and several years later married Paulette Bonimond; they had two children, the writer Benjamin Legrand and the painter Olivier Legrand. In the realms of jazz and light music, he made arrangements for Ray Ventura and his ensemble from 1934, before assembling his own group under the Occupation. He surrounded himself with former musicians met while with Ventura, especially Henri Bourtayre (composition) and Guy Dejardin (arrangement, orchestration). Raymond Legrand's orchestra included Irène de Trébert, Maurice Chevalier, Georges Guétary, Tino Rossi, and Colette Renard, with whom he married in 1960 and divorced in 1969 (after his divorce from Paulette Bonimont). He also collaborated with figures of French song like Francis Lemarque, Mouloudji, Édith Piaf and Henri Salvador. In 1948, he directed the orchestra for the recording of C'est si bon by Les Soeurs Étienne, which became a hit. In 1966, his son Michel Legrand directed the orchestra for the version of this song by Barbra Streisand on the album Color Me Barbra. In 1971, he divorced again to marry Martine Leroy, with whom he had a daughter, Coralie Legrand. He also composed copiously for film.

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