Leslie Bricusse

Leslie Charles Bricusse (29 January 1931 – 19 October 2021) was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright born in Southfields, London. His father, Cedric Bricusse, worked for Kelmsley Newspapers, and his paternal grandfather was Belgian while his maternal grandfather came from Belfast. When Bricusse was two, the family moved to Pinner, Middlesex, where he was educated at University College School, Hampstead. Following two years of National Service with the Royal Army Service Corps, he studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, serving as secretary of the Footlights society in 1952–53 and as its president the following year. He also founded the Cambridge University Musical Comedy Club and wrote the lyrics for its inaugural production, Lady at the Wheel, in 1953. His college drama activities brought him into contact with Beatrice Lillie, and after spending a year performing in her stage show An Evening with Beatrice Lillie, he chose to focus on writing rather than performing.

Bricusse's most sustained creative partnership was with Anthony Newley, with whom he collaborated across several decades. Together they wrote Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, which opened in 1961 and featured "What Kind of Fool Am I?," a song that won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. A film adaptation followed in 1966. The pair subsequently wrote The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, which reached Broadway in 1965 and earned Bricusse a Tony Award nomination for Best Composer and Lyricist. Their collaboration extended to film: the music they wrote for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), based on Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song Score. When working together, the two men referred to themselves by the nicknames "Brickman and Newburg," with Ian Fraser frequently handling their arrangements.

Working independently of Newley, Bricusse collaborated with composer Cyril Ornadel on Pickwick (1963), a musical based on Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers that served as a vehicle for Harry Secombe. He wrote the music, lyrics, and screenplay for the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle, which co-starred Newley; though the film underperformed commercially, its song "Talk to the Animals" won Bricusse the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He also scored Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1969. His film work extended to the James Bond franchise, where he co-wrote the title songs "Goldfinger" (with John Barry and Anthony Newley) and "You Only Live Twice" (with Barry), performed by Shirley Bassey and Nancy Sinatra respectively. Additional film collaborations included work with Henry Mancini on Victor/Victoria (1982) and with John Williams on the Superman love theme "Can You Read My Mind?" (1978).

On Broadway, Bricusse contributed to five productions. Stop the World – I Want to Get Off and The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd both transferred from the West End to New York. His Broadway credits also include Jekyll & Hyde, for which he wrote the lyrics, Victor/Victoria, and Mr. Pickwick. The 1997 production of Jekyll & Hyde brought him a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical.

His songs were recorded by a wide range of artists. Sammy Davis Jr. had hits with "What Kind of Fool Am I?" in 1962 and "The Candy Man" in 1972, the latter reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. Other artists who recorded his material include Nina Simone ("Feeling Good"), Matt Monro and Frank Sinatra ("My Kind of Girl"), Harry Secombe ("If I Ruled the World"), The Turtles ("A Guide for the Married Man"), Maureen McGovern ("Can You Read My Mind"), and Diana Krall ("When I Look in Your Eyes"). He also partnered with George Tipton to write the opening theme for the American television sitcom It's a Living.

Bricusse was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989 and received the Order of the British Empire in 2001 for services to the film industry and the theatre, presented by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2015 he published a memoir, Pure Imagination: A Sorta-Biography, with a foreword by Elton John. A stage revue celebrating his work with Newley, Pure Imagination: The World of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, directed by Bruce Kimmel, opened at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California, in December 2013 before transferring to the St James Theatre in London in 2015.

Bricusse married actress Yvonne "Evie" Romain on 18 October 1958 at St James's Church, Marylebone. Their son, Adam Cedric, born 4 April 1964, studied fine art at Merton College, Oxford, and pursued a career as an artist. Bricusse divided his time between California and a London apartment overlooking the River Thames. He died in his sleep in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, on 19 October 2021, at the age of 90. In 2024, his wife donated his papers, including 225 notebooks, to the Library of Congress.