Alan Bergman

Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925) is an American lyricist and songwriter.

Life & career

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UCLA. His involvement in the entertainment industry began in the early 1950s as a director of children's television shows. He and his wife Marilyn Bergman, whom he married in 1958, were born in the same hospital and raised in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, but did not meet until each had relocated to Los Angeles. Together they have written the music and lyrics for numerous television shows, films, and stage musicals.

In 1983, the couple became the first songwriters ever to have written three of the five tunes nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song - "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" from Best Friends, "It Might Be You" from Tootsie (with Dave Grusin), and "If We Were in Love" from Yes, Giorgio (with John Williams); "Up Where We Belong" from "An Officer and a Gentleman" won that year.They also wrote the popular theme song And Then There's Maude for the hit Norman Lear television series Maude .

Bergman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and in 1995 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berklee College of Music. He is a member of the board of Barbra Streisand's charitable foundation. In 2011, he was presented with a Distinguished Alumnus award from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Works

Bergman's and his wife's credits include:

• Lyrics for The Windmills of Your Mind, You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Yellow Bird, What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?, How Do You Keep The Music Playing?, and the score from Yentl, with music by Michel Legrand
• Lyrics for The Way We Were, with music by Marvin Hamlisch
• Lyrics and music for Ballroom, a 1978 Broadway musical, Never Say Never Again from the film of the same name, the theme songs for the television series The Sandy Duncan Show, Maude, Good Times, and Moonlight, featured in the film Sabrina.
• Lyrics for I Knew I Loved You, the Quincy-Jones-produced Céline Dion song that was the theme for the movie Once Upon a Time in America.
• Lyrics for The Last Time I Felt Like This with music by Marvin Hamlisch for the film Same Time, Next Year
• Lyrics for Something More! with music by Sammy Fain
• Bergman's talents can be seen on Jones's new podcast The Quincy Jones Show.
• Lyrics for One Washes, One Dries with music by Marvin Hamlisch
• Michel Legrand and the Bergmans wrote all but two of the songs for Sarah Vaughan's 1972 studio album Sarah Vaughan with Michel Legrand.

In 2007, Bergman released his first album as a vocalist, Lyrically, Alan Bergman, featuring some of the Bergmans' best known lyrics. Barbra Streisand's 2011 album What Matters Most was recorded in tribute to the Bergmans.

External links

• Official website of Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman
• Interview with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman with Fresh Air's Terry Gross (8/21/07)