Video: Terre Blair – Marvin Hamlisch was the ‘people’s composer’

Speaking at Sunday’s Whatsonstage.com Awards, composer Marvin Hamlisch‘s widow Terre Blair spoke movingly of her husband’s musical legacy.

Blair, who was married to Hamlisch for 23 years, flew over to collect the Autograph Best Original Music award – a newly created category – on his behalf.

Hamlisch, who died last August, won the award for his 2002 Broadway musical Sweet Smell of Success, which received its UK professional premiere at the Arcola in November. His many other musical theatre credits include A Chorus Line, which recently opened at the London Palladium.

“Marvin didn’t write music for money, he didn’t write it for fame, he wrote it for the people,” Blair said, “and that’s why this award would mean more than any other award to him.”

She added: “Before he died I asked him how he felt about writing music that isn’t critically acclaimed at the time you write it and he said ‘I think I’m okay with it because I’ll be known in history as the people’s composer’… and here we have it, the people’s composer gets the people’s award.”

Watch Terre Blair’s full interview with Joe Pike below. You can see all the acceptance speeches from Sunday’s Concert on our YouTube channel.