Lai was born on 26 April 1932, in
Nice, France, the son of
market gardeners of Italian origin. From a very early age, Lai was fascinated by music and he played first in his local regional orchestras. In
Marseille he discovered
jazz and met Claude Goaty, a singer of popular songs in the 1950s. While in his twenties, Lai left home and followed Goaty to
Paris, where he became part of the
Montmartre music scene. At the "Taverne d'Attilio" on the
Place du Tertre in Montmartre, Lai met with whom Lai composed his first song, the start of a partnership which would produce over one hundred songs. After a short period with the orchestra of
Michel Magne, Lai became an accompanist for
Édith Piaf and composed for her. The young Lai received a
Golden Globe Award nomination for "Best Original Score". This initial success brought more opportunities to work for the film industry both in his native France, where he continued to work with Lelouch on scores to films such as
Vivre pour vivre (1967),
Un homme qui me plaît (1969),
Le voyou (1970) and
La bonne année (1973), as well as in the
United Kingdom and the
United States. In 1970, Lai won the
Academy Award for Best Music, Original Score and the
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film
Love Story. In the United States, the
soundtrack album reached No. 2 in the
Billboard album charts and the film's theme, "
Where Do I Begin", was a hit
single with lyrics by
Carl Sigman for singer
Andy Williams. The song would also be recorded successfully by Lai himself, with a full orchestra, and by
Henry Mancini and
Shirley Bassey. Lai's "Love Story" theme was heard in the 1978
Love Story sequel titled ''
Oliver's Story'', although the main score was composed by Lee Holdridge. His movie scores included films as diverse as
Mayerling, ''
Three into Two Won't Go, International Velvet, Édith et Marcel, and Michael Winner films such as I'll Never Forget What's'isname and Hannibal Brooks. Lai also had success with music written for softcore erotic films like Emmanuelle 2 (1975) and Bilitis (1977). Reviewing the soundtrack for Bilitis'' for
AllMusic, Thom Jurek said: "The result would be hilarious if it weren't so predictable. This music is light to the point of almost not being there... Lai uses synthesizers, acoustic guitars, and a truckload of strings to weave what is supposed to be the perfect setting for two young lovers to do what young lovers do, but has it all coming out of the wash sounding like a commercial for those laundry detergents that are airy fresh, or a silent movie score where the music is supposed to tell you that this is a pensive moment." His composition "Aujourd'hui C'est Toi" (Today It's You) is probably best known in the UK as the theme music for the long-running
BBC current affairs documentary series
Panorama. In a career spanning forty years, Lai also wrote music for television programs and alone or in collaboration with others composed music for more than one hundred films and personally wrote more than six hundred songs. He wrote the music for the
Perry Como hit "
I Think of You", with lyrics by
Rod McKuen. ==Personal life and death==