David Shire

David Shire
Shire in New York City with pianist and composer Andrew Gerle and bassist Danny Weller on September 20, 2013.
Born	David Lee Shire (1937-07-03) July 3, 1937 (age 79) Buffalo, New York, United States
Spouse(s)	Talia Shire (1970-1980) Didi Conn (1982-present)

David Lee Shire (born July 3, 1937) is an American songwriter and composer of stage musicals, film and television scores. The soundtrack to the 1974 movie The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, the soundtrack for Francis Coppola's 1974 The Conversation, the soundtrack for Alan J. Pakula's 1976 All the President's Men, and parts of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack such as "Manhattan Skyline", are some of his best-known works. His other work includes the score of the 1985 film Return to Oz (the "sequel-in-part" of The Wizard of Oz), and the stage musical scores of Baby, Big, Closer Than Ever, and Starting Here, Starting Now. Shire is married to actress Didi Conn.

Shire was born in Buffalo, New York, to Esther Miriam (née Sheinberg) and Buffalo society band leader and piano teacher Irving Daniel Shire. His family was Jewish. He met his long-time theater collaborator lyricist/director Richard Maltby, Jr. at Yale University, where they wrote two musicals, Cyrano and Grand Tour, which were produced by the Yale Dramatic Association. Shire also co-fronted a jazz group at school, the Shire-Fogg Quintet, and was a Phi Beta Kappa honors student, with a double major in English and music. He was a member of the Pundits and Elihu and he graduated magna cum laude in 1959.