The Bodyguard soundtrack guru Gary LeMel dead at 80

Gary Lemel, the soundtrack guru behind classic film albums The Bodyguard, Ghostbusters and Barbra Streisand’s A Star Is Born, has died, aged 80.
The former Warner Bros. head of music, who also supervised soundtracks for the films The Big Chill, You’ve Got Mail, the Harry Potter films, and St. Elmo’s Fire, passed away on Saturday (06Jul19).
Dubbed the Godfather of the Modern Soundtrack, LeMel was born in London and started his career in music publishing and artist management.
He became known for his soundtrack work after supervising Barbra Streisand’s A Star Is Born album in the mid-1970s.
He also had a brief stint as a performer, releasing a debut album of standards in 1964.
But his career really took off at Columbia Pictures in the early 1980s, when he oversaw soundtracks for a series of huge films.
His biggest success came when he was an executive at Warner Bros. and he was asked to supervise the soundtrack to 1992’s The Bodyguard, which went on to sell over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the bestselling soundtrack in history.
He became president of worldwide music and CEO of the Warner Sunset soundtrack label.
LeMel returned to recording his own music in the mid-1990s, according to Billboard, releasing a string of albums featuring his versions of standards and some new material.
In 2017, the Guild of Music Supervisors honoured him with their second-ever Music Supervisors Legacy Award.