Jeremy Michael Lubbock 1931-2021

 _. Jeremy Michael Lubbock, who died in Oxfordshire,  29 January, 2021, aged 89, was a scion of the Lubbock baronets [now the Barons Avebury]. He was a Grammy-winning pianist, arranger, and songwriter.

Born in Berkshire, he learned piano as a child, and discovered jazz and other American popular music in his teens. He studied architecture at Oxford University, while also occasionally performing as a jazz pianist and vocalist in clubs in London and Paris, much in the style of Nat King Cole. In the late 1950s, he made some recordings as a singer and pianist, and started a career in which he toured round the world as a performer and arranger, in which he acquired a special talent.

He moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1977, and worked on Joni Mitchell's album Mingus, and Minnie Riperton's final album Minnie. In following years, he worked with David Foster, Quincy Jones, Chicago, and many others. He won Grammy Awards for his arrangements on Chicago's "Hard Habit to Break" in 1984, and for Celine Dion's "When I Fall in Love", from the film Sleepless in Seattle, in 1994. He also received 11 additional nominations for his arrangements. As a songwriter, Lubbock co-wrote "The Best of Me", recorded by Cliff Richard, Barry Manilow, and many others.

Jeremy Lubbock was born 4 June, 1931, son of Colonel Michael Ronald Lubbock [1906-89], and his wife the former Diana Beatrice Crawley [died 1976], who was a great-granddaughter of the 1st Earl of Cranbrook [1814-1906].

He married firstly, in 1956 [div 1959], Jill Caroline Nicholls, daughter of Eric Nicholls. He married 2ndly, 6 September, 1963, Shelagh Mary Lang, daughter of Richard Lang, of Cape Province, South Africa; he married 3rdly, in 1974 [div 1987], his cousin, Philippa Harriet Chadwyck-Healey [born 13 May, 1943], scion of the baronets of that name, daughter of Lt-Col Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey, 4th Baronet [1910-86], and the former Viola Lubbock [1912-95]. He married 4thly, in 1993 [div 2009], Melissa Vardey, daughter of Lewis George Vardey.

Jeremy Lubbock leaves a son Justin [born 18 Dec, 1956], from his first marriage; a daughter, Lindsay Brigid [born 17 Mar 1965], from his second marriage, and a son, Rowan [born 23 Jan, 1981], and daughter, Holly [born 29 Aug, 1976], from his third marriage.

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