Burt Bacharach

The songwriter and pianist wrote hundreds of songs from the 1960s to the 1980s, many with his long-standing lyricist Hal David, who died in 2012 aged 91.

He was preceded in death by his daughter with Angie Dickinson, Nikki Bacharach. Compose in Power forever Burt Bacharach.” Dave Davies, co-founder and guitarist of The Kinks, also praised Bacharach as a “great inspiration” to his own music. He credited much of his style to his love of bebop and to his classical education, especially under the tutelage of Darius Milhaud, the famed composer.

Burt Bacharach, the debonair pop composer, arranger, conductor, record producer and occasional singer whose hit songs in the 1960s distilled that decade's ...

In December 2011, Some Lovers, a musical for which he wrote the music and Steven Sater wrote the lyrics, opened at the Old Globe in San Diego. In 2013, Bacharach began collaborating with Costello, Sater and television writer and producer Chuck Lorre on a stage musical based on the Painted From Memory album but also including new songs. After the Lost Horizon debacle, Bacharach worked predominantly as a concert performer, conducting his own instrumental suites and singing his own songs in an easy-going voice with a narrow range. (An earlier revue based on the Bacharach-David catalogue, The Look of Love, had a brief Broadway run in 2003.) As recently as 2020, Bacharach was still writing new music, releasing a collaboration with singer-songwriter Melody Federer. All the elements of Bacharach’s style coalesced in Warwick’s recordings, which he produced with David and arranged himself. While serving in the army in the early 1950s, he played piano, worked as a dance-band arranger and met singer Vic Damone, with whom he later toured as an accompanist. Bacharach’s emerging melodic signature was discernible in early 1960s hits such as Chuck Jackson’s Any Day Now (lyrics by Hilliard) and Make It Easy on Yourself (lyrics by David), a success for Jerry Butler in the United States and the Walker Brothers in Britain. He became German actor and singer Marlene Dietrich’s musical director in 1958 and toured with her for two years in the United States and Europe. Bacharach-David songs such as The Look of Love (Dusty Springfield’s sultry 1967 hit, featured in the movie Casino Royale), This Guy’s in Love With You (a No1 hit in 1968 for Herb Alpert), and (They Long to Be) Close to You (a No1 hit in 1970 for the Carpenters) evoked an upscale world of jet travel, sports cars and sleek bachelor pads. The artistic synergy of Bacharach, David and Warwick defined the voice of a young, passionate, on-the-go Everywoman bursting with romantic eagerness and vulnerability. Bacharach met Warwick at a recording session for the Drifters that included Mexican Divorce and Please Stay, two songs he wrote with lyricist Bob Hilliard. Bacharach collaborated with many lyricists over the years, and even wrote some of his own words.

Bacharach's hits also included Walk On By and Do You Know The Way To San Jose. The musician wrote for stars including Dionne Warwick, Cilla Black, ...

He was a great inspiration." I'd hear rhymes, I'd hear thoughts and I'd hear it almost immediately." Farewell Burt Bacharach, you were a king." I'd hear his melodies and I'd hear lyrics. Journalist Tony Parsons tweeted: "If Elvis gave the music its body and Dylan gave the music its mind, then beautiful Burt Bacharach gave the music its grace, sophistication, and class." On his Instagram page, a homage was paid to Bacharach as a "father, husband and friend".

Burt Bacharach, the acclaimed composer and songwriter behind dozens of mellow pop hits from the 1950s to the 1980s, including "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My ...

His collaborations with the lyricist Hal David — “The Look of Love,” “Walk On By,” “Alfie” and many more hits — evoked a sleek era of airy romance.

[Marty Robbins’s “The Story of My Life”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrHZCmVQnNA) and [Perry Como’s “Magic Moments.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ_hWTuSYSk) Mr. [“God Give Me Strength”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwyvIf-TmA) for the 1996 film “Grace of My Heart,” loosely based on the life of Carole King. [“On My Own”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-SQRJbtMqs) and the AIDS fund-raising anthem [“That’s What Friends Are For,”](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=that%27s+what+friends+are+for+dionne+warwick) which went on to win the Grammy for song of the year. Warwick in the pop-soul balladeer Luther Vandross, whose lush 1980s remakes of [“A House Is Not a Home”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGib6okEeZ4) and [“Anyone Who Had a Heart”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlrhuppiCcg) transformed them into dreamy quasi-operatic arias decorated with florid gospel melismas. Hilliard) and [“Make It Easy on Yourself”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvuk9KddXb8) (lyrics by Mr. [“Mexican Divorce”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UwQjkmQ5KM) and [“Please Stay,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iY2UpSz9Vs) two songs he wrote with the lyricist Bob Hilliard. And the Bacharach-David team conquered Broadway in December 1968 with [“Promises, Promises.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNwOVUFec-E&list=PL7BF367F005988986) [“The Look of Love”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf1d65OHYXo) (Dusty Springfield’s sultry 1967 hit, featured in the movie “Casino Royale”), [“This Guy’s in Love With You”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppYnbbu1OmA) (a No. [title song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpKAnp5Klzw) and the folk-pop ballad [“I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzQBOBoPg04) and was nominated for seven Tony Awards. His original score for the 1969 film [“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK7nbdW23KY&list=PLf10VA90zVAreb5bqHEM3W3ztRXw3ulpW) which included “Raindrops” (a No. [“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sySlY1XKlhM) written with Mr. [“Don’t Make Me Over”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEgxuE7WD6U) in 1962, the team turned out a steady stream of hits for Ms.

Over his career, he scored 73 Top 40 hits in the US and 52 in the UK, working with artists including Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Barbara ...

I was caught in the drift of things," he later reflected. what a loss to the songwriting world and to all of us— DavidGArnold (@DavidGArnold) I was very fortunate." "His observation was: Never be ashamed of something that's melodic, one could whistle," Bacharach recalled. After graduating from school, he studied music theory and composition. It was a pleasure to have known you." "I wasn't chasing it. It was a "very costly and unfortunate" dispute, Bacharach told the Guardian in 2019, adding: "I stupidly handled it wrong." His songs will live forever," he added. [Dave Davies said](https://twitter.com/davedavieskinks/status/1623707915763720193) Bacharach was "probably one of the most influential songwriters of our time" and "a great inspiration". one of the greatest songwriters of all time who found the finest lyricists to match his elegant ,sophisticated , beguiling , intensely beautiful melodic and harmonic skill . [The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson](https://twitter.com/BrianWilsonLive/status/1623720764372402179) said he was "a hero of mine and very influential on my work", adding: "He was a giant in the music business.

The Grammy and Oscar-winning songwriter and musician was responsible for hundreds of popular songs including I Say A Little Prayer and Walk On By.

In his later years, Bacharach developed a 30-year songwriting partnership with British new wave rocker Elvis Costello, and the pair are due to release a compilation of their works in March. The Grammy and Oscar-winning songwriter and musician died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes. One of the most accomplished composers of the 20th century, Burt Bacharach entertained millions with his melodies and worked with some of the best in the music business.

Composer Burt Bacharach - perhaps best known for his Oscar-winning song Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head - has died aged 94. Hailed as one of the greatest ...

Looking back on his time with her in his autobiography, Bacharach wrote: "We went to Russia, Israel, the Middle East. Without doubt, his most enduring and fruitful professional relationship was with lyricist Hal David, who he met in 1957. It was finally settled out of court in 1979 for $5m (£4.1m). It was thanks to his mother's love of music that Bacharach undertook piano lessons as a child. One after his Neil Diamond collaboration, inspired by film E.T. Their first and only Broadway show, it won them a Grammy. It went on to be sung by stars including Barbra Streisand, The Four Seasons and The Wailers. The family moved to New York when he was three. In the 1980s, Bacharach's music inspired many of the songs coming out of the post-punk era, and in the 1990s his work was introduced to a whole new generation of fans thanks to a lounge music resurgence, led by bands including Divine Comedy and The Mike Flowers Pops. Burt Bacharach also collaborated with stars including Frank Sinatra, Cilla Black, and even Dr Dre. Not a fan of the classical music he would play in his classes, he would later sneak into jazz clubs as a teenager, with the style going on to influence his songwriting later in his career. His mention in Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life was proof of his rightful place in pop culture, as well as his reputation as a ladies man.

Songwriter whose hits, including I Say a Little Prayer and Walk On By, became classics of easy-listening pop.

He continued to tour past his 90th birthday, with [concerts in the UK](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/08/burt-bacharach-review-masterclass-in-melody-by-pop-maverick), US and Europe in 2018 and [2019](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/17/burt-bacharach-review-hammersmith-apollo-london-joss-stone). His autobiography, [Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/21/burt-bacharach-anyone-heart-review), was published in 2013, and in 2015 he performed at the [Glastonbury festival](https://www.theguardian.com/music/glastonbury). In 1997, an all-star cast including Costello, Warwick, [Chrissie Hynde](https://www.theguardian.com/music/chrissie-hynde), [Sheryl Crow](https://www.theguardian.com/music/sheryl-crow) and [Luther Vandross](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jul/04/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries2) banded together at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, for a serenade of Bacharach’s songs called One Amazing Night, and the Rhino label issued The Look of Love, a three-disc compilation of his music. In 1986, Bacharach enjoyed one of his best ever years, achieving two US No 1s with [That’s What Friends Are for](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1iXlyRa47A), recorded by Warwick with [Elton John](https://www.theguardian.com/music/elton-john), [Gladys Knight](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/02/gladys-knight-review-a-masterclass-in-enduring-talent) and [Stevie Wonder](https://www.theguardian.com/music/steviewonder) as a charitable fundraiser for Aids, and the Patti LaBelle/Michael McDonald recording of the lachrymose [On My Own](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsH63qJlIMM). [Cilla Black](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/aug/02/cilla-black) – whose version of [Anyone Who Had a Heart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUxn6JLwdDY) was her breakthrough hit – [Sandie Shaw](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/may/29/sandie-shaw-this-much-i-know), the Walker Brothers and [Frankie Vaughan](https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/sep/18/guardianobituaries). In 1995 he co-wrote [God Give Me Strength](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwyvIf-TmA) with [Elvis Costello](https://www.theguardian.com/music/elviscostello) for Allison Anders’ film about the Brill Building era, Grace of My Heart, and this resulted in the Costello-Bacharach album Painted from Memory (1998). [Mike Myers’s](https://www.theguardian.com/film/mike-myers) 60s-spoofing Austin Powers films. [Aretha Franklin](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/16/aretha-franklin-obituary) a US Top 10 hit and [her biggest solo hit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8y0onSG3kg) in Britain, where it reached No 4. [The Carpenters](https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/aug/02/the-carpenters-10-of-the-best) ushered in the 70s with [(They Long to Be) Close to You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT86AoSGEL8), a US No 1 which also reached No 6 in the UK, but although Bacharach’s 1971 album (called just Burt Bacharach) became a sought-after collector’s item, the decade would prove disappointing. A cover version by Michael Holliday reached No 1 in the UK the following year, and [Perry Como](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/may/14/guardianobituaries) brought them another smash with his recording of [Magic Moments](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ND3oghPL5M), which spent eight weeks at No 1 in Britain. [Tom Jones](https://www.theguardian.com/music/tom-jones) never particularly liked [What’s New, Pussycat?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQvIAs-nPSo), the Oscar-nominated theme from the 1965 film of the same name, but acknowledged its enduring popularity. Bacharach was an Oscar-winner for a third time in 1982, with [Arthur’s Theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOBHXxiZyZM) from the film Arthur.

Along with lyricist Hal David, he created hits for Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones and Dionne Warwick among many others, as well as numerous movie themes. Here is ...

We've saved the best Bacharach track, according to Spotify's algorithm, for last. "I thought, I'm going to punch the [stuffing] out of it on What's New Pussycat," said Jones. I have to have a voice of authority.'" This desperately heartfelt and horn-filled break-up ballad, written by Bacharach and David, gave Dusty Springfield a number three hit in the UK in the summer of 1964. Written by Bacharach, Luther Dixon and Mack David about surrendering to the powers of love (despite your mates trying to warn you off the idea), this was recorded and released by girl group The Shirelles in 1961, giving them a number eight hit in the US. One of Warwick's best-loved songs peaked at number six in the US in 1964, giving her a second international million-seller, following Anyone Who Had A Heart. "And Burt said, 'That's what I want. Nominated for an Oscar in 1966 for best original song, this was the theme for the comedy film of the same name starring Peter Sellers and Peter O'Toole. It tells the story of a woman thinking of a partner who is on his way to the Vietnam War. A young Cher reworked the track as the theme song of the 1966 movie of the same name, starring Michael Caine, and it was also sung, with chart success, by Warwick. It was later covered in the UK by Cilla Black, whose version turned out to be one of the biggest female chart hits in 1960s, staying at number one for three weeks. Its appeal continued through to the 1980s, when it was famously chosen to advertise Quality Street sweets; the '90s, when British pop group Erasure cut a version; and the 2000s, when it featured in the hit movie Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.

You need to hear only a few bars of a Bacharach song to sense his singular gift.

Henry](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/05/are-all-short-stories-o-henry-stories) story, “The Gift of the Magi.” Congratulating him on his body of work, one sensed a just detectable wince at hearing his sixties music praised all over again, in the predictable way of such things. Whereas Irving Berlin and [Paul McCartney](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/paul-mccartney-doesnt-really-want-to-stop-the-show) are fountains of music of many kinds, a smaller group make music that sounds like that of no one else on earth. “Painted from Memory” and “This House Is Empty Now” and the haunting “In the Darkest Place” will live on as recordings. [Ishtar](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/elaine-may-talks-about-ishtar),” it has never had a rescue operation attempted on its behalf—remained the singular painful trauma in Bacharach’s career. David and Bacharach, with Warwick as an incidental casualty, broke apart in 1973 with the car-crash production of a single Hollywood film. (One of his early songs, “Baby, It’s You,” made a memorable appearance in

He was dubbed 'easy listening' but this was nonsense. His dazzling music, a result of classical tuition and nights in bebop clubs, defied categories – and ...

It’s a state of affairs that’s true today, and a state of affairs that seems unlikely ever to change. He first had hits in the 1950s, Magic Moments among them, but it was as the 1960s dawned, and his partnership with David blossomed that his career ignited. They started writing one impermeable classic after another – to the songs already mentioned you can add The Look of Love, I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself, Wives and Lovers, I Say a Little Prayer, (There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me, Make It Easy on Yourself and I’ll Never Fall in Love Again among umpteen others. But in reality, the easy listening label was lazy to the point of being nonsensical, not least because – as any musician will tell you – Bacharach’s songs were seldom easy. He made music that was genuinely sui generis: rock bands could record his songs, so could mum-friendly crooners, so could soul singers and jazz musicians. Listen to Herb Alpert’s version of This Guy’s in Love With You.

Songwriter whose hits, including 'I Say a Little Prayer' and 'Walk on By', became classics of easy-listening pop.

In 2011, the Library of Congress awarded Bacharach and David the Gershwin prize for popular song. The Carpenters ushered in the 70s with '(They Long to Be) Close to You', a US No 1 which also reached No 6 in the UK, but although Bacharach’s 1971 album (called just Burt Bacharach) became a sought-after collector’s item, the decade would prove disappointing. In 1991 his marriage to Bayer Sager ended, and two years later he married Jane Hansen. She was a member of the Drifters’ backing group, the Gospelaires, and the songwriters invited her to make some demo recordings at their office at the publishers Famous Music, in the Brill Building. After the breakdown of his marriage (he and Stewart divorced in 1958), Bacharach travelled to Europe to become pianist and bandleader for Marlene Dietrich, a role he would sustain until 1964. One of its co-writers was the lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, whom Bacharach married the following year. By 1961 he was back in New York, and wrote some material for the Drifters, as well as the Chuck Jackson hit 'Any Day Now' before resuming his partnership with David. One of them was the actor and singer Paula Stewart, whom he married in 1953. His gifts as an arranger allowed him to exploit all the resources of an orchestra with precision, and his use of plaintive “Bacharach trumpets” became a distinctive trademark. Bacharach was an Oscar-winner for a third time in 1982, with Arthur’s Theme from the film Arthur. He was fortunate to fall into one of the all-time great songwriting partnerships with David, whom he first met at the New York songwriting beehive, the Brill Building (also to be the home of other renowned songwriting duos including Leiber & Stoller, Goffin & King, and Pomus & Shuman). At the insistence of his mother, Burt studied the cello, drums, and piano.

Obituary: Bacharach's sophisticated collaborations with Hal David — The Look of Love, Walk On By, Alfie and many more — evoked a sleek era of airy romance.

In December 2011, Some Lovers, a musical for which he wrote the music and Steven Sater wrote the lyrics, opened at the Old Globe in San Diego, in California. In 2013, Bacharach began collaborating with Costello, Sater and the television writer and producer Chuck Lorre on a stage musical based on the Painted from Memory album but also including new songs. (An earlier revue based on the Bacharach-David catalogue, The Look of Love, had a brief Broadway run in 2003.) As recently as 2020, Bacharach was still writing new music, releasing a collaboration with the singer-songwriter Melody Federer. After the Lost Horizon debacle, Bacharach worked predominantly as a concert performer, conducting his own instrumental suites and singing his own songs in an easy-going voice with a narrow range. All the elements of Bacharach’s style coalesced in Warwick’s recordings, which he produced with David and arranged himself. He became musical director for Marlene Dietrich, the German actor and singer, in 1958 and toured with her for two years in the United States and Europe. Bacharach’s emerging melodic signature was discernible in early 1960s hits like Chuck Jackson’s Any Day Now (lyrics by Hilliard) and Make It Easy on Yourself (lyrics by David), a success for Jerry Butler in the United States and the Walker Brothers in Britain. While serving in the US army in the early 1950s, he played piano, worked as a dance-band arranger and met the singer Vic Damone, with whom he later toured as an accompanist. Bacharach-David songs like The Look of Love (Dusty Springfield’s sultry 1967 hit, featured in the movie Casino Royale), This Guy’s in Love with You (a US No 1 in 1968 for Herb Alpert) and (They Long to Be) Close to You (a US No 1 in 1970 for The Carpenters) evoked an upscale world of jet travel, sports cars and sleek bachelor pads. The artistic synergy of Bacharach, David and Warwick defined the voice of a young, passionate, on-the-go Everywoman bursting with romantic eagerness and vulnerability. Bacharach met Warwick at a recording session for The Drifters that included Mexican Divorce and Please Stay, two songs he wrote with the lyricist Bob Hilliard. The team’s artistic chemistry solidified in 1962, beginning with the hits they wrote and produced for Dionne Warwick, a gifted young gospel-trained singer from New Jersey.

Burt Bacharach, who has died aged 94, was an enthusiastic racehorse owner and breeder for more than 50 years and enjoyed his latest winner only last month ...

It was the one night he came back with Dionne Warwick. He said: Burt was just a good friend. The filly’s regular jockey Laffit Pincay rode Bacharach’s first winner Battle Royal in 1968.

Recording with Hal David, Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin, the late songwriter's discog includes some of the best pop songs ever written.

Proof that Bacharach’s melodies were strong enough to be carried even by people who couldn’t really sing came when the trumpeter Herb Alpert sighed his way through This Guy’s in Love With You – and sounded perfectly suited to it, like someone wandering through a park in the afternoon sun, unable to believe his good fortune. The next three might be the best pop songs ever written, and in the case of this one, Bacharach and David were definitely served by having Aretha Franklin sing it (if Warwick was the pair’s definitive interpreter, she couldn’t get near Franklin on I Say a Little Prayer). First recorded by the actor Richard Chamberlain in 1963, but brought to perfection in 1970 by the Carpenters, Close to You highlights one of Bacharach’s preferred tricks – an instrumental melody line that’s jaunty and melancholy.