Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94

Burt Bacharach, a composer who gave rock ‘n’ roll a gentle alternative soundtrack in the 1960s and 1970s with singles like “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” has away on Thursday at the age of 94, according to his publicist.

Bacharach passed away on Wednesday at his Los Angeles home from natural causes, surrounded by his loved ones, according to Tina Brausam, who spoke to the Reuters news agency.

His songs were neither purely pop nor rock; several were written during the course of a 16-year relationship with writer Hal David. They were as commonly heard in the 1960s and early 1970s as songs by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. They were played nonstop on American radio stations and starred in big motion pictures.

More than 500 songs were written by Bacharach, many of which had horn hooks that were gently alluring and the piano tinkling. He wrote songs for vocalists including the Carpenters and Dionne Warwick. His tunes were sung by over 1,200 musicians and won six Grammys and three Oscars. In the 1960s alone, Bacharach and David scored thirty Top 40 singles.

In an interview, David once said, “He was just different.” “Inventive and inventive. I could hear it in his songs. I would listen to his tunes, and

I’d hear lyrics, I’d hear rhymes, I’d hear thoughts and I’d hear it almost immediately.”

For Bacharach, his talent was simple: “I’m a person that always tries to deal with melody.”

Composer Sammy Cahn referred to Bacharach as “the only songwriter who doesn’t look like a dentist” because of his elegant good looks and laid-back attitude.

Songs by Bacharach were recorded by literally every artist from Aretha (Franklin) to Zoot (Sims).

“The shorthand version of him is that he’s something to do with easy listening,” Elvis Costello, who wrote the 1998 album Painted from Memory with Bacharach, said in a 2018 interview with The Associated Press. “It may be agreeable to listen to these songs, but there’s nothing easy about them. Try playing them. Try singing them.”

A box set, The Songs of Bacharach & Costello, is due to come out on March 3.

In addition to six Grammys for his songs, he was honoured with a seventh for an instrumental album and the lifetime achievement award,

He received two Academy Awards in 1970 for the score of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and for the song Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, which he shared with David. In 1982, he and his then-wife, lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, won an Oscar for Best That You Can Do, the theme from the movie Arthur. His other movie soundtracks included What’s New, Pussycat?, Alfie and the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale.

Bacharach was a frequent guest at the White House whether the president was Republican or Democrat. In 2012, he was presented the Gershwin Prize by Barack Obama, who had sung a few seconds of Walk on By during a campaign appearance.

Married four times, Bacharach formed his most lasting ties to work. He was a perfectionist who took three weeks to write Alfie and might spend hours tweaking a single chord. Sager once observed that Bacharach’s life routines essentially stayed the same – only the wives changed.

A pianist passionate about jazz, Bacharach was born on May 12, 1928, in Kansas City, Missouri, and studied the art of composition in several American universities.

Bacharach was drafted into the army in the late 1940s and was still on active duty during the Korean War, but officers stateside soon learned of his gifts and wanted him at home. When he did go overseas, it was to Germany, where he wrote orchestrations for a recreation centre on a military base.

After his military service, he was hired by Marlene Dietrich as an arranger and musical director for her tours.

The young musician and ageless singer quickly clicked, and Bacharach travelled the world with her in the late 1950s and early 60s. During each performance, she would introduce him in grand style: “I would like you to meet the man – he’s my arranger, he’s my accompanist, he’s my conductor, and I wish I could say he’s my composer, but that isn’t true. He’s everybody’s composer – Burt Bacharach!”