Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer and Oscar winner who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of 鈥淲alk on By,鈥� 鈥淒o You Know the Way to San Jose鈥� and dozens of other hits, has died at 94.
Bacharach died Wednesday at home in Los Angeles of natural causes, publicist Tina Brausam said Thursday.
Over the past 70 years, only Lennon-McCartney, Carole King and a handful of others rivaled his genius for instantly catchy songs that remained performed, played and hummed long after they were written.
He had a run of top 10 hits from the 1950s into the 21st century, and his music was heard everywhere from movie soundtracks and radios to home stereo systems and iPods, whether 鈥淎lfie鈥� and 鈥淚 Say a Little Prayer鈥� or 鈥淚鈥檒l Never Fall in Love Again鈥� and 鈥淭his Guy鈥檚 in Love with You.鈥�
Dionne Warwick was his favorite interpreter, but Bacharach, usually in tandem with lyricist Hal David, also created prime material for Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones and many others. Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Frank Sinatra were among the countless artists who covered his songs, with more recent performers who sung or sampled him including White Stripes, Twista and Ashanti. 鈥淲alk On By鈥� alone was covered by everyone from Warwick and Isaac Hayes to the British punk band the Stranglers and Cyndi Lauper.
Bacharach was both an innovator and throwback, and his career seemed to run parallel to the rock era. He grew up on jazz and classical music and had little taste for rock when he was breaking into the business in the 1950s. His sensibility often seemed more aligned with Tin Pan Alley than with Bob Dylan, John Lennon and other writers who later emerged, but rock composers appreciated the depth of his seemingly old-fashioned sensibility.
鈥淭he shorthand version of him is that he鈥檚 something to do with easy listening,鈥� Elvis Costello, who wrote the 1998 album 鈥淧ainted from Memory鈥� with Bacharach, said in a 2018 interview with The Associated Press. 鈥淚t may be agreeable to listen to these songs, but there鈥檚 nothing easy about them. Try playing them. Try singing them.鈥�
He triumphed in many artforms. He was an eight-time Grammy winner, a prize-winning Broadway composer for 鈥淧romises, Promises鈥� and a three-time Oscar winner. He received two Academy Awards in 1970, for the score of 鈥淏utch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid鈥� and for the song 鈥淩aindrops Keep Fallin鈥� on My Head鈥� (shared with David). In 1982, he and his then-wife, lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, won Oscars for 鈥淏est That You Can Do,鈥� the theme from 鈥淎rthur. His other movie soundtracks included 鈥淲hat鈥檚 New, Pussycat?鈥�, 鈥淎lfie鈥� and the 1967 James Bond spoof 鈥淐asino Royale.鈥�
Bacharach was well rewarded, and well connected. He was a frequent guest at the White House, whether the president was Republican or Democrat. And in 2012, he was presented the Gershwin Prize by Barack Obama, who had sung a few seconds of 鈥淲alk on By鈥� during a campaign appearance.
In his life, and in his music, he stood apart. Fellow songwriter Sammy Cahn liked to joke that the smiling, wavy-haired Bacharach was the first composer he ever knew who didn鈥檛 look like a dentist. Bacharach was a 鈥渟winger,鈥� as they called such men in his time, whose many romances included actor Angie Dickinson, to whom he was married from 1965-80, and Sager, his wife from 1982-1991.
Married four times, he formed his most lasting ties to work. He was a perfectionist who took three weeks to write 鈥淎lfie鈥� and might spend hours tweaking a single chord. Sager once observed that Bacharach鈥檚 life routines essentially stayed the same 鈥� only the wives changed.
It began with the melodies 鈥� strong yet interspersed with changing rhythms and surprising harmonics. 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. He once played a piece for piano, violin and oboe for Milhaud that contained a melody he was ashamed to have written, as 12-point atonal music was in vogue at the time. Milhaud, who liked the piece, advised the young man, 鈥淣ever be afraid of the melody.鈥�
鈥淭hat was a great affirmation for me,鈥� Bacharach recalled in 2004.
Bacharach was essentially a pop composer, but his songs became hits for country artists (Marty Robbins), rhythm and blues performers (Chuck Jackson), soul (Franklin, Luther Vandross) and synth-pop (Naked Eyes). He reached a new generation of listeners in the 1990s with the help of Costello and others. Mike Myers would recall hearing the sultry 鈥淭he Look of Love鈥� on the radio and finding fast inspiration for his 鈥淎ustin Powers鈥� retro spy comedies, in which Bacharach made cameos.
In the 21st century, he was still testing new ground, writing his own lyrics and recording with rapper Dr. Dre.
He was married to his first wife, Paula Stewart, from 1953-58, and married for a fourth time, to Jane Hansen, in 1993. He is survived by Hansen, as well as his children Oliver, Raleigh and Cristopher, Brausam said. He was preceded in death by his daughter with Dickinson, Nikki Bacharach.
Bacharach knew the very heights of acclaim, but he remembered himself as a loner growing up, a short and self-conscious boy so uncomfortable with being Jewish he even taunted other Jews. His favorite book as a kid was Ernest Hemingway鈥檚 鈥淭he Sun Also Rises鈥�; he related to the sexually impotent Jake Barnes, regarding himself as 鈥渟ocially impotent.鈥�
He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but soon moved to New York City. His father was a syndicated columnist, his mother a pianist who encouraged the boy to study music. Although he was more interested in sports, he practiced piano every day after school, not wanting to disappoint his mother. While still a minor, he would sneak into jazz clubs, bearing a fake ID, and hear such greats as Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie.
鈥淭hey were just so incredibly exciting that all of a sudden, I got into music in a way I never had before,鈥� he recalled in the memoir 鈥淎nyone Who Had a Heart,鈥� published in 2013. 鈥淲hat I heard in those clubs turned my head around.鈥�
He was a poor student in high school, but managed to gain a spot at the music conservatory at McGill University in Montreal. He wrote his first song at McGill and listened for months to Mel Torme鈥檚 鈥淭he Christmas Song.鈥� Music also may have saved Bacharach鈥檚 life. He 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 around. When he did go overseas, it was to Germany, where he wrote orchestrations for a recreation center on the local military base.
After his discharge, he returned to New York and tried to break into the music business. He had little success at first as a songwriter, but he became a popular arranger and accompanist, touring with Vic Damone, the Ames Brothers and Polly Stewart, who became his first wife. When a friend who had been touring with Marlene Dietrich was unable to make a show in Las Vegas, he asked Bacharach to step in.
The young musician and ageless singer quickly clicked and Bacharach traveled the world with her in the late 鈥�50s and early 鈥�60s. During each performance, she would introduce him in grand style: 鈥淚 would like you to meet the man, he鈥檚 my arranger, he鈥檚 my accompanist, he鈥檚 my conductor, and I wish I could say he鈥檚 my composer. But that isn鈥檛 true. He鈥檚 everybody鈥檚 composer 鈥� Burt Bacharach!鈥�
Meanwhile, he had met his ideal songwriter partner 鈥� David, as businesslike as Bacharach was mercurial, so domesticated that he would leave each night at 5 to catch the train back to his wife and children on Long Island. Working in a tiny office in Broadway鈥檚 celebrated Brill Building, they produced their first million-seller, 鈥淢agic Moments,鈥� sung in 1958 by Perry Como. In 1962, they spotted a backup singer for the Drifters, Warwick, who had a 鈥渧ery special kind of grace and elegance,鈥� Bacharach recalled.
The trio produced hit after hit, starting with 鈥淒on鈥檛 Make Me Over鈥� and continuing with 鈥淲alk on By,鈥� 鈥淚 Say a Little Prayer,鈥� 鈥淒o You Know the Way to San Jose,鈥� 鈥淭rains and Boats and Planes,鈥� 鈥淎nyone Who Had a Heart鈥� and more. The songs were as complicated to record as they were easy to hear. Bacharach liked to experiment with time signatures and arrangements, such as having two pianists play on 鈥淲alk on By,鈥� their performances just slightly out of synch to give the song 鈥渁 jagged kind of feeling,鈥� he wrote in his memoir.
Besides Warwick, the Bacharach-David team was producing winners for other performers. Among them: 鈥淢ake It Easy on Yourself鈥� for Jerry Butler, 鈥淲hat the World Needs Now Is Love鈥� for Jackie DeShannon and 鈥淭his Guy鈥檚 in Love with You鈥� for Herb Alpert.
The partnership ended badly with the dismal failure of a 1973 musical remake of 鈥淟ost Horizon.鈥� Bacharach became so depressed he isolated himself in his Del Mar vacation home and refused to work.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to write with Hal or anybody,鈥� he told the AP in 2004. Nor did he want to fulfill a commitment to record Warwick. She and David both sued him.
Bacharach and David eventually reconciled. When David died in 2012, Bacharach praised him for writing lyrics 鈥渓ike a miniature movie.鈥� Meanwhile, he kept working, vowing never to retire, always believing that a good song could make a difference.
鈥淢usic softens the heart, makes you feel something if it鈥檚 good, brings in emotion that you might not have felt before,鈥� he told the AP in 2018. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very powerful thing if you鈥檙e able to do to it, if you have it in your heart to do something like that.鈥�
鈥擧illel Italie, The Associated Press
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