Burt Bacharach has died aged 94 (Image: Harry Langdon/Getty)
Songwriting legend Burt Bacharach, whose numerous hits include Walk On By and I Say A Little Prayer, has died. Tributes poured in from around the globe after he passed away from natural causes at home in Los Angeles. He was 94.
Grammy-winning hitmaker Diane Warren said online: “The songwriting world has lost its Beethoven today. Compose in Power forever, Burt Bacharach.”
Beach Boys singer Brian Wilson tweeted: “Burt was a hero of mine and very influential on my work. He was a giant in the music business.
“His songs will live forever. Love & Mercy to Burt’s family.”
While former Oasis star Noel Gallagher added: “RIP Maestro. It was a pleasure to have known you.”
Theatre star Elaine Paige posted a photo of her with the composer, writing: “His songwriting was part of the soundtrack to my life. The angels will be singing tonight.”
Hal David (left) and Burt Bacharach with singer Petula Clark (Image: Toby Melville/PA)
Burt, whose many hits in the 1960s encapsulated romantic optimism, won three Oscars and eight Grammys.
His iconic tracks – including Alfie, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again and This Guy’s In Love With You – were recorded by more than 1,000 singers, making stars of many.
Others included: Magic Moments (Perry Como), What’s New, Pussycat? (Tom Jones), What Do You Get When You Fall In Love and The Look of Love (Dionne Warwick), 24 Hours From Tulsa (Gene Pitney) and I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself, recorded by Dusty Springfield.
Over the past 70 years, only Lennon and McCartney, Carole King and a handful of other writers rivalled his genius for instantly recognisable songs still played worldwide today.
Bacharach posed with his wife actress Angie Dickinson (Image: Popperfoto via Getty)
The die-hard romantic had top 10 hits from the 1950s into this century. Known for airy melodies and sumptuous orchestral arrangements he grew up on jazz and classical music, and had little taste for rock when he broke into the business in the 1950s.
He won two Academy Awards in 1970, for the score of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and for the film’s Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, shared with lyricist Hal David.
In 1982 he and his then-wife Carole Bayer Sager won Oscars for Best That You Can Do, the theme from Arthur. His other soundtracks include What’s New, Pussycat?, Alfie and the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale.
Married four times, he was a perfectionist who took three weeks to write Alfie and could spend hours tweaking a single chord.
Ostensibly a pop composer, his songs became hits for country artists, rhythm and blues performers, as well as soul and synth-pop stars. He won a new generation of listeners in the 1990s with his close friend Elvis Costello.
Singer Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach (Image: Harry Langdon/Getty )
The actor Mike Myers was inspired by the sultry The Look of Love for his Austin Powers retro spy comedies in which Burt made cameos.
An only child, he was born in 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri and the family moved to Queens, New York in 1932.
Although more interested in sport, he practised the piano every day to please his pianist mother Irma. His father Bert was a store clothing buyer who became a newspaper columnist. As a youngster, Burt used a false ID to enter clubs and see jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie.
He recalled in his memoir Anyone Who Had A Heart: “They were just so incredibly exciting that all of a sudden, I got into music in a way I never had before. What I heard in those clubs turned my head around.”
After serving in the US Army, in 1952 he became a pianist working with several artists – and his songwriting began.
Burt and longtime lyricist partner Hal, who died in 2012, teamed up in 1957.
They met Dionne in 1961 – and went on to write 39 of her hits.
Burt Bacharach with Adele (Image: Yui Mok/PA )
He was also called the King of Easy Listening and this century was still testing new ground, recording with rapper Dr Dre.
Altogether Burt had 73 Top 40 hits in the US and 52 in the UK. He was even named one of People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive and one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in 1999.
In 2012, he received the Gershwin Prize from President Barack Obama to celebrate his contributions to music.
Burt had been wed to Jane Hansen since 1993. His second wife was the actress Angie Dickinson and they had three children. Their daughter Nikki struggled with mental ill-health and died by suicide aged 40 in 2007.
Bacharach revealed in his memoir she had the developmental disorder Asperger’s Syndrome.
He is survived by his widow Jane and by his children Oliver, Raleigh and Cristopher.
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