Songwriter, composer, producer and arranger Burt Bacharach, a dominant force in American popular music for half a century, died of natural causes in Los Angeles on Wednesday. He was 94.
He wrote enduring hits like I Say A Little Prayer, Walk On By and What The World Needs Now Is Love.
Along with lyricist Hal David, he also wrote numerous movie themes including What’s New, Pussycat, Alfie, and The Look Of Love, a major hit for Dusty Springfield.
Bacharach died on Wednesday at home in Los Angeles of natural causes, his publicist Tina Brausam said.
Known for his airborne melodies and sumptuous orchestral arrangements, Bacharach was one of the most important songwriters of the 20th Century.
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 Streisand, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Costello.
His music touched multiple genres, from cool jazz and rhythm and blues, to bossa nova and traditional pop – but they shared one thing in common: you could recognise them within a couple of notes.
It was a style inspired by his tutor, French jazz musician Darius Milhaud.
“His observation was: Never be ashamed of something that’s melodic, one could whistle,” Bacharach recalled, having met the composer while studying at California’s Music Academy of the West in the 1940s.
“So that was a valuable lesson I learned from him. Never forgot that one. Never be afraid of something that you can whistle.”
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In 1972, Bacharach and David were accepted into the Lyricists Lobby of Acclaim. They got the Recording Foundation’s Legal administrators Grant for their commitments as authors in 1997.
He turned into the first songwriting group to be respected with the Library of Congress’ George and Ira Gershwin Prize for Well known Melody in 2011.
In 1998, Rhino Records gave a three-Disc summary of Bacharach’s work, “The Vibe of Affection.” A like-named revue containing Bacharach-David melodies had a brief Broadway run in 2003.
Bacharach delivered a couple collection with the Isley Siblings’ Ronald Isley in 2003, and in 2005 he gave “As of now,” his first independent collection in quite a while (and a best pop instrumental collection Grammy victor). He kept on making show appearances universally.