Burt Bacharach, one of pop's greatest songwriters, dies aged 94

[dutchman]

One of pop music's greatest composers, Burt Bacharach, has died aged 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.

Another collaborator, Dionne Warwick, said the songwriter's death was like "losing a family member".

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 more than 50 chart hits in the US and UK, with artists including Warwick, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Costello all recording his songs.

Born in Missouri, Bacharach grew up in New York City, where he first studied cello, drums and piano as a child.

Enraptured by jazz and be-bop, he would often sneak out to watch sets by his heroes Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, and began playing in jazz bands of his own in the 1940s.

After graduating from school, he studied music theory and composition. Even when his education was interrupted by a spell in the military, he toured army bases as a uniformed concert pianist.

After returning home, he toured with Marlene Dietrich, becoming her personal conductor - but said his early success was all down to luck.

"I wasn't chasing it. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was caught in the drift of things," he later reflected. "I'm not a person who will walk over people, kill people, step on people to get to the next place where they want to be. Things just happened for me. I was very fortunate."

In the 1950s, he was hired to work in New York's Brill Building, an epicentre of the music industry, and started writing country-rock smashes like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Only Love Can Break A Heart for Gene Pitney.

He scored his first UK number one in 1957 with Michael Holliday's sweet-but-charming The Story of My Life - a song that was originally recorded by Marty Robbins in the US.

That song also happened to be his first collaboration with Hal David, with whom he forged one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the '60s.

Bacharach and David won a Grammy and an Oscar in 1969 for Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, performed by BJ Thomas and featured in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Bacharach's music for the film also won the Oscar for best original score.

The musician was married four times, to Paula Stewart in 1953, actress Angie Dickinson in 1958, his frequent musical collaborator Carole Bayer Sager in 1982, and finally Jane Hansen in 1993.

He is survived by Hansen and their children Oliver and Raleigh, as well as son Cristopher from his marriage to Bayer Sager.