Legendary songwriter Burt Bacharach passed away Wednesday of natural causes at the age of 94 at his home in Los Angeles. He leaves behind an impressive career that includes immortal pop songs like I'll never fall in love again, Raindrops keep falling on my head or I say a little prayer. He also has a long list of awards and recognitions, including three Oscars and eight Grammys. It is estimated that his compositions have been recorded by a thousand singers.
Among his most famous soundtracks include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Two men and one destiny), What's new pussycat -What's up, pussycat?, Woody Allen's debut-, the main theme of Alfie, Arthur, the bachelor de oro or Casino Royale -which includes The look of love in the voice of Dusty Springfield- turned into a true must for audiophiles.
Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in a New York neighborhood. Coming from a cultivated Jewish family, it was his mother who encouraged him to study piano from childhood. He soon set aside classicism to become interested in jazz, to the point that in his adolescence he used a false identity document to access jazz clubs. So he got to listen to Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie, who influenced his way of composing. He also did not neglect the academic side, receiving training from prestigious teachers, such as Darius Milhaud, whom he cited as one of his great influences.
During military service in Germany he meets the singer Vic Damone for whom he became a pianist. He later put his exceptional talent and musicianship to the service of other singers, including Paula Stewart who would become his first wife.
Luck smiled on him in 1956 when the actress and singer Marlene Dietrich chose him as pianist and musical director. He toured the world with her, which earned him great recognition as an arranger. Despite the great appreciation that Dietrich professed for him, he decided to end his artistic relationship to dedicate himself exclusively to composing.
He made that decision after meeting the lyricist Hal David, in the legendary Drill Building in New York, the heart of Tin Pan Alley. His first number one on the country charts was The Story of My Life (1957) in the voice of Marty Robbins. Together they wrote a hundred songs in the sixties. The one who made them shine the most was Dionne Warwick who turned 38 of her compositions into great successes.
His first album, Hit maker! Burt Bacharach plays his hits (1965), demonstrated a sophistication that went beyond the pop canon. So it is not surprising that in 1968 the prestigious Verve label published What the world needs now: Stan Getz plays the Burt Bacharach songbook. Other jazzmen adapted his themes: Cal
Tjader, Grant Green or Wes Montgomery. Likewise, the group Manfred Mann turned My Little Red Book into a rock standard. On Broadway she touched the sky with the musical Promises, promises which includes the glorious song I'll never fall in love again. She was at the same time the protagonist of television shows that featured, among others, Barbra Streisand, Rudolph Nureyev or Tom Jones.
After separating from his second wife, Angie Dickinson, he married Carole Bayer Sager, with whom he had a fruitful artistic relationship writing hits for Neil Diamond, Roberta Flack and Patti LaBelle.
At the same time that he continued his career as a soloist, often touring with large orchestras. Very celebrated was his album Painted from memory (1998), shared with Elvis Costello. An authentic masterpiece full of songs that are like melodic cathedrals, full of small details that fit like a piece of goldsmithing.
The close relationship between the two will be reflected in the compilation The songs of Bacharach
In 2015 he was a guest of honor at the Glastonbury festival and had previously been a coach on the American Idol talent show. In 2020 he was nominated for the Grammy Awards for his collaboration with Daniel Tashian, in what was his new work in 15 years. As soon as the news of the death was known, there have been many pop stars who have shown their condolences on the networks. Noel Gallagher synthesized it with a “RIP Maestro” and Mike Hucknall, from Simply Red, wrote “Farewell genius”.
