Composer Burt Bacharach Dies At 94
• Burt Bacharach, the massively prolific composer who is responsible for writing more than 70 Top 40 classics like “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Alfie,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “Walk On By,” “Close to You,” “Promises, Promises” and the Oscar-winning “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” died Feb. 8 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.
As the Washington Post reports, “Often teaming with lyricist Hal David, Bacharach wrote a succession of hits performed by musical torchbearers of the shag carpet era — Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin, Herb Alpert, Sergio Mendes, The Carpenters, the 5th Dimension and especially Dionne Warwick.”
Bacharach shared an Oscar for his theme for “Arthur” in 1981 with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager (who he later married), and singer Christopher Cross. Bacharach and Sager also wrote “That’s What Friends Are For,” for the 1982 film Night Shift, which went on to become an anthem of the AIDS-awareness movement.
Other timeless Bacharach-penned classics include “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and “This Guy’s in Love With You,” “What’s New Pussycat?,” “Walk on By,” “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” “A House Is Not a Home,” and “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me,” which was a Top 10 hit for Naked Eyes in their 1983 cover.
Bacharach, who received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, is survived by his wife of 30 years, Jane Hansen, their two children, Oliver and Raleigh; and a son from Sager, Cristopher.
