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Burt Bacharach, a renowned pop composer best remembered for the 1960s hits “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” and “Close to You,” passed away on Wednesday in his Los Angeles home from natural causes. He was 94.One of the most well-known and honoured composers of the 20th century, Burt Bacharach penned dozens of top 10 singles, with six of them reaching the No. 1 position. He is best known for the melodies in songs like Dionne Warwick’s “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”
Although he became well-known in the 1950s, Bacharach was raised on jazz and classical music, and his peers in the industry recognized that, in contrast to the era’s surge in rock ‘n’ roll, his music had a retro, old-timey vibe. Even modern bands like the White Stripes, Ashanti, Cyndi Lauper, and Alicia Keys cover and sample him today to recreate that timeless quality.
He has won eight Grammys (including the Academy’s lifetime achievement award in 2008), three Oscars (for “Arthur” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”), and a Tony nomination (for the 1968 Broadway musical “Promises, Promises”) in the awards world. Bacharach achieved extraordinary success in a variety of media and artistic fields. According to him, Warwick was his favorite interpreter.
With a cameo appearance in the 1999 comedy sequel “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” Bacharach won over a new generation of fans.In Kansas City, Missouri, on May 12, 1928, Bacharach was born. For his father’s job as a fashion columnist, his family relocated to New York City when he was a young boy. Burt’s mother was the one who first encouraged him to start taking piano lessons.
He is survived by his fourth wife, Jane Hansen, to whom he has been married for 30 years, their children, Oliver and Raleigh, as well as Christopher, his son from a former union with Bayer Sager.