Burt Bacharach
Biography
Burt Bacharach (born May 12, 1928 in Kansas City, MO) is an American pianist and composer. He studied music at McGill University and Mannes School of Music. In the 1950s and the early 1960s he was the pianist and bandleader for Marlene Dietrich. He teamed with lyricist Hal David and others to write many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s.
Bacharach's music has been sung by a number of popular singers including Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, Jack Jones, Tom Jones, Carpenters and Dusty Springfield. The music, which most classify as belonging to the Easy listening genre, has been praised for the distinctive melodies, sophisticated style and at times a light classical feel. So far he has a total of 52 Top 40 hits.
He has been married four times, to Paula Stewart, actress Angie Dickinson, lyricist Carole Bayer Sager with whom he collaborated on a number of pieces, and currently (as of 2003) Jane Hanson.
Bacharach has had cameo roles in a number of Hollywood movies including all three Austin Powers movies.
Known records
- "Dietrich in Rio"
Hits
- I Say a Little Prayer For You
- Alfie
- What the World Needs Now Is Love (Jackie DeShannon 1965)
- What's New Pussycat? (Tom Jones 1965)
- The Look of Love (Sergio Mendes 1968)
- Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (B.J. Thomas 1969)
- I'll Never Fall in Love Again (Dionne Warwick 1969)
- Close to You (1970)
- That's What Friends Are For (1982)
- This song was originally written for the movie Night Shift and performed on the soundtrack by Rod Stewart. In 1986, a cover version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John became an enormous hit, raising millions for AIDS charities.
External links
- Biography (http://www.bacharachonline.com/bacharach_bio.html)
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