New York/CMEDIA: The Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies has died at 94.
Bacharach died Wednesday at home in Los Angeles of natural causes, publicist Tina Brausam said Thursday.
With his music being heard everywhere from movie soundtracks and radios to home stereo systems and iPods, Bacharach had a run of top 10 hits from the 1950s into the 21st century, whether “Alfie” and “I Say a Little Prayer” or “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “This Guy’s in Love with You.”
Both as an innovator and throwback with his career running parallel to the rock era, Bacharach grew up on jazz and classical music and had little taste for rock when he was breaking into the business in the 1950s.
Although rock composers appreciated the depth of his seemingly old-fashioned sensibility, .His sensibility often seemed more aligned with Tin Pan Alley than with Bob Dylan, John Lennon and other writers who later emerged, but
A box set, “The Songs of Bacharach & Costello,” is due to come out March 3.
With triumphs in many artforms, Bacharach was an eight-time Grammy winner, a prize-winning Broadway composer for “Promises, Promises” and a three-time Oscar winner. He received two Academy Awards in 1970, for the score of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and for the song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” (shared with David). In 1982, he and his then-wife, lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, won for “Best That You Can Do,” the theme from “Arthur. His other movie soundtracks included “What’s New, Pussycat?”, “Alfie” and the 1967 James Bond spoof “Casino Royale.”
Being well connectan, he was a frequent guest at the White House, he was presented the Gershwin Prize by Barack Obama, who had sung a few seconds of “Walk on By” during a campaign appearance.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Bacharach soon moved to New York City, and married four times in his life.
Although he had seen the very heights of acclaim, he remembered himself as a loner growing up, a short and self-conscious boy so uncomfortable with being Jewish he even taunted other Jews.
With a belief that a good song could make a difference, Bacharach kept working, vowing never to retire.
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