He was widely regarded as the best songwriter of his generation.
Burt Bacharach, an Oscar and Grammy Award-winning songwriter and composer has passed away.
He wrote numerous all-time classic pop songs, including “Walk on By,” “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” “Close to You,” and many others.
His publicist, Tina Brausam, confirmed the news to the Associated Press. However, the cause of death has not yet been revealed. He was 94.
Burt was widely regarded as one of the best songwriters of his generation. This reputation was earned through his body of work, which spanned the 1950s to the 1990s.
He wrote several songs that became number-one hits in the United States with his frequent writing partner Hal David, including those performed by Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Christopher Cross, and The Carpenters. He is the author of several songs that have reached number one in the United States.
Other well-known musicians for whom he has written songs include Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, Tom Jones, Nat King Cole, Elvis Costello, and Rod Stewart.
Other songs considered his greatest enduring hits include I Say a Little Prayer, That’s What Friends Are For, I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, On My Own, and Arthur’s Theme.
He received three Academy Awards for his work on the films Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Arthur, two of which were for Best Original Song and Best Original Score, respectively.
Due to widespread agreement that he was one of the most influential composers and producers of the twentieth century, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Hal David.
“A die-hard romantic whose mature style might be described as Wagnerian lounge music, Mr. Bacharach merged the chromatic harmonies and long, angular melodies of late-19th-century symphonic music with modern, bubbly pop orchestration and embellished the resulting mixture with a staccato rhythmic drive.”
Burt married actress Angie Dickinson after five years of marriage to Paula Stewart, and the couple remained together for 15 years.
Following that, he married Carole Bayer Sager, a lyricist with whom he worked frequently in the 1980s and early 1990s. The couple had been married for nine years before divorcing in 1991.
After his death, his current wife of nearly 30 years, Jane Hansen, and his three children, Christopher, Oliver, and Raleigh, will continue his legacy.
