Burt Bacharach, one of the most preeminent songwriters of the second half of the 20th century passed away yesterday of natural causes. He was 94.
Bacharach enjoyed lengthy songwriting partnerships with Hal David and later with Carole Bayer-Sager (who was his third wife). He composed songs recorded by everyone from Nat King Cole, Marty Robbins, Marlene Dietrich, The Shirelles, The Beatles, Jerry Butler, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, Gene Pitney, Jackie DeShannon, Love, The Walker Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Herb Alpert, Neil Diamond, Naked Eyes, Ronnie Milsap to Michael McDonald and Patti LaBelle.
Of the thousands of artists who recorded Bacharach's songs, none is more closely associated with him than Dionne Warwick who recorded "Walk on By", "Say A Little Prayer", "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?", "A House is Not a Home", "Message to Michael" and "That's What Friends Are For" with Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder.
Bacharach could rightfully occupy an entire chapter of The Great American Songbook. Yet for all of Bacharach's contributions to the music, he was seldom in the spotlight. A rare exception was when he made a cameo in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me playing the piano singing a few bars of "What The World Needs Now is Love". That was all he needed to make a lasting impression. R.I.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment