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Artist:

Burt Bacharach

Burt Bacharach

Born:
May 12, 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri

Representative Songs:

"I'll Never Fall in Love Again," "The Look of Love," "Alfie"

Representative Albums:

The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection, The Very Best of Burt Bacharach, Greatest Hits

Similar Artists:

Tony Hatch, Sounds Orchestral, Marvin Hamlisch, Phil Spector, Steve Lawrence, Scott Walker, The Walker Brothers, Sandie Shaw, Cilla Black, Paul McCartney, Elton John, The Drifters, Neil Diamond, Petula Clark, The Carpenters, Herb Alpert, Dionne Warwick, Neil Sedaka, Marlene Dietrich, Perry Como, Sergio Mendes

Influences:

Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie

Followers:

St. Vincent, The Peaces, Candie Payne, Frida Hyvönen, El Perro del Mar, Bejole, Paul Bertolino, B.C. Camplight, Unified Tribe, Dave Tough, Baby Dayliner, The Sharp Things, Marc Teamaker, Mello Cads, Unicorn Jones, Goldfrapp, The Januaries, Linus of Hollywood, Mario Castro-Neves, The Heavy Blinkers, Dave Fischoff, Aluminum Group, Cousteau, Swan Dive, Cindy & Bert, Perry Blake, Christian Anders, Stew, Kid Loco, Jai, Euroboys, Louis Philippe, Pansies, The Negro Problem, Alpha, Air, Broadcast, Adventures in Stereo, Cardinal, The Ladybug Transistor, The Divine Comedy, Future Bible Heroes, Eels, The Wondermints, The High Llamas, Eric Matthews, Holiday, Magnetic Fields, Nicole Willis, Archer Prewitt, Leroy Burgess, Portishead, Pizzicato Five, Stereolab, Scott Walker, Moose, Mr. Bungle, Billy J. Kramer, Billy Joel, Faith No More, The Carpenters, The Beautiful South

Performed Songs By:

Mack David

Worked With:

Neil Stubenhaus, Phil Ramone, Randy Kerber, Paul Jackson, Jr., Paulinho Da Costa, Michael Boddicker, Carole Bayer Sager, David Foster
  • Genre: Rock
  • Active: '60s - '90s
  • Instruments: Strings, Piano

Biography

With a hit-single track record spanning four decades, Burt Bacharach became one of the most important composers of popular music in the 20th century, almost equal to such classic tunesmiths as George Gershwin or Irving Berlin. His sophisticated yet breezy productions borrowed from cool jazz, soul, Brazilian bossa nova, and traditional pop to virtually define and undoubtedly transcend the staid forms of Brill Building adult pop during the 1960s.

Born May 12, 1928, in Kansas City, he studied cello, drums, and piano as a child, and was later transplanted to New York City by his father, a syndicated columnist. The time spent in New York gave him a chance to sneak into clubs to watch his bebop heroes Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker; he also played in several jazz bands during the 1940s. Bacharach studied music theory and composition at the Mannes School in New York, at Berkshire Music Center, at the New School for Social Research (with Darius Milhaud), at Montreal's McGill University, and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA. A period in the Army interrupted his concentration of music study, but even while serving in Germany, Bacharach arranged and played piano for a dance band. He also played in nightclubs and backed Steve Lawrence, the Ames Brothers, and Paula Stewart. Bacharach was discharged in 1952, and he married Stewart on December 22nd of the following year.

On returning to the U.S., he began writing songs for Lawrence, Patti Page, the Ames Brothers, and others, but his first hit came from Marty Robbins in late 1957 when Robbins took "The Story of My Life" to the American Top 20 and the number one spot in England. The single was also notable for its co-composer, Hal David, who became Bacharach's songwriting partner and collaborated on most of his big hits. The Bacharach/David team followed up in January 1958 with Perry Como's "Magic Moments," another U.K. chart-topper and a Top Five entry in America. Bacharach's marriage dissolved in 1958, and he left for Europe to tour with Marlene Dietrich. He returned in 1961, and wrote several songs for the Drifters with Bob Hilliard (including "Mexican Divorce" and "Please Stay") before reuniting with Hal David. At an arranging session, he found the singer who became the ultimate vehicle for his songs: Dionne Warwick who was working as a member of the Drifters' backup vocal group, the Gospelaires.

By late 1962, Bacharach and David began focusing most of their composing energy on Warwick, who was the recipient of 15 Top 40 singles from 1962 to 1968 (including the Top Tens "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Walk on By," "Message to Michael," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Valley of the Dolls," and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"). The duo also remained dominant in England, where Frankie Vaughan, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, the Walker Brothers, and Herb Alpert all hit number one with Bacharach/David compositions. As if their schedule wasn't busy enough throughout the '60s, the songwriters contributed film scores for What's New Pussycat?, Alfie, and Casino Royale. The film featuring their most celebrated score, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), won Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Theme Song for "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (plus two non-musical Academy Awards). Bacharach and David began working on the musical Promises, Promises in the late '60s; it won a Tony and a Grammy Award (for cast album) during a popular three-year Broadway run. Bacharach hit the charts himself in 1969, with the show's "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" reaching the Top 100. Surprisingly, this was not his only foray into recording; Bacharach had reached number four in the U.K. charts in May 1965 with "Trains and Boats and Planes," and he released several popular solo albums during the late '60s.

The beginning of the '70s looked bright for Burt Bacharach, as the Carpenters took "(They Long to Be) Close to You" to number one in the U.S. in July 1970. The forecast was premature, though, as three of his closest partners -- Hal David, Dionne Warwick, and his second wife Angie Dickinson -- left him. He gathered several accolades for an eponymous 1971 album featuring renditions of his previous hit compositions, but later albums were disappointing and Bacharach's next hit was over a decade in coming. Finally in 1981, he collaborated with Christopher Cross, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen on the Oscar-winning "Arthur's Theme." Bacharach married Bayer Sager just one year later, and together they wrote Roberta Flack's Top 20 hit "Making Love," as well as "Heartlight" which Neil Diamond took to number five.

Once Bacharach resumed composing he began to hit, and 1986 was one of his finest years, with two American number ones: "That's What Friends Are For" (by an all-star group including Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder) and a duet by Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald titled "On My Own." He divorced Sager in 1991, but worked with Dionne Warwick again two years later on "Sunny Weather Love," from her Friends Can Be Lovers album. Also in 1993, Bacharach contributed songs to James Ingram, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Tevin Campbell. Around the same time, many alternative bands began name-checking the hitmaker as an influence, and Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher joined him on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall as well as including a picture of him on the cover of Oasis' Definitely Maybe. BBC-TV focused on Bacharach in a January 1996 documentary, and a three-disc retrospective of his compositions was released by Rhino in 1998. That same year he collaborated with Elvis Costello on the acclaimed Painted From Memory, and was celebrated at an all-star concert at Radio City Music Hall which later formed the basis for the LP One Amazing Night. The 2005 album At This Time found Bacharach writing lyrics for the first time. Tonio K helped with the lyrics, Elvis Costello, Dr. Dre, Chris Botti, and Rufus Wainwright also contributed to the album. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
 
 
Actor:

Burt Bacharach

  • Born: May 12, 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Romance
  • Career Highlights: GoodFellas, Without You I'm Nothing, My Best Friend's Wedding
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Sad Sack (1957)

Biography

During his heyday in the mid-to-late 1960s, American composer and songwriter Burt Bacharach wrote many popular tunes for Broadway and films. Many of these songs such as "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," and "What the World Needs Now" have become American standards. He is the son of syndicated newspaper columnist, Bert Bacharach. After receiving professional training, Bacharach served in Korea as a concert pianist in the Army. After his military stint, he became a professional accompanist for such entertainers as Vic Damone, Joel Grey, and Polly Bergen, but he did not really get his big break until he began working as the conductor-arranger for Marlene Dietrich, on her world concert tour, while simultaneously penning songs for Broadway musicals and films. Bacharach's songs during the '60s and early '70s are distinguished for their complex, highly syncopated rhythms and clever lyrics. Many of them were made popular by Dionne Warwick and Jack Jones. He won two Academy Awards in 1969 for the soundtrack for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and for the song Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head from the same film. Many of his tunes were written with lyricist Hal David. Though not as popular as he once was, Bacharach continues to score films and has also established a career as a solo entertainer and performs concerts and in nightclubs all over the country. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

 
Biography: Burt Bacharach

Composer/arranger Burt Bacharach (born 1928) established himself in the 1960s as one of America's premier pop songwriters. After achieving considerable success with recordings by Dionne Warwick and B.J. Thomas, among many others, he found his style of music out of fashion during the 1970s and 1980s. In the late 1990s, he returned to active composing as a new generation discovered his music.

The sophisticated melodies of Burt Bacharach were among the defining sounds of American popular music in the 1960s and early 1970s. In an era when rock gained ascendancy, his elegant compositions echoed the heyday of the great Broadway and Tin Pan Alley songwriters. In tandem with lyricist Hal David, Bacharach created songs graced with complex rhythms and fresh harmonic patterns that were rich in color and mood. The Bacharach/ David team produced a remarkable body of work for the stage and screen as well as for the record-buying market. The Carpenters, Tom Jones, B.J. Thomas, Dusty Springfield and, most of all, Dionne Warwick were among the artists who popularized Bacharach's songs. The start of the 21st century found him increasingly productive, working with new collaborators and releasing retrospectives of his best work.

Early Years

Burt Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 12, 1928. His father, Bert Bacharach, was a syndicated columnist and men's fashion journalist. His mother, Irma, was an amateur singer and pianist who encouraged her son to study music. Moving with his family to Forest Hills, New York, Bacharach studied cello, drums and piano as a child. His first strong interest was in sports. However, by the time he reached high school his piano playing abilities began to make him popular at school functions and local dances. Beyond his classical training, Bacharach found inspiration by sneaking into Manhattan jazz clubs and absorbing the sounds of such bebop innovators as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. After high school, he studied music at McGill University in Montreal and at New York's Mannes School of Music. It was at the latter school that he came under the influence of composer Darius Milhaud, who encouraged his young student to develop his melodic talents.

During a stint in the armed services from 1950 through 1952, Bacharach was kept busy performing at army bases as part of a dance band. Back in civilian life, he became a New York nightclub pianist and arranger, working with such singers as Vic Damone, Steve Lawrence and the Ames Brothers. In 1953, he married vocalist Paula Stewart and began to find work in Las Vegas. His horizons broadened further when he signed on as actress/singer Marlene Dietrich's musical director in 1958. Bacharach began to become more serious about songwriting during this time. Exposure to the music of Brazilian bossa nova composers Antonio Carlos Jobim and Dori Caymmi helped him develop his style further.

First Recordings

Bachrach's first hit recordings included Marty Robbins' "The Story of My Life" (1957) and Perry Como's "Magic Moments" (1958). Undoubtedly his oddest early tune was "The Blob" (1958), the novelty theme song from the horror film of the same title. His songwriting partnership with lyricist Hal David was beginning to solidify, paving the way for the exceptional songs that would come out of them a few years later. David and Bacharach worked together in New York's legendary Brill Building, a haven for hardworking songwriters. Increasingly, Bacharach was taking chances with his music. Some of his more unusual melodic and harmonic ideas met resistance from record companies. "All those so-called abnormalities seemed perfectly normal to me," he commented in the liner notes to The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection, a CD retrospective released by Rhino Records in 1998. "In the beginning, the A and R [Artist and Repertoire] guys, who were like first lieutenants, would say, 'You can't dance to it' or 'That bar of three needs to be changed to a bar of four,' and because I wanted to get the stuff recorded, I listened and ended up ruining some good songs. I've always believed if it's a good tune people will find a way to move to it." His unorthodox but appealing work began to reach a wider audience with such tunes as "Baby It's You" (recorded by the Shirelles and, later, by the Beatles) and "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" (a 1962 hit for Gene Pitney).

The elements that would define the Bacharach sound began to fall into place in the early 1960s. "Make It Easy On Yourself," released as a single by pop/rhythm and blues singer Jerry Butler in 1962, displayed the melodic grandeur and bittersweet lyric sentiments that would become the hallmarks of later hits. An even more significant release that same year was "Don't Make Me Over," the first Bachrach/ David song recorded by Dionne Warwick. Her delicate phrasing and ability to convey both strength and vulnerability made her the ideal interpreter of the duo's songs. Warwick was able to handle the intricacies of Bacharach's demanding music with ease. The result was a series of enduring hit singles, among them "Anyone Who Had A Heart" (1963), "Walk On By" (1964), "I Say A Little Prayer" (1967) and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" (1968). Bacharach arranged and co-produced his hits with Warwick, surrounding her voice with elegant strings, muted trumpets, tastefully-used background singers and other touches that became his trademarks.

Numerous other artists in both America and Britain found success with Bacharach/David songs, including Jackie DeShannon ("What the World Needs Now is Love"), Dusty Springfield ("Wishin' and Hopin"'), Herb Alpert ("This Guy's in Love With You"), and Sandie Shaw ("(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me"). Such films as What's New, Pussycat? Alfie, and Casino Royale featured the duo's material on their soundtracks. Bacharach and David made yet another leap when they wrote the score for the 1969 stage musical Promises, Promises, which enjoyed a long Broadway run and earned both a Tony and a Grammy Award.

In an era when songwriter/performers became the norm, Bacharach remained largely behind the scenes. His limited singing abilities were not seen as the best vehicles for his music. That being said, he did release a series of albums on his own, among them 1965's Hit Maker and 1967's Reach Out. These and subsequent efforts emphasized his arranging abilities as much or more than his vocal talents. The 1970s began on a high note for Bacharach when his score for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid won an Academy Award, with the Bacharach/David song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" chosen as best theme song as well. The success of "One Less Bell to Answer" by the 5th Dimension" and "(They Long to Be) Close to You" by the Carpenters (both 1970) continued the songwriting team's winning streak into the new decade.

Collaboration with David Ended

Unfortunately, the chemistry between Bacharach and David began to sour after their music for the 1973 film Lost Horizon proved to be a critical and commercial failure. The songwriters sued each other over a publishing dispute and their years of collaboration ended. Bacharach's career went into decline and he was largely absent from the record charts for the remainder of the 1970s. He remained a familiar enough figure to appear in television advertisements for Martini and Rossi vermouth with his then wife, actress Angie Dickinson.

It wasn't until the early 1980s that Bacharach began to emerge from his career doldrums. A working relationship with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager led to the pair's marriage in 1982. Among the Bacharach/Sager songs of note from this period was "Arthur's Theme (The Best that You Can Do)," recorded by Christopher Cross for the 1981 film Arthur. Another tune of theirs, "That's What Friends Are For," was released as an AIDS research benefit recording in 1986 and featured vocals by Dionne Warwick and Elton John, among others. The song became a hit and led to further recordings with Warwick in the early 1990s.

Revival in 1990s

Remarkably, a Bacharach revival began in the mid-1990s, when a younger generation discovered the so-called "easy listening" music of the 1960s. Such notable young rock acts as Oasis and Stereolab began to perform Bacharach songs, reworking his classic melodies in a modern context. The composer was the subject of a British television documentary and his recordings were reissued in several CD anthologies. British singer/songwriter Elvis Costello, a long-time fan, collaborated with Bacharach on a song for the 1996 film Grace of My Heart, which led to an album's worth of songs together, Painted From Memory two years later. Bacharach and Costello went on a concert tour in 1998 as well. Enjoying his renewed celebrity, Bacharach shared the stage with Oasis at a 1996 London concert and made a cameo appearance in the 1997 film comedy Austin Powers.

Bacharach continued to remain active into the new century, performing occasional shows with symphony orchestras and working on stage musicals. In May 2001, he accepted the Royal Academy of Music award, presented by King Carl Gustav XVI in Stockholm. Such recognition confirmed Bacharach's stature as one of popular music's most distinctive and enduring songwriting talents.

Books

Contemporary Musicians, Gale, 1997.

Gammon, Peter. Oxford Companion to Popular Music, Oxford University Press, 1991.

Stambler, Irwin, Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul, St. Martin's Press, 1977.

Online

"Burt Bacharach Biography," Rolling Stone. com,http:www.rollingstone.com (November 15, 2001).

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Burt Bacharach

(born May 12, 1928, Kansas City, Mo., U.S.) U.S. songwriter and pianist. He studied under Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinu, and Henry Cowell. In the 1950s he wrote arrangements for Steve Lawrence and Vic Damone and later toured with Marlene Dietrich. In the late 1950s he began his long association with lyricist Hal David (b. 1921), which would produce many hits especially for singer Dionne Warwick (b. 1940), including "Walk On By," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" He and David wrote the successful musical Promises, Promises (1968) and the score for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969, Academy Award). Bacharach collaborated with singer-songwriter Elvis Costello (b. 1954) on the album Painted from Memory (1998).

For more information on Burt Bacharach, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Bacharach, Burt
(băk'ərăk') , 1929–, American composer, arranger, and conductor, b. Kansas City, Mo. He began his career playing piano with jazz bands in the 1940s and then as a pianist and arranger for nightclub acts, notably with Marlene Dietrich in the 1950s. With lyricist Hal David, Bacharach produced many popular songs from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, including more than 50 top singles. These include “Don't Make Me Over,” “What the World Needs Now,” “Walk On By,” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.” The team also provided words and music for the successful Broadway musical Promises, Promises (1968) and the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969; Academy Award). The partnership ended in 1973, and Bacharach began working with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager in 1981 (they married the following year). The two scored a big hit with their song “That's What Friends Are For” in 1986. Bachrach has also written soundtracks for later films, e.g., Arthur (1981; Academy Award), Grace of My Heart (1996, with rocker Elvis Costello), and Austin Powers (1997). Bacharach's music utilizes a variety of styles, including Latin, rock, and gospel, and is marked by unexpected chord changes.
 
Quotes By: Burt Bacharach

Quotes:

"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of."

 
Wikipedia: Burt Bacharach


Burt Bacharach
Born May 12 1928 (1928--) (age 79)
Origin Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Genre(s) Pop
Occupation(s) Composer, pianist, singer
Instrument(s) Piano
Years active 1957 - present
Associated
acts		 Hal David, Dionne Warwick

Burt Bacharach (IPA: /ˈbɝt ˈbækəræk/, born May 12, 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an award-winning American pianist and composer. He is best known for his many pop hits from 1962-70, with lyrics written by Hal David, many of which were recorded by Dionne Warwick. As of 2006, Bacharach had written a total of 70 Top 40 hits in the U.S., and 52 Top 40 hits in the UK. [1]

Professional biography

Bacharach studied music at McGill University, the Mannes School of Music, and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. His composition teachers included Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinů, and Henry Cowell. In the 1950s and early 1960s he was the pianist, arranger and bandleader for Marlene Dietrich, with whom he toured.

Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progessions, striking syncopated rhythmic patterns, irregular phrasing, frequent modulation, and odd and changing meters. It tends toward a greater climactic effect than most popular music, especially greater than most popular music of the period in which he is most associated. Bacharach is more than a mere songwriter, having himself arranged, conducted, and co-produced much of his recorded output. An example of his use of distinctive use of changing meter is found in "Promises, Promises" (from his score for the musical of the same name). In this song, he incorporates a very complex time signature sequence of |3/8|÷|4/8|3/8|÷|4/8|.

Early work

In 1957, Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were introduced at the famous Brill Building in New York City, and began their songwriting partnership. Almost a year later, they received a major career break when their song "The Story of My Life" was recorded by Marty Robbins for Columbia Records, becoming a #1 hit on the U.S. Country charts in late 1957. Soon afterwards, "Magic Moments" was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and became a #4 U.S. hit in February of that year. Other hits quickly followed. "Heavenly" was recorded by Johnny Mathis and became a gold record in the UK. Later the same year another Bacharach song, "Faithfully", also achieved gold record status with Mathis in the UK.

In the early 1960s, Bacharach wrote well over a hundred songs with David, including a wealth of popular hits throughout the 1960s and 1970s, many of which still enjoy popularity today. Bacharach and David were associated throughout the sixties with Dionne Warwick, a conservatory-trained vocalist whom he met in 1961. She began working for the duo when they needed a good singer to "demo" their songs properly for other artists. Bacharach and David noticed that Warwick's demos often exceeded the quality of the performances others were recording[citation needed]. They started writing a portion of their work specifically with Warwick in mind, which led to one of the most successful teams in popular music history.[1] Over a twenty year period, beginning in the early 1960s, Warwick managed to chart 38 singles co-written or produced by Bacharach, including twenty-two Top-40 hits on the American Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bacharach's songs were made famous by a number of popular singers in addition to Warwick, including The Shirelles, The Beatles ("Baby, It's You"), The Carpenters, Aretha Franklin, B.J. Thomas ("Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head"), Tom Jones ("What's New, Pussycat"), The Stranglers, Dusty Springfield ("The Look of Love"), The Drifters, Jack Jones ("Wives and Lovers"), Jackie DeShannon ("What the World Needs Now is Love"),Gene Pitney, Herb Alpert, Jerry Butler and Luther Vandross in the 1980s and 1990s.

In addition to mainstream pop, many Bacharach songs were adapted by jazz artists of the time, such as Stan Getz and Wes Montgomery. The Bacharach/David composition, "My Little Red Book", originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the film What's New, Pussycat, and promptly covered by Love in 1966, has become a rock music standard; however, according to Robin Platts' book "Burt Bacharach and Hal David", the composer did not like this version. Bacharach composed and arranged the soundtrack of the 1967 film Casino Royale. Bacharach and David also collaborated with Broadway producer David Merrick on the 1968 musical production of Promises, Promises, which yielded several major hit songs (including the title tune). 1969 saw, perhaps, the most successful Bacharach-David collaboration ever, with the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", which was prominently featured in the acclaimed film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" won the Oscar award for Best Song and also was Bacharach's biggest worldwide hit.[citation needed]

1970s and 1980s

By the early 1970s, changing public tastes created a more competitive atmosphere for pop music. In 1973, Bacharach and David were commissioned to score the Ross Hunter-produced revival of the classic 1937 film, Lost Horizon, Lost Horizon (1973 film) for Columbia Pictures. The result was a critical and commercial disaster, and resulted in a flurry of lawsuits between the songwriter and lyricist, as well as from Warwick, who reportedly felt abandoned when Bacharach and David refused to work together. Bacharach tried several solo projects (including the 1977 album Futures), but the projects failed to yield any memorable hits.

By the early 1980s, Bacharach's marriage with Angie Dickinson had failed, but a new partnership with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager proved more rewarding, both commercially and personally. The two married, and collaborated on several major hits during the decade, including "Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross), "Heartlight" (Neil Diamond), "Making Love", "On My Own", and perhaps most memorably, "That's What Friends Are For" in 1985, actually the second single which reunited Bacharach and singer Warwick. The profits for the latter song were given to AIDS research. Bacharach's 1980s tunes showed a new sound, proving that Bacharach's work could continue to change with the times.

Other artists continued to revive Bacharach's earlier hits, giving them an entirely new audience in the 1980s and 1990s. Examples included Naked Eyes' 1983 dance version of "(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me", Ronnie Milsap's smash 1982 country version of "Any Day Now", and many others. Bacharach also continued a successful concert career, appearing at auditoriums throughout the world, often featuring large orchestras as accompaniment. He also occasionally joined with Warwick, appearing in sold-out concerts in New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

Later work

In 1998, Bacharach co-wrote and recorded a Grammy-winning album with Elvis Costello, Painted From Memory. In 2006, he recorded a jazz album with Trijntje Oosterhuis and the Metropole Orchestra called The Look Of Love (Burt Bacharach Songbook) which was released in November that year.[2] Bacharach collaborated with Cathy Dennis in 2002 to write an original song for the Pop Idol winner Will Young. This was What's In Goodbye and it appears on Young's debut album From Now On. During July of 2002, Young was a guest vocalist at two of Bacharach's concerts, one at the Hammersmith Apollo and the other at Liverpool Pops.

Bacharach's 2005 album At This Time saw a departure from past works in that Bacharach penned his own lyrics, some of which dealt with political themes. Guest stars on some tracks included Elvis Costello and Rufus Wainwright.

He has also worked with hip hop producer Dr. Dre on his recent album At This Time and is expected to do work on Dr. Dre's long awaited Detox album.

Film and television

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bacharach was featured in a dozen TV musical/variety specials videotaped in the UK for ITC, several of which were nominated for Emmy awards for direction (by Dwight Hemion). The guests included artists such as Joel Grey, Dusty Springfield, and Barbra Streisand. Bacharach and David also did the score for a short-lived ABC-TV series, ABC Stage '67, for a show titled On the Flip Side, starring Rick Nelson as a faded pop star trying for a comeback. While the series' ratings were dismal, the soundtrack showcased Bacharach's abilities to try different kinds of musical styles, ranging from (almost) 1960s rock, to pop, ballads, and Latin-tinged dance numbers.

In 1969, his instrumental composition "Nikki" (named for his daughter) premiered as the theme for the ABC Movie of the Week, a TV series which eventually ran on various nights of the week until 1975. Also during the 1970s, Bacharach and then-wife Angie Dickinson appeared in several TV commercials for Martini & Rossi beverages, and even penned a short jingle ("Say Yes") for the spots. Bacharach also occasionally appeared on TV/variety shows, such as The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and many others.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Bacharach has had cameo roles in a number of Hollywood movies including all three Austin Powers spy spoof movies. His music is also credited as providing inspiration for these movies, partially stemming from Bacharach's score for the 1967 James Bond film Casino Royale.

During subsequent Burt Bacharach concert tours, each show would open with a very brief video clip from the movie Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, with Mike Myers (as Austin Powers) uttering "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Burt Bacharach." In late 2006, Burt Bacharach appeared as the celebrity in a Geico auto insurance commercial, where he sings and plays the piano. He translates the customer's story through song ("I was hit. ..in the rear!")

Legacy and influence

  • Popular songwriter Jimmy Webb has acknowledged Bacharach's influence on his work.
  • On Status Quo's album Heavy Traffic, Track number 8 is named "Diggin' Burt Bacharach."
  • On the cover of Oasis' first album Definitely Maybe, there is a framed picture of Bacharach to the left resting up against the sofa. Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher also performed a duet of "This Guy's In Love With You" live with Bacharach, and Gallagher admits to having stolen elements of that same song when composing the Oasis track 'Half The World Away'.
  • Alternative-avant garde guitarist/composer Leonid Soybelman released an album named Much Ado About Burt Bacharach's Walk On By.
  • The British duo Swing Out Sister cites Bacharach as a major influence as well.
  • The British band Saint Etienne were influenced heavily by Bacharach's piano motifs.

Family

Bacharach has been married four times, first to Paula Stewart (1953–1958), second to actress Angie Dickinson (1965–1980), third to lyricist Carole Bayer Sager (1982–1991) — with whom he collaborated on a number of pieces — and fourth (since 1993) to Jane Hanson. He had a daughter, Nikki, with Dickinson, an adopted son with Bayer Sager, and has a son and a daughter with Hanson.

Nikki Bacharach was born prematurely in 1966, and it was for her he wrote the instrumental piece "Nikki". She had chronic health problems as a result of her premature birth and committed suicide by suffocation using a plastic bag and helium on January 4, 2007 at age 40.[3] Nikki, who had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, spent nine years at the Wilson Center, a psychiatric residential treatment facility for adolescents located in Faribault, Minnesota. [4]

Selected discography