(CNN) — Burt Bacharach, the acclaimed songwriter and songwriter behind dozens of soft pop hits from the 1950s to the 1980s, died Thursday, a family member confirmed to CNN.
Bacharach’s hits include “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” and the movie theme “Arthur.”
He was 94 years old.
A major figure in 20th-century pop music, Bacharach achieved huge hits in a variety of genres, from Top 40 to country, rhythm and blues, and movie soundtracks. He wrote hit songs for a wide range of artists, including Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones, Neil Diamond, The Carpenters, and Christopher Cross.
Many of their songs were classified, perhaps unfairly, as “easy listening”, a smooth, old-fashioned style of music with little roughness. Most were far removed from the sounds of rock and roll, funk, disco, or other popular genres of their day.
Burt Bacharach died at the age of 94.
However, Bacharach along with his longtime collaborator Hal David produced many of the catchiest songs of the era. Many of them—”Say a Little Prayer,” “Walk on By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”—became hits for Warwick, one of the best-selling female vocalists of the 1960s.
Bachrach también escribió éxitos como “Magic Moments” de Perry Como, “Baby It’s You” de The Shirelles, “¿What’s New Pussycat?” de Tom Jones, “What the World Needs Now is Love” de Jackie DeShannon, “This Guy’s In Love With You”, “Heartlight” de Neil Diamond y el dúo Patti Labelle-Michael McDonald “On My Own”.
One of her biggest and most shocking hits was “That’s What Friends Are For,” the charity collaboration between Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder that topped the charts in 1986 and raised millions for AIDS research.
Burt Bacharach with Dionne Warwick in 1971.
“Never be afraid of something you might whistle,” Bachrach told NPR’s Scott Simon in 2013.
Throughout his long career, Bachrach won nearly every major music award, including six Grammy Awards, three Oscars, and, with Hal David, the Gershwin Award for Popular Song from the Library of Congress. In 2008 the Grammys proclaimed him the greatest living composer.
(CNN) — Burt Bacharach, the acclaimed songwriter and songwriter behind dozens of soft pop hits from the 1950s to the 1980s, died Thursday, a family member confirmed to CNN.
Bacharach’s hits include “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” and the movie theme “Arthur.”
He was 94 years old.
A major figure in 20th-century pop music, Bacharach achieved huge hits in a variety of genres, from Top 40 to country, rhythm and blues, and movie soundtracks. He wrote hit songs for a wide range of artists, including Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones, Neil Diamond, The Carpenters, and Christopher Cross.
Many of their songs were classified, perhaps unfairly, as “easy listening”, a smooth, old-fashioned style of music with little roughness. Most were far removed from the sounds of rock and roll, funk, disco, or other popular genres of their day.
Burt Bacharach died at the age of 94.
However, Bacharach along with his longtime collaborator Hal David produced many of the catchiest songs of the era. Many of them—”Say a Little Prayer,” “Walk on By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”—became hits for Warwick, one of the best-selling female vocalists of the 1960s.
Bachrach también escribió éxitos como “Magic Moments” de Perry Como, “Baby It’s You” de The Shirelles, “¿What’s New Pussycat?” de Tom Jones, “What the World Needs Now is Love” de Jackie DeShannon, “This Guy’s In Love With You”, “Heartlight” de Neil Diamond y el dúo Patti Labelle-Michael McDonald “On My Own”.
One of her biggest and most shocking hits was “That’s What Friends Are For,” the charity collaboration between Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder that topped the charts in 1986 and raised millions for AIDS research.
Burt Bacharach with Dionne Warwick in 1971.
“Never be afraid of something you might whistle,” Bachrach told NPR’s Scott Simon in 2013.
Throughout his long career, Bachrach won nearly every major music award, including six Grammy Awards, three Oscars, and, with Hal David, the Gershwin Award for Popular Song from the Library of Congress. In 2008 the Grammys proclaimed him the greatest living composer.
