The Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning Bacharach died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes, publicist Tina Brausam said Thursday.
Bacharach was well rewarded and well connected. He was a frequent guest at the White House, whether the president was Republican or Democrat. And in 2012, he was presented the Gershwin Prize by Barack Obama, who had sung a few seconds of “Walk on By” during a campaign appearance.
It began with the melodies — strong yet interspersed with changing rhythms and surprising harmonics. He credited much of his style to his love of bebop and to his classical education, especially under the tutelage of Darius Milhaud, the famed composer. He once played a piece for piano, violin and oboe for Milhaud that contained a melody he was ashamed to have written, as 12-point atonal music was in vogue at the time.
Bacharach knew the very heights of acclaim, but he remembered himself as a loner growing up, a short and self-conscious boy so uncomfortable with being Jewish he even taunted other Jews. His favorite book as a kid was Ernest Hemingway’s; he related to the sexually impotent Jake Barnes, regarding himself as “socially impotent.”
After his discharge, he returned to New York and tried to break into the music business. He had little success at first as a songwriter, but he became a popular arranger and accompanist, touring with Vic Damone, the Ames Brothers and Stewart, his eventual first wife. When a friend who had been touring with Marlene Dietrich was unable to make a show in Las Vegas, he asked Bacharach to step in.
The trio produced hit after hit. The songs were as complicated to record as they were easy to hear. Bacharach liked to experiment with time signatures and arrangements, such as having two pianists play on “Walk on By,” their performances just slightly out of sync to give the song “a jagged kind of feeling,” he wrote in his memoir.
Bacharach and David eventually reconciled. When David died in 2012, Bacharach praised him for writing lyrics “like a miniature movie.”
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Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94Bacharach was a singularly gifted and popular composer, who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of 'Walk on By,' 'Do You Know the Way to San Jose' and more.
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Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of 'Walk on By,' 'Do You Know the Way to San Jose' and dozens of other hits, has died at 94. The Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning Bacharach died Wednesday at home in Los Angeles of natural causes, publicist Tina Brausam said Thursday. Over the past 70 years, only Lennon-McCartney, Carole King and a handful of others rivaled his genius for instantly catchy songs that remained performed, played and hummed long after they were written.
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Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer and Oscar winner who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies, has died at 94.
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Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94Bacharach was a singularly gifted and popular composer, who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of 'Walk on By,' 'Do You Know the Way to San Jose' and more.
Weiterlesen »
Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94Over the past 70 years, only Lennon-McCartney, Carole King and a handful of others rivaled his genius for instantly catchy songs that remained performed, played and hummed long after they were writ…
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Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94Burt Bacharach's movie soundtracks and radios to home stereo systems and iPods, whether “Alfie” and “I Say a Little Prayer” or “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “This Guy’s in Love with You.” BurtBacharach kprc2 click2houston
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