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Legendary Pop Composer & Musician, Burt Bacharach, Has Died
Pop music composer Burt Bacharach, best known for “Walk on By” and “I Say A Little Prayer," has died at 94.
Storied pop composer and musician Burt Bacharach, known for writing hits including Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By," "I Say A Little Prayer," and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," has died. According to Bacharach's publicist, Tina Brausam, the 94-year-old Grammy, Oscar, and Tony-winning artist, died on Wednesday (February 8) at his home in Los Angeles, per AP.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 12, 1928, Bacharach was raised in the Kew Gardens section of New York City. Becoming a skilled pianist as a teen, Bacharach visited nightclubs where jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker performed. After attending McGill University in Montreal, the Mannes School of Music in New York City and the Music Academy of the West, all where he studied formal music education, Bacharach served in the army from 1950 to 1952 as a pianist in an officer's club.
After returning to New York City in adulthood, he began a professional partnership with songwriter Hal David in 1957, penning songs for Jane Morgan, Connie Stevens and more. By the 1960s, Bacharach's career inclined when he began writing for Warwick, with hits including "Alfie," "Don't Make Me Over" and "Are You There (With Another Girl)."
Bacharach's musical reach crossed over to films, as he wrote the theme songs like 1965's What's New Pussycat? and 1966's Alfie. Throughout his esteemed career, Bacharach received six Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards, and earned the 2012 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, with Hal David, awarded by the Library of Congress.
Check out more tributes to Bacharach below.
\u201cburt bacharach created so much joy and beauty with his music. his partnership with dionne warwick and hal david was magical.\u201d— alex (@alex) 1675957454
\u201cOne of the greatest songwriting legacies in the history of ever. Farewell Burt Bacharach, you were a king\u201d— Tim Burgess (@Tim Burgess) 1675955965
\u201cBurt Bacharach, the Oscar winner who wrote classics loved worldwide like \u201cWalk on By,\u201d \u201cDo You Know the Way to San Jose,\u201d and dozens of other hits, has died at 94.\nThere are songwriters, and then there are SONGWRITERS. Burt was one of the greatest, and he will be missed.\u201d— Eric Alper \ud83c\udfa7 (@Eric Alper \ud83c\udfa7) 1675955790
\u201cBurt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the best of Dionne Warwick's songs. In a 20-year span, together they sold over 12 million copies, with 22 in the Top 40 like "Walk on By," "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Alfie," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"\u201d— Eric Alper \ud83c\udfa7 (@Eric Alper \ud83c\udfa7) 1675957277
\u201cPeace and love, Burt Bacharach. \u2764\ufe0f\u201d— Susanna Hoffs (@Susanna Hoffs) 1675958119
\u201cBurt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick reminisce through the amazing catalog of songs they recorded with Hal David. We lost a giant today. https://t.co/JNl0vVPOjq\u201d— Larry Karaszewski (@Larry Karaszewski) 1675958627
