FOG BLOG ENTERTAINMENT LOG : LONG TIME MUSICIAN AND POP SONGWRITER BURT BACHARACH DIES 94!
Burt Bacharach, master of pop songwriting, dies aged 94
Singer and performer, who wrote Walk on By and What the World Needs Now Is Love, died at home in Los Angeles of natural causes the songwriter and performer who turned easy listening into high art, has died at 94. A representative for Bacharach confirmed to the Washington Post that the singer died at home in Los Angeles of natural causes.
In all, he scored 73 Top 40 hits in the US and 52 in the UK.
Musicians, admirers and friends paid tribute to the late performer shortly after the news broke. “Burt’s transition is like losing a family member,” Dionne Warwick said in a statement. “My heartfelt condolences go out to his family letting them know he is now peacefully resting and I too will miss him.”
The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson wrote on Twitter: “I’m so sad to hear about Burt Bacharach. Burt was a hero of mine and very influential on my work. He was a giant in the music business. His songs will live forever.”
In his tribute, the Kinks’ Dave Davies described Bacharach as “a great inspiration” and “one of the most influential songwriters of our time.” Gilbert O’Sullivan tweeted that Bacharach was a “huge influence” on his songwriting career and created “timeless melodies never to be forgotten.”
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1928 and raised in New York, Bacharach would sneak into jazz clubs underage to hear performers such as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie, while immersing himself in the work of composers such as Stravinsky and Ravel. He was classically trained at schools in Montreal, New York and California, and, following a spell in the US army, he became a piano accompanist to musicians, including Vic Damone, the Ames Brothers and his first wife, Paula Stewart. He also worked as an arranger and conductor for Marlene Dietrich when she toured Europe in the late 50s and early 60s.
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