I Say A Little Prayer, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, What the World Needs Now Is Love, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again… All of these truly legendary songs were all written by the same man, legendary composer Burt Bacharach.
During his decades-long career, Bacharach had written hundreds of songs, many of which we’ve all danced to or sung along to at one time or another. A total of 73 of the songs he composed made it into the Top 40 in the United States.
Legendary Pop Composer Burt Bacharach Who Wrote ‘I Say A Little Prayer’ and So Many More Dead at 94
Sadly, on February 8th, the legendary songwriter passed away at the age of 94. As The Guardian reports, Bacharach died of natural causes.
Bacharach was a classically trained musician who grew up in New York. He was also a former member of the United States Army.
However, he didn’t become the sensation he is today until after he met fellow lyricist Hal David in 1957. Together the pair teamed up to produce The Story of My Life by Marty Robbins (Michael Holliday in the UK hit version) and Magic Moments by Perry Como. Both of which become number 1 songs in the UK.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Following their first two hits, David and Bacharach would go on to create several more chart-topping songs, including the aforementioned I Say a Little Prayer, sung by Aretha Franklin, What’s New Pussycat? by Tom Jones, The Look of Love by Dusty Springfield, and Make It Easy on Yourself by the Walker Brothers.
Their song Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, performed by BJ Thomas and featured in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, won a Grammy and an Oscar in 1969, while Bacharach’s music for the film won the Oscar for best original score, the Guardian reports.
Bacharach married four times throughout his life. He married his fourth wife, Jane Hansen, in 1993.
He is survived by Hansen and three of his four children. In 2007, Bacharach’s daughter, Nikki, took her own life in 2007 at the age of 40.