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Burt Bacharach

Musical artist

Burt Bacharach (/ˈbɝt ˈbækəræk/, born May 12, 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an award-winning American pianist and composer. He is best known for his many pop hits from 1962-70, with lyrics written by Hal David, many of which were recorded by Dionne Warwick. As of 2006, Bacharach had written a total of 70 Top 40 hits in the U.S., and 52 Top 40 hits in the UK.

Professional biography

Bacharach studied music at McGill University, the Mannes School of Music, and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. His composition teachers included Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinů, and Henry Cowell. In the 1950s and early 1960s he was the pianist, arranger and bandleader for Marlene Dietrich, with whom he toured.

Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progessions, striking syncopated rhythmic patterns, irregular phrasing, frequent modulation, and odd and changing meters. It tends toward a greater climactic effect than most popular music, especially greater than most popular music of the period in which he is most associated. Bacharach is more than a songwriter, having himself arranged, conducted, and co-produced much of his recorded output. An example of his use of distinctive use of changing meter is found in "Promises, Promises" (from his score for the musical of the same name). In this song, he incorporates a very complex time signature sequence of |3/8|÷|4/8|3/8|÷|4/8|.

Early work

In 1957, Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were introduced at the famous Brill Building in New York City, and began their songwriting partnership. Almost a year later, they received a major career break when their song "The Story of My Life" was recorded by Marty Robbins for Columbia Records, becoming a #1 hit on the U.S. Country charts in late 1957. Soon afterwards, "Magic Moments" was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and became a #4 U.S. hit in February of that year. Other hits quickly followed. "Heavenly" was recorded by Johnny Mathis and became a gold record in the UK. Later the same year another Bacharach song, "Faithfully", also achieved gold record status with Mathis in the UK.

In the early 1960s, Bacharach wrote well over a hundred songs with David, including a wealth of popular hits throughout the 1960s and 1970s, many of which still enjoy popularity today. Bacharach and David were associated throughout the sixties with Dionne Warwick, a conservatory-trained vocalist whom the duo met in 1961. She began working for the duo when they needed a good singer to "demo" their songs properly for other artists. Bacharach and David noticed that Warwick's demos often exceeded the quality of the performances others were recording. They started writing a portion of their work specifically with Warwick in mind, which led to one of the most successful teams in popular music history. Over a twenty year period, beginning in the early 1960s, Warwick managed to chart 38 singles co-written or produced by Bacharach, including twenty-two Top-40 hits on the American Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bacharach's songs were made famous by a number of popular singers in addition to Warwick, including The Shirelles, The Beatles ("Baby, It's You"), The Carpenters, Aretha Franklin, B.J. Thomas ("Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head"), Tom Jones ("What's New, Pussycat"), The Stranglers, Dusty Springfield ("The Look of Love"), The Drifters, Jack Jones ("Wives and Lovers"), Jackie DeShannon ("What the World Needs Now is Love"),Gene Pitney, Herb Alpert, Jerry Butler and Luther Vandross in the 1980s and 1990s.

In addition to mainstream pop, many Bacharach songs were adapted by jazz artists of the time, such as Stan Getz and Wes Montgomery. The Bacharach/David composition, "My Little Red Book", originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the film What's New, Pussycat, and promptly covered by Love in 1966, has become a rock music standard; however, according to Robin Platts' book "Burt Bacharach and Hal David", the composer did not like this version. Bacharach composed and arranged the soundtrack of the 1967 film Casino Royale. Bacharach and David also collaborated with Broadway producer David Merrick on the 1968 musical production of Promises, Promises, which yielded several major hit songs (including the title tune). 1969 saw, perhaps, the most successful Bacharach-David collaboration ever, with the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", which was prominently featured in the acclaimed film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and also was Bacharach's biggest worldwide hit.

1970s and 1980s

By the early 1970s, changing public tastes created a more competitive atmosphere for pop music. In 1973, Bacharach and David were commissioned to score the Ross Hunter-produced revival of the classic 1937 film, Lost Horizon, Lost Horizon (1973 film) for Columbia Pictures. The result was a critical and commercial disaster, and resulted in a flurry of lawsuits between the songwriter and lyricist, as well as from Warwick, who reportedly felt abandoned when Bacharach and David refused to work together. Bacharach tried several solo projects (including the 1977 album Futures), but the projects failed to yield any memorable hits.

By the early 1980s, Bacharach's marriage with Angie Dickinson had failed, but a new partnership with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager proved more rewarding, both commercially and personally. The two married, and collaborated on several major hits during the decade, including "Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross), "Heartlight" (Neil Diamond), "Making Love", "On My Own", and perhaps most memorably, "That's What Friends Are For" in 1985, actually the second single which reunited Bacharach and singer Warwick. The profits for the latter song were given to AIDS research. Bacharach's 1980s tunes showed a new sound, proving that Bacharach's work could continue to change with the times.

Other artists continued to revive Bacharach's earlier hits, giving them an entirely new audience in the 1980s and 1990s. Examples included Naked Eyes' 1983 dance version of "(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me", Ronnie Milsap's smash 1982 country version of "Any Day Now", and many others. Bacharach also continued a successful concert career, appearing at auditoriums throughout the world, often featuring large orchestras as accompaniment. He also occasionally joined with Warwick, appearing in sold-out concerts in New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

Later work

In 1998, Bacharach co-wrote and recorded a Grammy-winning album with Elvis Costello, Painted From Memory on which the compositions began to take on the sound of his earlier work. In 2006, he recorded a jazz album with Trijntje Oosterhuis and the Metropole Orchestra called The Look Of Love (Burt Bacharach Songbook) which was released in November that year. Bacharach collaborated with Cathy Dennis in 2002 to write an original song for the Pop Idol winner Will Young. This was What's In Goodbye and it appears on Young's debut album From Now On. During July of 2002, Young was a guest vocalist at two of Bacharach's concerts, one at the Hammersmith Apollo and the other at Liverpool Pops.

Bacharach's 2005 album At This Time saw a departure from past works in that Bacharach penned his own lyrics, some of which dealt with political themes. Guest stars on some tracks included Elvis Costello and Rufus Wainwright.

He has also worked with hip hop producer Dr. Dre on his recent album At This Time and is expected to do work on Dr. Dre's long awaited Detox album.

Film and television

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bacharach was featured in a dozen TV musical/variety specials videotaped in the UK for ITC, several of which were nominated for Emmy awards for direction (by Dwight Hemion). The guests included artists such as Joel Grey, Dusty Springfield, and Barbra Streisand. Bacharach and David also did the score for a short-lived ABC-TV series, ABC Stage '67, for a show titled On the Flip Side, starring Rick Nelson as a faded pop star trying for a comeback. While the series' ratings were dismal, the soundtrack showcased Bacharach's abilities to try different kinds of musical styles, ranging from (almost) 1960s rock, to pop, ballads, and Latin-tinged dance numbers.

In 1969, his instrumental composition "Nikki" (named for his daughter) premiered as the theme for the ABC Movie of the Week, a TV series which eventually ran on various nights of the week until 1975. Also during the 1970s, Bacharach and then-wife Angie Dickinson appeared in several TV commercials for Martini & Rossi beverages, and even penned a short jingle ("Say Yes") for the spots. Bacharach also occasionally appeared on TV/variety shows, such as The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and many others.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Bacharach has had cameo roles in a number of Hollywood movies including all three Austin Powers spy spoof movies. His music is also credited as providing inspiration for these movies, partially stemming from Bacharach's score for the 1967 James Bond film Casino Royale.

During subsequent Burt Bacharach concert tours, each show would open with a very brief video clip from the movie Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, with Mike Myers (as Austin Powers) uttering "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Burt Bacharach." In late 2006, Burt Bacharach appeared as the celebrity in a Geico auto insurance commercial, where he sings and plays the piano. He translates the customer's story through song ("I was hit. ..in the rear!")

Legacy and influence

Popular songwriter Jimmy Webb has acknowledged Bacharach's influence on his work.
On Status Quo's album Heavy Traffic, Track number 8 is named "Diggin' Burt Bacharach."
On the cover of Oasis' first album Definitely Maybe, there is a framed picture of Bacharach to the left resting up against the sofa. Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher also performed a duet of "This Guy's In Love With You" live with Bacharach, and Gallagher admits to having stolen elements of that same song when composing the Oasis track 'Half The World Away'.
Alternative-avant garde guitarist/composer Leonid Soybelman released an album named Much Ado About Burt Bacharach's Walk On By.
The British duo Swing Out Sister cites Bacharach as a major influence as well.
The British band Saint Etienne were influenced heavily by Bacharach's piano motifs.

Family

Bacharach has been married four times, first to Paula Stewart (1953–1958), second to actress Angie Dickinson (1965–1980), third to lyricist Carole Bayer Sager (1982–1991) — with whom he collaborated on a number of pieces — and fourth (since 1993) to Jane Hanson. He had a daughter, Nikki, with Dickinson, an adopted son with Bayer Sager, and has a son and a daughter with Hanson.

Nikki Bacharach was born prematurely in 1966, and it was for her he wrote the instrumental piece "Nikki". She had chronic health problems as a result of her premature birth, and was also diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, and spent nine years at the Wilson Center, a psychiatric residential treatment facility for adolescents located in Faribault, Minnesota. Sadly she committed suicide by suffocation using a plastic bag and helium on January 4, 2007 at age 40.. Bacharach and Dickinson said "She quietly and peacefully committed suicide to escape the ravages to her brain brought on by Asperger's."

Selected discography

Hitmaker! Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits (1965)
What's New Pussycat (Film Soundtrack) (1965)
After the Fox (Film Soundtrack) (1966)
Reach Out (1967)
Casino Royale (Film Soundtrack) (1967)
On The Flip Side (Television soundtrack) (1967)
Make it Easy on Yourself (1969)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Film Soundtrack) (1969)
Promises, Promises (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (1969)
Burt Bacharach (1971)
Lost Horizon (Film soundtrack) (1973)
Burt Bacharach in Concert (1974)
Living Together (1974)
Futures (1977)
Woman (1979)
Arthur (Film soundtrack) (1981)
Night Shift (Film soundtrack) (1982)
Arthur 2: On The Rocks (Film soundtrack) (1988)
One Amazing Night (1998)
Painted From Memory with Elvis Costello (1998)
Isley Meets Bacharach: Here I Am with Ronald Isley (2003)*
At This Time (2005)

Hit singles

The following is a chronological list of Bacharach hit singles that appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio airplay and/or significant commercial sales.

"The Story of My Life" (Marty Robbins, (US Country and Western no. 1, pop no. 15, 1957 - his first hit)
"Magic Moments" (Perry Como, US no. 4 / UK no. 1, 1957/1958 - his first big pop hit)
"The Blob" (The Five Blobs, 1958 with Mack David—brother of Hal David—from the movie The Blob)
"Heavenly" (Johnny Mathis 1959)
"Faithfully" (Johnny Mathis 1959)
"Baby It's You" (The Shirelles, 1961, then The Beatles, 1963, then Smith, 1969 US #8)
"Please Stay" (The Drifters, 1961; The Cryin' Shames, 1965; Marc Almond, 2001)
"Any Day Now" (Chuck Jackson, 1962, then Ronnie Milsap, 1982)
"(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" (Gene Pitney, 1962)
"Only Love Can Break A Heart" (Gene Pitney, (1962)
"Don't Make Me Over" (Dionne Warwick, US # 21 1962) (The Swinging Blue Jeans, 1966) (Sybil, 1989)
"Make it Easy On Yourself" (Dionne Warwick, demo 1962, then Jerry Butler), 1962, then a UK no. 1 for The Walker Brothers, 1965); then Dionne Warwick live from Garden State Arts Center, US # 37 1970)
"Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" (Gene Pitney, 1963)
"Blue on Blue" (Bobby Vinton, 1963)
"Anyone Who Had a Heart" (Dionne Warwick, US # 8, UK# 42 1963, Cilla Black and Dusty Springfield, 1964, Luther Vandross in 1986, Linda Ronstadt in 1991, and Olivia Newton-John in 2004)
"(They Long to Be) Close to You" (Richard Chamberlain, 1963, then Dionne Warwick, 1964, Johnny Mathis and The Carpenters (US no. 1, 1970). In 1969 Grammy nominee Record of the Year.
"Wives and Lovers" (Jack Jones, 1963). Grammy nominee Record of the Year and Song of the Year
"Wishin' and Hopin'" (Dionne Warwick, 1963, then Dusty Springfield (who had a U.S. Top Ten hit with it), 1964, Ani DiFranco (on the My_Best_Friend's_Wedding soundtrack), 1997, Stephanie McIntosh, 2006)
"Walk on By" Dionne Warwick, US # 6, UK # 8 1964, then Isaac Hayes, 1970 and The Stranglers in 1978) 1983 Jo Jo Zep, 1989 Sybil, 2006 Seal
"Reach Out For Me" Lou Johnson, 1964, then Dionne Warwick, US #20,Canada #12, UK#23 1964
"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Dusty Springfield, (UK no. 3 hit, 1964, Dionne Warwick, US no. 26 hit, 1966, then The White Stripes, 2003)
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (Dionne Warwick, 1964, then Sandie Shaw, UK no. 1, 1964, then Naked Eyes, 1982)
"A House Is Not a Home" (Brook Benton, 1964, Dionne Warwick, 1964, then Luther Vandross, (1981)
"You'll Never Get to Heaven" 1964 Dionne Warwick)US #32, UK #12, Canada #23, then Stylistics, 1972)
"What the World Needs Now Is Love" 1965 Jackie DeShannon)US #7, then Dionne Warwick 1967, then Daniel Johnston, 1988; Dionne Warwick and the Hip-Hop Nation United, 1998
"What's New Pussycat?" (Tom Jones, 1965, from the film What's New, Pussycat?, US #3)

This song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1965.

"Here I Am" (Dionne Warwick, 1965, from the film What's New, Pussycat?, US #65 AC #11, Canada # 19)
"Message to Michael" (Dionne Warwick, US # 8 1966, originally recorded as "A Message to Martha" Lou Johnson, 1964)
"Alfie" (Cilla Black, 1966 UK #8, US # 95, then Cher, US # 33 1966, then Dionne Warwick, US # 15, # 5 R & B 1967, originally from the movie of the same name)

This song was nominated for the Academy Award for Original Song in 1966, and won Bacharach a Grammy for instrumental arrangement in 1967.

"My Little Red Book" (Love, 1966) (Tony Middleton, 1965)
"The Windows of the World" (Dionne Warwick, 1967)
"I Say a Little Prayer" (Dionne Warwick, 1967-US # 4, then Aretha Franklin-US # 10, 1968, then Diana King, 1997)
"The Look of Love" (Dusty Springfield, 1967, from the soundtrack of the movie Casino Royale, Dionne Warwick, 1967, then Sérgio Mendes & Brazil '66, 1968)

This song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1967.

"One Less Bell to Answer" (Keely Smith, 1967, then The 5th Dimension, 1970 US #2, then (Dionne Warwick), 1971)
"This Guy's in Love with You" (Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, US no. 1, (4 weeks, 1968); (Dionne Warwick), 1969, No. 7)

This song was covered by Oasis' Noel Gallagher in tribute to Bacharach on his 70th Birthday. According to Robin Platts' book What The World Needs Now the song was not written with Alpert, a non-singer with limited range, in mind, but was altered to suit him. The song was originally written as "That Guy's In Love With You".

"Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (Dionne Warwick, 1968-US #10, UK #8)
"Promises, Promises" (Dionne Warwick, 1968-US # 19, and Jill O'Hara, 1968) Dionne Warwick's version was released prior to the show's opening and the Broadway cast album release. Bacharach recorded Dionne's Promises, Promises as a guide track for the cast to sing the difficult tune. The B" side of Warwick's single was another Bacharach/David tune from the show "Whoever You Are (I Love You)". The Broadway soundtrack won Bacharach a Grammy in 1969.
"The April Fools" (Dionne Warwick, 1969, from the film The April Fools, US #37, AC #8, Canada # 32)
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (B.J. Thomas, US no. 1, 1969, Johnny Mathis 1969 in Great Britain, Sacha Distel, 1969 in Continental Europe, from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)

This song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1969. Bacharach also won the Academy Awards and Grammy for Original Score for the movie. Grammy nominee Song of the Year

"I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (Dionne Warwick (US # 6 1969) then Bobbie Gentry (UK no. 1, 1969), originally from the musical Promises, Promises). Grammy nominee Song of the Year
"Let Me Go To Him" (Dionne Warwick, 1970, US #32 AC #5, Canada # 30)
"Paper Mache" (Dionne Warwick, 1970, US #43, AC # 6)
"The Green Grass Starts to Grow" (Dionne Warwick, 1971, US #43, AC #2, Canada # 35)
"Who Gets the Guy" (Dionne Warwick, 1971, US #57 R & B 41, AC # 6)
"Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross, 1981, from the movie Arthur)

This song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1981. Grammy nominee Record of the Year and Song of the Year

"That's What Friends Are For" (1982)

This song was originally written for the movie Night Shift and performed on the soundtrack by Rod Stewart. In 1986, a version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John became an enormous hit, raising millions for AIDS charities. The song also won the Grammy for Song of the Year. Grammy nominee Record of the Year

"On My Own" (Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, US no. 1, 1986)
"Love Power" (Dionne Warwick and Jeffrey Osborne, US no. 12, AC # 1, 1987)

Other notable recordings

Jazz musician John Zorn produced a 2-CD set of Bacharach tunes (1997), featuring several avantgarde musicians, as part of his Great Jewish Music series.
To Hal and Bacharach is a 1998 tribute album with 18 tunes, performed by notable Australian artists.

Complete work for Broadway

Marlene Dietrich (1968) — concert — music arranger and conductor
Promises, Promises (1968) — musical — composer — Tony Nomination for Best Musical
André DeShield's Haarlem Nocturne (1984) — revue — featured songwriter
The Look of Love (2003) — revue — composer
The Boy from Oz (2003) — musical — additional composer

References

http://www.bacharachonline.com/bacharach_bio.html
"The Burt Bacharach Collection" - CD issued by WEA Europe (liner notes)
PlatoMania.nl Scheduled Dutch album releases. Retrieved: October 25, 2006
Independent News & Media (8 January 2007) Asperger's syndrome: The ballad of Nikki Bacharach
The Washington Post (January 5, 2007) Burt Bacharach's daughter commits suicide
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2134839.ece

External links

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