(Reuters) – Composer Burt Bacharach, whose hits such as “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” provided a mellow alternative soundtrack to rock and roll in the 1960s and 1970s, has died at the age of 94.
Here are some facts about Bacharach.
* Bacharach, along with lyricist Hal David, composed such memorable tunes as “Walk on By,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” and “What the World Needs Now.”
* Bacharach’s songs became hits for everyone from Dionne Warwick to the Carpenters. Neither rock ‘n’ roll nor strictly pop, the songs filled U.S. radio and were featured in major movies.
* Bacharach wrote more than 500 songs, recorded by more than 1,200 artists. He and David had 30 Top 40 hits in the ’60s alone.
* Bacharach’s wives included fellow songwriter Carole Bayer Sager and actress Angie Dickinson.
* Born Burt Freeman Bacharach in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 12, 1928, he learned to play the piano after his family moved to New York.
* Bacharach was in the Army from 1950 until 1952 but rather than wearing military fatigues in the Korean War, he wore a tuxedo and played piano in officers’ clubs across the United States.
* Afterward, he worked clubs in New York and became pianist-arranger for singers such as Marlene Dietrich, Vic Damone, the Ames Brothers, Polly Bergen and Paula Stewart, who became his first wife. Eventually he decided he could write better tunes than the ones being pitched to the singers he worked for.
(Writing by Paul Grant; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
