I Say A Little Prayer, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, Love Is What the World Needs Now, and I’ll Never Fall In Love Again are all songs that Burt Bacharach, a legendary composer, is credited with writing.
Throughout his long career, Bacharach produced hundreds of songs, many of which we have all at some point danced or sung along to. 73 of his songs reached the top 40 of the American charts in total.
The renowned songwriter tragically passed away on February 8th at the age of 94. Natural causes led to Bacharach’s death.
Bacharach was a musician with classical training who grew up in New York. Additionally, he had military experience with the US Army.
But it wasn’t until he met fellow lyricist Hal David in 1957 that he rose to fame as we know him today. Together, they created Perry Como’s Magic Moments and Marty Robbins’ The Story of My Life (featuring Michael Holliday in the UK hit version). Both of which achieve UK number-one success.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Following the success of their first two singles, David and Bacharach would go on to write a number of other number-one songs, including I Say a Little Prayer 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.
According to the Guardian, BJ Thomas’ song Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, which was featured in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, won a Grammy and an Oscar in 1969, and Burt Bacharach’s score for the movie won an Oscar for best original score.
In his lifetime, Bacharach had four marriages. His fourth wife, Jane Hansen, was married to him in 1993.
Three of Hansen’s four children and he both survive. Bacharach’s daughter Nikki committed suicide in 2007 when she was 40 years old.
