Pop Music Icon Burt Bacharach Dies At 94

Burt Bacharach is dead at 94. His hit pop songs, like “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” were defined by romantic optimism. The debonair composer, arranger, conductor, record producer, and occasional singer fused aspects of late-19th-century symphonic music with modern, bubbly pop orchestration, The New York Times reported.

Photo Insert: The Grammy, Oscar, and Tony-winning Bacharach died Wednesday at home in Los Angeles of natural causes.

Reporting for the Associated Press (AP), Hillel Italie wrote that Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of “Walk on By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and dozens of other hits, is gone.

The Grammy, Oscar, and Tony-winning Bacharach died Wednesday at home in Los Angeles of natural causes, publicist Tina Brausam said Thursday.

Over the past 70 years, only Lennon-McCartney, Carole King and a handful of others rivaled his genius for instantly catchy songs that remained performed, played and hummed long after they were written.

He had a run of top 10 hits from the 1950s into the 21st century, and his music was heard everywhere from movie soundtracks and radios to home stereo systems and iPods, whether “Alfie” and “I Say a Little Prayer” or “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “This Guy’s in Love with You.”

Little known is the fact that Bacharach was also monitored by the FBI for supposed links with US Communists and the anti-war movement. He also served with the US Army in Korea.

Dionne Warwick was his favorite interpreter, but Bacharach, usually in tandem with lyricist Hal David, also created prime material for Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, and many others.

Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Frank Sinatra were among the countless artists who covered his songs, with more recent performers who sung or sampled him including White Stripes, Twista and Ashanti.

“Walk On By” alone was covered by everyone from Warwick and Isaac Hayes to the British punk band the Stranglers and Cyndi Lauper. He grew up on jazz and classical music and had little taste for rock when he was breaking into the business in the 1950s.

His sensibility often seemed more aligned with Tin Pan Alley than with Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and other writers who later emerged, but rock composers appreciated the depth of his seemingly old-fashioned sensibility.

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