Burt Bacharach | Artist
Burt Bacharach is an American composer, songwriter, record producer, pianist, and singer born 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri. He has composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David, and is considered one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music. Bacharach studied piano and classical music from an early age, but also had a keen interest in Jazz, in particular musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie, who would influence his later work. After a few years working at lounge clubs and resorts, Bacharach got his big break in 1956 when he became musical director for film and cabaret star Marlene Dietrich. They toured worldwide off and on until the early 1960s and when they were not touring, he wrote songs. In 1957, Bacharach and lyricist Hal David met at the Brill Building in New York City, and began their writing partnership. They had a career breakthrough when their song "The Story of My Life" was recorded by Marty Robbins, becoming a number 1 hit on the U.S. Country Chart. Bacharach went on to write 73 US and 52 UK Top 40 hits, and has been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists. Some standouts among his 24 albums include the soundtrack for the 1967 James Bond film Casino Royale (1967), the soundtrack Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits (1966), Reach Out (1967) and Burt Bacharach (1971). The 1998 Rhino Records compilation The Book of Love, which contains Burt's songs covered by the original artists who made them hits, such as Marty Robbins, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, Cilla Black and the 5th Dimension, is also highly recommended. In 1998 Elvis Costello and Bacharach released the collaborative album Painted From Memory. Bacharach is a six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner.
Artist Website: bacharachonline.com
Featured Albums: Burt Bacharach
Related Artists: Dusty Springfield, Elvis Costello, Dionne Warwick
