Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer and Oscar winner who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of 91裸聊视频淲alk on By,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淒o You Know the Way to San Jose91裸聊视频� and dozens of other hits, has died at 94.

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 91裸聊视频淎lfie91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频淚 Say a Little Prayer91裸聊视频� or 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檒l Never Fall in Love Again91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频淭his Guy91裸聊视频檚 in Love with You.91裸聊视频�

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. 91裸聊视频淲alk On By91裸聊视频� alone was covered by everyone from Warwick and Isaac Hayes to the British punk band the Stranglers and Cyndi Lauper.

Bacharach was both an innovator and throwback, and his career seemed to run parallel to the rock era. 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.

91裸聊视频淭he shorthand version of him is that he91裸聊视频檚 something to do with easy listening,91裸聊视频� Elvis Costello, who wrote the 1998 album 91裸聊视频淧ainted from Memory91裸聊视频� with Bacharach, said in a 2018 interview with The Associated Press. 91裸聊视频淚t may be agreeable to listen to these songs, but there91裸聊视频檚 nothing easy about them. Try playing them. Try singing them.91裸聊视频�

He triumphed in many artforms. He was an eight-time Grammy winner, a prize-winning Broadway composer for 91裸聊视频淧romises, Promises91裸聊视频� and a three-time Oscar winner. He received two Academy Awards in 1970, for the score of 91裸聊视频淏utch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid91裸聊视频� and for the song 91裸聊视频淩aindrops Keep Fallin91裸聊视频� on My Head91裸聊视频� (shared with David). In 1982, he and his then-wife, lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, won Oscars for 91裸聊视频淏est That You Can Do,91裸聊视频� the theme from 91裸聊视频淎rthur. His other movie soundtracks included 91裸聊视频淲hat91裸聊视频檚 New, Pussycat?91裸聊视频�, 91裸聊视频淎lfie91裸聊视频� and the 1967 James Bond spoof 91裸聊视频淐asino Royale.91裸聊视频�

Bacharach was well rewarded, and well connected. He was a frequent guest at the White House, whether the president was Republican or Democrat. And in 2012, he was presented the Gershwin Prize by Barack Obama, who had sung a few seconds of 91裸聊视频淲alk on By91裸聊视频� during a campaign appearance.

In his life, and in his music, he stood apart. Fellow songwriter Sammy Cahn liked to joke that the smiling, wavy-haired Bacharach was the first composer he ever knew who didn91裸聊视频檛 look like a dentist. Bacharach was a 91裸聊视频渟winger,91裸聊视频� as they called such men in his time, whose many romances included actor Angie Dickinson, to whom he was married from 1965-80, and Sager, his wife from 1982-1991.

Married four times, he formed his most lasting ties to work. He was a perfectionist who took three weeks to write 91裸聊视频淎lfie91裸聊视频� and might spend hours tweaking a single chord. Sager once observed that Bacharach91裸聊视频檚 life routines essentially stayed the same 91裸聊视频� only the wives changed.

It began with the melodies 91裸聊视频� strong yet interspersed with changing rhythms and surprising harmonics. He credited much of his style to his love of bebop and to his classical education, especially under the tutelage of Darius Milhaud, the famed composer. He once played a piece for piano, violin and oboe for Milhaud that contained a melody he was ashamed to have written, as 12-point atonal music was in vogue at the time. Milhaud, who liked the piece, advised the young man, 91裸聊视频淣ever be afraid of the melody.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淭hat was a great affirmation for me,91裸聊视频� Bacharach recalled in 2004.

Bacharach was essentially a pop composer, but his songs became hits for country artists (Marty Robbins), rhythm and blues performers (Chuck Jackson), soul (Franklin, Luther Vandross) and synth-pop (Naked Eyes). He reached a new generation of listeners in the 1990s with the help of Costello and others. Mike Myers would recall hearing the sultry 91裸聊视频淭he Look of Love91裸聊视频� on the radio and finding fast inspiration for his 91裸聊视频淎ustin Powers91裸聊视频� retro spy comedies, in which Bacharach made cameos.

In the 21st century, he was still testing new ground, writing his own lyrics and recording with rapper Dr. Dre.

He was married to his first wife, Paula Stewart, from 1953-58, and married for a fourth time, to Jane Hansen, in 1993. He is survived by Hansen, as well as his children Oliver, Raleigh and Cristopher, Brausam said. He was preceded in death by his daughter with Dickinson, Nikki Bacharach.

Bacharach knew the very heights of acclaim, but he remembered himself as a loner growing up, a short and self-conscious boy so uncomfortable with being Jewish he even taunted other Jews. His favorite book as a kid was Ernest Hemingway91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频淭he Sun Also Rises91裸聊视频�; he related to the sexually impotent Jake Barnes, regarding himself as 91裸聊视频渟ocially impotent.91裸聊视频�

He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but soon moved to New York City. His father was a syndicated columnist, his mother a pianist who encouraged the boy to study music. Although he was more interested in sports, he practiced piano every day after school, not wanting to disappoint his mother. While still a minor, he would sneak into jazz clubs, bearing a fake ID, and hear such greats as Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie.

91裸聊视频淭hey were just so incredibly exciting that all of a sudden, I got into music in a way I never had before,91裸聊视频� he recalled in the memoir 91裸聊视频淎nyone Who Had a Heart,91裸聊视频� published in 2013. 91裸聊视频淲hat I heard in those clubs turned my head around.91裸聊视频�

He was a poor student in high school, but managed to gain a spot at the music conservatory at McGill University in Montreal. He wrote his first song at McGill and listened for months to Mel Torme91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频淭he Christmas Song.91裸聊视频� Music also may have saved Bacharach91裸聊视频檚 life. He was drafted into the Army in the late 1940s and was still on active duty during the Korean War. But officers stateside soon learned of his gifts and wanted him around. When he did go overseas, it was to Germany, where he wrote orchestrations for a recreation center on the local military base.

After his discharge, he returned to New York and tried to break into the music business. He had little success at first as a songwriter, but he became a popular arranger and accompanist, touring with Vic Damone, the Ames Brothers and Polly Stewart, who became his first wife. When a friend who had been touring with Marlene Dietrich was unable to make a show in Las Vegas, he asked Bacharach to step in.

The young musician and ageless singer quickly clicked and Bacharach traveled the world with her in the late 91裸聊视频�50s and early 91裸聊视频�60s. During each performance, she would introduce him in grand style: 91裸聊视频淚 would like you to meet the man, he91裸聊视频檚 my arranger, he91裸聊视频檚 my accompanist, he91裸聊视频檚 my conductor, and I wish I could say he91裸聊视频檚 my composer. But that isn91裸聊视频檛 true. He91裸聊视频檚 everybody91裸聊视频檚 composer 91裸聊视频� Burt Bacharach!91裸聊视频�

Meanwhile, he had met his ideal songwriter partner 91裸聊视频� David, as businesslike as Bacharach was mercurial, so domesticated that he would leave each night at 5 to catch the train back to his wife and children on Long Island. Working in a tiny office in Broadway91裸聊视频檚 celebrated Brill Building, they produced their first million-seller, 91裸聊视频淢agic Moments,91裸聊视频� sung in 1958 by Perry Como. In 1962, they spotted a backup singer for the Drifters, Warwick, who had a 91裸聊视频渧ery special kind of grace and elegance,91裸聊视频� Bacharach recalled.

The trio produced hit after hit, starting with 91裸聊视频淒on91裸聊视频檛 Make Me Over91裸聊视频� and continuing with 91裸聊视频淲alk on By,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淚 Say a Little Prayer,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淒o You Know the Way to San Jose,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淭rains and Boats and Planes,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淎nyone Who Had a Heart91裸聊视频� and more. The songs were as complicated to record as they were easy to hear. Bacharach liked to experiment with time signatures and arrangements, such as having two pianists play on 91裸聊视频淲alk on By,91裸聊视频� their performances just slightly out of synch to give the song 91裸聊视频渁 jagged kind of feeling,91裸聊视频� he wrote in his memoir.

Besides Warwick, the Bacharach-David team was producing winners for other performers. Among them: 91裸聊视频淢ake It Easy on Yourself91裸聊视频� for Jerry Butler, 91裸聊视频淲hat the World Needs Now Is Love91裸聊视频� for Jackie DeShannon and 91裸聊视频淭his Guy91裸聊视频檚 in Love with You91裸聊视频� for Herb Alpert.

The partnership ended badly with the dismal failure of a 1973 musical remake of 91裸聊视频淟ost Horizon.91裸聊视频� Bacharach became so depressed he isolated himself in his Del Mar vacation home and refused to work.

91裸聊视频淚 didn91裸聊视频檛 want to write with Hal or anybody,91裸聊视频� he told the AP in 2004. Nor did he want to fulfill a commitment to record Warwick. She and David both sued him.

Bacharach and David eventually reconciled. When David died in 2012, Bacharach praised him for writing lyrics 91裸聊视频渓ike a miniature movie.91裸聊视频� Meanwhile, he kept working, vowing never to retire, always believing that a good song could make a difference.

91裸聊视频淢usic softens the heart, makes you feel something if it91裸聊视频檚 good, brings in emotion that you might not have felt before,91裸聊视频� he told the AP in 2018. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 a very powerful thing if you91裸聊视频檙e able to do to it, if you have it in your heart to do something like that.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频擧illel Italie, The Associated Press

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