Burt Bacharach

Burt Freeman Bacharach (May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach's songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists.[4] As of 2014, he had written 73 US and 52 UK Top 40 hits.[5] He was one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music.

I wasn’t trying to break any rules. But I wrote the way I heard things.

Quotes

• Somewhere there's a happy harbor
  far from the storm.
  Out where the sun shines there is someone
  I'm meant to adore,
  and I know the day I find her,
  I'll smile once more.
  • "Nikki"

• I knew I was doing things different but at the same time I was doing things that were very natural for me … I wasn’t trying to break any rules. But I wrote the way I heard things.
  • As quoted in an interview at PopEntertainment.com in 2006; also quoted in "Burt Bacharach, legendary composer for Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, dies at 94" by Kristin McGrath, USA TODAY (9 February 2023)

External links

• Burt Bacharach interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)