Burt Bacharach

Genres:	Comedy • Easy Listening • Horror • Music & Radio • Musicals & The Arts • Pop / Rock • R&B / Soul • Soundtracks • Television • Westerns
Descriptive "tags":	easy listening • pop • lounge • oldies • bacharach • 60s • soundtrack • jazz • songwriter • burt bacharach
Decades Active:	1960s • 1970s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	BBC Music • Fan Page • IMDb • Wikipedia

Biography

12 May 1928, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. As a composer and arranger, Bacharach is rightly regarded as one of the most important figures in contemporary pop music. Although his father was a journalist, it was music rather than lyrics that was to prove Bacharach’s forte. Raised in New York, he was a jazz aficionado and played in various ensembles during the 40s. He studied musical theory and composition at university and served in the US Army between 1950 and 1952. Following his discharge, he worked as a pianist, arranger and conductor for a number of artists, including Vic Damone, Steve Lawrence, Polly Bergen and the Ames Brothers. From 1956-58, Bacharach worked as musical director for Marlene Dietrich, a period in which he also registered his first hit as a composer. The song in question was the Five Blobs’ ‘The Blob’, a tune written for a horror B-movie. Bacharach’s co-composer on that hit was Mack David, but a more fruitful partnership...

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