Topic: Burt Bacharach

Burt Bacharach (pronounced /ˈbækəræk/; born May 12, 1928) is an American pianist and composer. He is best known for his many pop hits from the early 1960s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David, many of which were produced for and recorded by Dionne Warwick.

As of 2006, Bacharach had written a total of 70 Top 40 hits in the US, and 52 Top 40 hits in the UK.According to britishhitsongwriters.com he is the eighteenth most successful songwriter in U.K. chart history based on weeks that his compositions have spent on the chart.

Burt Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Irma (née Freeman) and Bert Bacharach, a syndicated newspaper columnist. He is of German Jewish descent. Bacharach studied music at McGill University, the Mannes School of Music, and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. His composition teachers included Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinů, and Henry Cowell. After leaving the army Bacharach worked as a pianist, sometimes playing solo and sometimes accompanying singers such as Vic Damone, Polly Bergen, Steve Lawrence, the Ames Brothers and Paula Stewart (who became his first wife). From 1958 to 1961 he was the pianist, arranger and bandleader for Marlene Dietrich, with whom he toured internationally.