HAL DAVID (1921 - 2012)

Along with his long-time musical partner, Burt Bacharach, Hal David wrote some of the world's most beloved pop songs, most during the 1960's, that are still being performed to this day. Mr. David passed away yesterday at the age of 91

David and Bacharach met while they were part of a large team of writers working at the Brill Building who wrote pop songs to sell to publishers. Their first big hit recording together was in 1957 with "Magic Moments" performed by Perry Como.

In 1959, they were introduced to a young singer named Dionne Warwick and the team was quite impressed with the range of her voice and how easy she could handle their complicated melodies. The trio had their first success with "Don't Make Me Over" in 1962 which was followed by a long string of hit songs for them. David and Bacharach created hits for other notable performers including Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, B.J. Thomas and The Carpenters.

This successful duo broke-up after the difficult work on the disastrous musical remake of "Lost Horizon" in 1973. Shortly thereafter, David and Bacharach sued each other and Warwick sued them both for breach of contract. The cases were eventually settled out of court in 1979 but this dynamic trio eventually made up and came back together in 1992 to record one final song, "Sunny Weather Lover".

Here are just a few of the notable songs by Hal David and Burt Bacharach:

"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" - B.J. Thomas (1969)

"What the World Needs Now Is Love" - Jackie DeShannon (1965)

"One Less Bell to Answer" - The Fifth Dimension (1969)

"Wishin' & Hopin"" - Dusty Springfield (1964)