BURT BACHARACH (1928 - 2023)

With his musical partner, lyricist Hal David, Burt Bacharach composed some of the greatest and most enduring pop songs of the twentieth century. This gifted pianist and producer passed away on February 8th at the age of ninety-four of natural causes. While these compositions from Bacharach and David may best represent the era in which they were created during the swinging '60's, they have since gone on to become timeless classics, songs that still captivate with their offbeat rhythms and complicated arrangements yet remain extraordinarily catchy.

The New York City raised Bacharach was started on piano lessons as a child, encouraged by his creative mother. But as he got older, he became more interested in jazz than classical music. After serving in the army for two years, Bacharach went to work as a pianist and conductor for singer, Vic Damone who he has first met while they were both serving in Germany. This lead to other jobs as a pianist for other noted performers of the day, accompanying Steve Lawrence, The Ames Brothers and Joel Grey.

Bacharach's first major break came in 1956 when he was recommended to actress Marlene Dietrich who was about to begin touring with her nightclub act. As her musical arranger and conductor, they would work together on and off until the early 1960's.

After joining the songwriting factory at the Brill Building, Bacharach first met Hal David with the team writing together their first two hits; "The Story of My Life" which became a number one song on the US Country chart in 1957 for Marty Robbins and the top-five pop hit, "Magic Moments" recorded by Perry Como. Despite these early successes with David, Bacharach worked with other writers, most notably Bob Hilliard with this team's songs, "Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)" and "Mexican Divorce" becoming charting pop hits. It was during the recording of the later song in 1962 with The Drifters that Bacharach would first meet the singer that would change the course of his career.

One of the background singers during that recording session was Dionne Warwick who stood out with her formidable vocal abilities, impressing Bacharach enough to hire her to record his demos. By 1962, Bacharach and David had officially become a songwriting team and started their own production company, signed to Scepter Records. And their first artist was Warwick who released her debut album, "Presenting Dionne Warwick" in 1963. Beginning with "Don't Make Me Over", this trio had a long string of worldwide pop hits which included "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "Walk On By", "I Say a Little Prayer", "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?", "Message to Michael", "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" and "Alfie". Many of these songs were covered by other singers, most notably Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield, who would also find success on the pop charts with their versions.

Bacharach-David also went on to write music for films ("The Look of Love" for "Casino Royale", "What's New Pussycat?" and the Oscar-winning "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") and the stage (the 1968 musical, "Promises, Promises"). Bacharach would work on his own projects during this time as well, making a name for himself and creating some visibility as a personality with several television specials, talk show appearances and released solo albums. But the recording of the score for the 1973 film musical version of "Lost Horizon", a critical and commercial disappointment, lead to the dissolution of the creative partnership between Bacharach and David with each suing the other and Warwick filing a lawsuit against them both.

Bacharach went on to find a new songwriting partner, singer/lyricist Carole Bayer Sager who would later become his third wife in 1982. Some of the songs they wrote together included "Heartlight", "Making Love", "On My Own" and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (co-written with Christopher Cross and Peter Allen) which won the 1981 Oscar for Best Original Song. And "That's What Friends Are For" (originally recorded by Rod Stewart in 1982 for the soundtrack of the film, "Night Shift")  would reunite Bacharach and Warwick in 1985 with this number one song, that featured Gladys Knight, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder, was a charity single with all proceeds going for AIDS research.

After his marriage to Bayer Sager ended in 1991, Bacharach continued to work over the years with one of his most notable musical collaborations was with Elvis Costello, releasing an album together "Painted From Memory" in 1998 and later working on several tracks for Costello's 2018 album, "Look Now". One of Bacharach's last projects was in 2020 when he collaborated with multi-instrumentalist, Daniel Tashian on the EP, "Blue Umbrella".

SARAH DASH (1945 - 2021)

Sarah Dash, one third of the soul-funk group, Labelle before venturing out as a solo artist, has sadly passed away on September 20th at the age of seventy-six. No cause of death has been revealed to date.

Born in Trenton, NJ (and one of thirteen children), Dash began singing in church where her father was a pastor. After moving to Philadelphia as a teen, she started to sing soul and doo-wop when she joined a local girl-group, The Ordettes with Sundray Tucker, Nona Hendryx and Patricia Holte. Tucker left the group and Cindy Birdsong replaced her with the act changing their name to The Blue Belles in 1962. The group went through another change after their management decided for lead singer, Holte to be renamed "Patti LaBelle", with the quartet becoming Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles. The group had a few minor pop and r&b hits with "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", "Down the Aisle" and covers of "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Danny Boy" and "Over the Rainbow".

After Birdsong went off to join the Supremes in 1967, the remaining members struggled before changing management (to English talent manager, Vicki Wickham), musical direction and their name to "LaBelle" in 1971. The group would become best known for their socially conscious songs and soulful renditions of rock songs by Cat Stevens, The Who and working with singer/songwriter, Laura Nyro on an album. While LaBelle enjoyed critical acclaim, they still failed to achieve commercial success until their 1974 album, "Nightbirds". The record featured the single, "Lady Marmalade" (produced by Allen Toussaint and Wickham) about a New Orleans sex worker that would become the group's biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Soul charts. LaBelle's subsequent albums did not receive much attention and after creative disagreements on material, the trio decided to go their separate ways in 1977.

During her time with Labelle, Dash had begun to sing more lead vocals and co-write songs. She released her self-titled debut album in 1978 and had a top-ten disco hit with "Sinner Man" with Dash later finding popularity in dance music. After developing a friendship with Keith Richards while Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles opened for his band, The Rolling Stones in the early 1960s, he asked her to tour with him and his side band, X-pensive Winos in 1988 and provide backing vocals on the Stones' 1989, "Steel Wheels" album. And after the occasional musical reunion over the years, LaBelle finally released another album, "Back To Now" in 2008, thirty-two years after their last recording.

AMERICA'S MOST BELOVED DIVAS

In the latest issue of New York Times' magazine, T, they celebrate three of the most iconic women in music; Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton and Patti LaBelle. They started their journey in to the business around the same time but each would find fame and success at different points of their careers.

Streisand would first be noticed on the theatrical stage before conquering pop music and film. Parton began under the guidance of musician, Porter Wagoner before striking out on her own and becoming a major player in country music. And LaBelle was part of a girl-group, finding brief success before venturing off as a solo artist and reaching incredible heights as one of the greatest voices in r&b.

Each of these gifted and talented performers have remained greatly admired musicians, with the magazine offering profiles on these women that examines their lives, careers and continued influence on audiences.

Click below to read the articles:

NYT magazine: Celebrating Three of America’s Most Beloved Divas

ALLEE WILLIS (1947 - 2019)

The Grammy-Award winning songwriter, Allee Willis passed away suddenly on December 24th from cardiac arrest. The seventy-two year old Willis had just been inducted in to the Songwriters Hall of Fame last year.

Some of the music this talented writer helped create includes Earth, Wind and Fire's "September" and "Boogie Wonderland"; "Neutron Dance" by the Pointer Sisters (for the "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack which she won her first Grammy), "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" by Pet Shop Boys featuring Dusty Springfield and "I'll Be There for You" by The Rembrandts which was used as the theme song for the still-popular sitcom, "Friends". Willis also co-wrote the songs for the Broadway musical of "The Color Purple" and received Tony-Award nominations and a Grammy win for her work.

Born Alta Sherral Willis in Detroit, she would go hang out outside of Motown Records to listen to the artists record their soon-to-be hits as a teenager. Willis went to college to study journalism but moved to New York after graduation and was drawn to singing and songwriting, She did record an album, "Childstar" in 1974 but it failed to get any attention. Not long after, Willis decided to give up performing, move to Los Angeles and focus on being a songwriter.

Willis was hired by A&M Records in 1977 as a writer and her first chance encounter was an introduction to Verdine White, the bass player for Earth, Wind and Fire. Through him, Willis would meet his brother, Maurice, the founder and leader of the band. They worked together writing "September" and this 1978 now-classic became her first hit song. This opened doors for Willis and she would go to work with a wide variety of artists including Rita Coolidge, Crystal Gayle, Sister Sledge, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Patti LaBelle, Cyndi Lauper and Taylor Dayne.

Willis would later become known for her North Hollywood home, designed by William Kesling, where she threw wild parties and filled with pop culture artifacts which helped her become affectionately referred to as "the Queen of Kitsch". In honor of this great talent, here are a few of my favorite songs written by Allee Willis:

THE INFLUENCE OF PRINCE

The world is still reeling from the shocking loss of the musical genius, Prince. He was a consistent creative force with an inimitable talent and boundless energy. With an impressive body of work that ranged from politically charged anthems, tender love ballads, funky dance tunes and raunchy sex ditties, it's no surprise that other artists were attracted to his material.

Here are some of the amazing covers of songs written by the Purple One or they were created by him for that specific performer. There is even a hit song by Stevie Nicks that was inspired simply by his presence in the recording studio.

"When You Were Mine" - Cyndi Lauper (1983) mp3

"Sugar Walls" - Sheena Easton (1984) mp3

"Do Me Baby" - Meli'sa Morgan (1985) mp3







"Yo Mister" - Patti Labelle (1989) mp3

"Nothing Compares 2 U" - Sinéad O’Connor (1990) mp3

"Round and Round" - Tevin Campbell (1990) mp3

"I Wanna Be Your Lover" - Corinne Bailey Rae (2011) mp3

THIS IS FOR THE LOVERS. . .

V. D. is upon us again today, making it's yearly visit.

This is that so-called "holiday" where people feel obligated to scramble around to buy expensive gifts or forced to go out to dinner where restaurants rob people blind by hiking up the prices to obscene levels, all of this in a commerical way to show someone how much you truly "love" them. Like JLo wisely said,"My love don't cost a thing" Worst still, people who don't happen to have a lover are made to feel particularly lousy today.

Despite all of this nonsense, Valentine's Day is a great excuse for me to share a few love songs that I love.

Enjoy them alone or with someone you care about:

"I Think I Love You " The Partridge Family

"My First Love" - Rene & Angela

"Love Will Never Do (Without You)" - Janet Jackson

"Love, Need, And Want You" - Patti LaBelle

"Love, Etc." - Pet Shop Boys

"All In Love Is Fair" - Barbra Streisand