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".

THE SIXTH TUNE OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas songs aren't typically known for being romantic and sensual but that changed with The Carpenters. This original song, written by Richard Carpenter and Frank Pooler which features a beautifully touching vocal by Karen Carpenter, is the group at their very best.

"Merry Christmas, Darling" - The Carpenters (1970)

FOCUS ON: THE CARPENTERS

I have a confession to make. . .  I am a big fan of The Carpenters.and I am no longer ashamed to admit it.

It was never cool to listen to their music but I just love their records. Many dismissed The Carpenters because of their soft, mellow sound and the clean-cut image but their music has continued to endure and, in some ways have become more influential over the years. Sometimes it's nice to hear a simple love song without it being crass.or vulgar. The combination of Richard's skill as an arranger, composer and producer and the deep, rich and soothing voice of Karen made the duo pure pop perfection.

Richard was born in 1946 and Karen in 1950 in New Haven, Connecticut. Both children spent a lot of time listening to music but while Richard mostly stayed indoors playing the piano, Karen was outgoing who loved playing sports.

The family moved to Downey, California in 1963. Richard attended college in Long Beach where he met John Bettis, who Richard would later collaborate with in the future to write some of the classic Carpenters songs like "Top Of The World" and "Goodbye To Love". Karen picked up the drums while in high school and joined the marching band.

By 1965, Karen had improved her drumming skills and Richard refined his piano technique and the two formed a jazz trio with their friend, Wes Jacobs who played bass and tuba. The Richard Carpenter Trio won a Battle Of The Bands contest in 1966 which led to them signing with RCA Records. The trio made a few demo recordings but none where actually released and they were eventually dropped from the label.

In 1968, Wes Jacobs left the band to join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Richard and Karen continued to work on demo tapes which they sent to several record labels until musician Herb Alpert, co-owner of A&M Records heard them and signed them in 1969.

The Carpenters  released their first album, "Offering" later that year which featured several compositions either written or co-written by Richard but they only had a minor hit with a ballad remake of the Beatles song, "Ticket To Ride" which peaked at number fifty-four on the pop charts. "Offering" was later renamed "Ticket To Ride" when the album was repackaged and given a new cover in 1970.

It was their next album, "Close to You" in 1970 which sent them to the top of the charts with the title track. "(They Long To Be) Close To You" which was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, was number one for four weeks. The next single, "We've Only Just Begun", which Richard first heard on a television commercial, hit number two and has become the group's signature song. The Carpenters continued with a string of hit singles throughout the early seventies which include "Rainy Days And Mondays", "Hurting Each Other" and "Superstar" written by Delaney Bramett and Leon Russell.

The Carpenters made numerous television appearances, including headlining five variety specials as well as performing at the White House for President Richard Nixon in 1973.

Disco was controlling the music airwaves by 1977 and the easy listening sounds of the Carpenters was falling out of favor. The group decided to release an experimental album, "Passage" that year which featured a mix of other musical genres the Carpenters were not known for, like jazz-fusion, calypso and orchestral accompaniment as well a version of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from the musical, "Evita". The album was not a huge success and was the group's first that did not sell at least a half a million copies.

In 1979, Richard received treatment to an addiction to Quaaludes and wanted to take some time off from their grueling schedule. Karen, not wanting to take a break, decided to work on a solo album with producer Phil Ramone in an effort to change her image. Richard nor the record label were impressed with the results and the album was shelved (but would eventually be released in 1996). The Carpenters released what would be their final album in 1981, "Made in America" but it also sold poorly.

Karen met real estate developer, Thomas Burris and after a brief romance, married in August of 1980 but the marriage was short-lived and ended by 1981. Karen had been struggling with anorexia for many years and finally sought treatment in 1982 and managed to put back on some weight.

After the holidays in 1983, Karen decided that she was ready to return to the studio but Richard felt that she still did not look well and needed to go back in to treatment. Angered by this, Karen returned to Downey, California to visit her parents in February. Her mother soon called Richard to come home since Karen had become very depressed. By the time Richard had arrived, Karen had been hospitalized. On February 4, Karen suffered cardiac arrest due to complications of anorexia nervosa and died at the age of thirty-two.

Following Karen's death, Richard has continued to produce previously unreleased recordings of The Carpenters as well as protect the band's image and musical legacy. In 1987, Richard released his first solo album, "Time".

The Carpenters had twelve Top Ten singles on the pop charts, a record fifteen number one singles on the Adult Contemporary charts, won three Grammy Awards including for Best New Artist in 1971 and sold over one hundred million records over their fourteen year career.

Enjoy some of my favorite Carpenters songs:

(They Long To Be) Close To You

Rainy Days And Mondays

Superstar

Hurting Each Other

We've Only Just Begun

And here is a video of them doing their version of "Ticket To Ride" (I love the way she sings, ". . .And he don't care"):