The composer who turned time-signature changes into hit singles

Burt Bacharach was born in Kansas City but grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, the son of a syndicated newspaper columnist and a mother who was an amateur painter and songwriter. He did not enjoy his classical piano lessons. As a teenager he used a fake ID to slip into the nightclubs of 52nd Street, where he heard bebop players such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, and their style fed into his writing.

In 1956 he began working with lyricist Hal David, and their first major hits were Marty Robbins' “The Story of My Life” and Perry Como's “Magic Moments”. From 1961 to 1972 most of their songs were tailored for Dionne Warwick. After Jerry Butler's “Make It Easy on Yourself” he took full charge of recording his own songs, arranging, conducting and producing them as well as composing.

What set the music apart was its shape. His songs often used atypical chord progressions and changes of time signature, drawn from his jazz background, and they called for uncommon combinations of instruments in small orchestras. The partnership with David produced film and stage work, including What's New Pussycat?, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the Broadway musical Promises, Promises, but it ended after the commercial failure of Lost Horizon.

Bacharach returned to prominence through work with Carole Bayer Sager and Elvis Costello. In total he composed fifty-two US Top 40 hits between 1957 and 1987, including six number ones, and he won six Grammys, three Academy Awards and an Emmy. Over a thousand musicians have recorded his songs, which is as close as a composer gets to proof that the melodies travel.