Legendary songwriter and composer Burt Bacharach died Wednesday at the age of 94, according to multiple reports.
The music industry legend is responsible for classic tunes including “I Say A Little Prayer,” “Walk On By,” and “What The World Needs Now Is Love.”
He also helped compose the theme songs for several iconic films, including “What’s New, Pussycat?” “Alfie,” and “Arthur,” per BBC News.
During the course of his decades-long career, the songwriter scored 73 Top 40 hits in the United States. Bacharach is a six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, plus his songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists.
He collaborated with some of the most famous musicians in the business, including Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, and Elvis Costello, to name a few.
Bacharach’s musical career began after high school when he began studying music theory and composition. During his time in the military, the composer toured army bases and played the piano for the troops.
Next, he became Marlene Dietrich’s personal conductor, which he described as a stroke of luck.
“I wasn’t chasing it. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was caught in the drift of things,” Bacharach said. “I’m not a person who will walk over people, kill people, step on people to get to the next place where they want to be. Things just happened for me. I was very fortunate.”
The music legend was married four times: to Paula Stewart in 1953, to actress Angie Dickinson in 1958, to musical collaborator Carole Bayer Sager in 1982, and then to Jane Hansen in 1993.
He is survived by Hansen and their children, Oliver and Raleigh, and his son Cristopher, who he shares with Sager. Bacharach’s daughter Nikki died by suicide in 2007 when she was 40.