Burt Bacharach has died at the age of 94.
The legendary composer was behind hits like 'I Say a Little Prayer', 'Walk on By', 'Do You Know the Way to San Jose' and dozens of others.
Bacharach died of natural causes on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles according to his publicist Tina Brausam.
The music icon was known for his genius in creating instantly catchy songs and his music was heard everywhere from movie soundtracks to radio stations around the world.
His favourite singer for his hit songs was Dionne Warwick but he also wrote material for Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, the Carpenters and Tom Jones.
Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Frank Sinatra were among the big artists who covered his songs.
He reached a new generation of fans in the 1990s with the help of Elvis Costello and others.
Mike Myers said hearing 'The Look of Love' on the radio was inspiration for his Austin Powers spy action comedy films.
Bacharach himself made a memorable cameo singing 'What The World Needs Now Is Love' on top of a double decker bus while Powers romanced Elizabeth Hurley as Vanessa Kensington.
He returned in Austin Powers 2 to play his hit 'I’ll Never Fall in Love Again' on the piano with Elvis Costello.
Bacharach began with a string of top 10 hits in the 1950s and his career took off alongside the rock era.
He grew up on jazz and classical music but was later appreciated by Bob Dylan and John Lennon.
“The shorthand version of him is that he’s something to do with easy listening,” Elvis Costello said in a 2018 interview with The Associated Press.
“It may be agreeable to listen to these songs, but there’s nothing easy about them. Try playing them. Try singing them.”
Bacharach won eight Grammy Awards over his career and three Oscars.
He won two Academy Awards in 1970 for the score of Western movie 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' and for the song 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' shared with collaborator Hal David, who died in 2012 aged 91.
In 1982 he and his then-wife, lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, won Oscars for 'Best That You Can Do' - the theme from 'Arthur'.
Bacharach was described as a 'swinger' in the sixties and he was married four times.
He was married to Paula Stewart from 1953-58, Dressed to Kill actress Angie Dickinson from 1965-80 and Carole Bayer Sager from 1982-1991.
He married for a fourth time to his wife Jane Hansen in 1993.
He is survived by Hansen, as well as his children Oliver, Raleigh and Cristopher. He was preceded in death by his daughter with Dickinson, Nikki Bacharach who took her own life in 2007.
Bacharach never lost his faith in the power of music and collaborated on ballad 'Live to See Another Day' after the Parkland massacre and other school shootings in 2018 at the age of 90.
“Music softens the heart, makes you feel something if it’s good, brings in emotion that you might not have felt before,” he told the AP.
“It’s a very powerful thing if you’re able to do to it, if you have it in your heart to do something like that.”
