Biography for
Burt Bacharach More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

12 May 1928, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Spouse

Jane Hansen	(1993 - present) 2 children
Carole Bayer Sager	(3 April 1982 - 1991) (divorced) 1 child
Angie Dickinson	(15 May 1965 - 1980) (divorced) 1 child
Paula Stewart	(22 December 1953 - 1958) (divorced)

Trivia

Born at 1:10am-CDT

Awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award, in 2001.

Filed suit for $15M against an Indianapolis theatre, where he claims to have fallen and broken his shoulder on an uneven floor. [19 March 2001]

Was a former accompanist for Marlene Dietrich.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1969 Tony Award for his music and lyrics as part of a Best Musical nomination for "Promises! Promises!"

Has a son with Carole Bayer Sager.

His daughter, (with Angie Dickinson), Nikki Bacharach, died on January 4, 2007 at age 40 of suicide in Ventura County, California. Nikki suffered from Asperger's Disorder, a form of autism.

Has received 6 Grammy Awards since 1967, most notably for "Song Of The Year" in 1986 ("That's What Friends Are For", performed by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder).

Is mentioned in Status Quo's song "Diggin' Burt Bachrach".

Owned a successful racehorse, Soul of Matter, winning a one million dollar prize race in 1995.

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.

Counts "Alfie" (lyrics by Hal David) as his personal favorite of all the songs he has written.

Bacharach's chart-topping song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" (sung by B.J. Thomas) was used in the British TV commercial for "Walkers" crisps featuring Gary Lineker and Cat Deeley in the bicycling roles originated by Paul Newman and Katharine Ross in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). [2009]

Personal Quotes

A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of.

The groovy thing about pop music is that it's wide open. Anything can happen.

It's hard to be married to someone in the business. Carole Bayer Sager and I wrote some really good songs - we had three No 1 hits together. But I think you have to be grown-up, and I don't think I've been particularly grown-up in some of these marriages that I've had.

Elvis Costello is a good guy. He is very intense. When we were working on 'Painted from Memory,' I could always bet that at 2.30am, if I was up and thinking about something, then he'd be up and thinking about the same thing, too.

I've written some really bad songs, which you'll never hear. An example? 'Underneath the Overpass.'

They put a label on my music. They called it 'easy listening'. I don't think my songs are easy listening. I don't think 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' is easy listening.

I'm very lucky that so many of the songs I wrote were written at the time they were. A good song is still a good song, it's just so much harder now to make it exist and last. Do you go into a piano bar and hear a song by 'N Sync or the Backstreet Boys? Is there anyone covering songs from Spring Awakening [the alt-rock musical]?

I never did much of the drugs, y'know? Although I did used to like a Jack Daniel's. These days, it's just a glass of wine with dinner.

Brian Wilson's brilliant but really lucky to be all together, to be able to perform. In fact I think it's miraculous.

I'm very appreciative of the way I'm appreciated in various parts of the world. But I have trouble retaining the high. You finish a concert; it's been good. People backstage tell you how great you are, tell you stories about how this song or that song changed their life, then you go back to your hotel; you switch on the television set, and . . . you're alone. When I lived in Santa Monica with Jane, it was always kind of a downer coming off the road. She'd say to me: 'You're Santa Monica Burt now. Santa Monica Burt doesn't get a standing ovation every time he walks down Main Street'.