Composer, Songwriter, Arranger, and Conductor. His accomplishments encompassed music, film, TV and the stage. He will perhaps be remembered best for his collaborations with lyricist Hal David whose talents enhanced the careers of singers Dionne Warwick, Jackie DeShannon, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The Carpenters and The 5th Dimension. Born into a Jewish family, his father was a newspaper columnist. In 1932, his family relocated from his birthplace to Kew Gardens, Queens, New York. Developing an early love of jazz, he often haunted nightclubs hosting musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. After graduation from Forest Hills High School in Forest Hills, Queens, he enrolled at the music studies program at McGill University in Montreal, and later studied theory and composition at the Mannes School of Music, the Berkshire Music Center, the New School for Social Research and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. Bacharach served in the U.S. Army beginning in 1950, often playing piano at the officers' club. While in Germany, he met vocalist Vic Damone and later became his piano accompanist after discharge. He went on to work with such notables as The Ames Brothers, Joel Grey and Steve Lawrence. In 1957, he met and began working with lyricist Hal David. This collaboration would be incredibly fruitful. In that same year, they wrote hits for both Marty Robbins and Perry Como. From 1958 to 1961, he worked with Marlene Dietrich during her tour of Europe and the United States, but still found time to pen three additional hits. In 1962, he and David wrote "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and "Only Love Can Break a Heart." His chance meeting with Dionne Warwick, a backup singer, would bring yet a new level of success. Along with David, they wrote and produced twenty Top 40 hits for Warwick over the next ten years, including "Anyone Who Had A Heart," "Don't Make Me Over," "Message to Michael," "I Say A Little Prayer," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," "This Girl's In Love With You," "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and "A House Is Not a Home." For other singers and performers, they penned "What The World Needs Now," "One Less Bell to Answer," "What's New Pussycat?""The Look of Love," "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," and "Close to You." It was a natural segue into writing film scores. Credits here include "Alfie," "Lost Horizon," "Casino Royale", and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." The latter would earn him Oscars for best score and theme song, and a Grammy. In 1968, along with David, he worked with playwright Neil Simon on the Broadway production of "Promises, Promises." In 1981, he partnered with lyricist Carol Bayer Sager and produced hits such as "That's What Friends Are For." Their song "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)," from the movie "Arthur" garnered him his third Oscar. Over the years, he also starred on his own television specials with guest stars like Barbra Streisand and Rudolph Nureyev. In 1998, he, along with Elvis Costello, recorded "Painted From Memory," another Grammy winner. His biography, "Anyone Who Had A Heart," was published in 2013. In total, he scored seventy-three Top 40 hits in the U.S. and fifty-two in the United Kingdom. He was an eight-time Grammy winner, along with his three Oscars, Drama Desk award, and two Golden Globes. President Barack Obama awarded Bacharach and David the Gershwin Prize in 2012. When not writing, he enjoyed watching horse races.