How did Burt Bacharach, the composer who gave the 1960s the vibes, die at the age of 94? - [Pictures]

Burt Bacharach, the debonair pop composer, arranger, conductor, record producer, and sometimes performer whose hit songs in the 1960s encapsulated that decade's attitude of romantic optimism died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.

Tina Brausam, his spokeswoman, confirmed the death. There was no particular reason stated.

Mr Bacharach, a devoted romantic, combined the chromatic harmonies and lengthy, angular melodies of late-nineteenth-century symphonic music with current pop orchestration, adding a staccato rhythmic thrust to the mix. His effervescent tunes exemplified refined hedonism to a generation of young people only a few years older than the Beatles.

Because of the high gloss and apolitical stance of the songs Mr Bacharach wrote with his most frequent collaborator, lyricist Hal David, during an era of confrontation and social upheaval, they were often dismissed as little more than background music by listeners who preferred the hard edge of rock or the intimacy of the singer-songwriter genre. In retrospect, the Bacharach-David partnership stands high in the pantheon of pop songwriting.

Bacharach-David songs like "The Look of Love," Dusty Springfield's sultry 1967 hit featured in the film "Casino Royale," "This Guy's in Love With You," Herb Alpert's No. 1 hit in 1968, and "(They Long to Be) Close to You," Carpenters' No. 1 hit in 1970, evoked a world of jet travel, sports cars, and sleek bachelor pads. With a grin, Mr. Bacharach appeared as himself and performed his 1965 song "What the World Needs Now Is Love" in the 1997 comedy "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," which spoofs the swinging '60s milieu of the early James Bond flicks. He also made cameo cameos in the film's two sequels.

Mr. Bacharach worked with several lyricists throughout the years and even composed some of his own lyrics. But his main partner was Mr. David, a seven-year-old he met at a music publisher's office in 1957. The team's artistic compatibility was cemented in 1962, with the singles they composed and produced for Dionne Warwick, a remarkable young gospel-trained vocalist from East Orange, New Jersey.

Mr. Bacharach met Ms. Warwick during a recording session for the Drifters that included "Mexican Divorce" and "Please Stay," two songs he composed with lyricist Bob Hilliard. Mr. Bacharach recognized he had found the uncommon vocalist with the technical prowess to traverse his rangy, furiously demanding melodies, with their hard time signatures and lengthy asymmetrical phrases, when he heard Ms. Warwick, a backing singer.

Mr. Bacharach, Mr. David, and Ms. Warwick's artistic collaboration defined the voice of a youthful, passionate, on-the-go Everywoman brimming with amorous yearning and vulnerability. Their urbane sound was an immediate predecessor of the earthier Motown sound of the mid and late 1960s.

Mr. Bacharach and Mr. David worked at the Brill Building, the Midtown Manhattan music publishing powerhouse, and they are usually grouped in with the younger authors in the so-called Brill Building school of adolescent pop, such as Carole King and Gerry Goffin or Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. However, they seldom wrote directly for the adolescent market. Their more complex melodies were more in the vein of Cole Porter, and Mr. Bacharach's love of Brazilian rhythms reminded him of charming Porter favourites like "Begin the Beguine."