BURT BACHARACH 1928-2023 - Farewell to a MUSIC LEGEND

HE WROTE MANY OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST LOVE SONGS, BUT THE COMPOSER'S PRIVATE LIFE WAS ROCKED BY TRAGEDY AND SADNESS

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Growing up in Queen s, N.Y., Burt Bacharach always heard music in his head. A lifelong insomniac and perfectionist, he learned piano, cello and drums to try to bring those phantom tunes into the world. “I wrote the way I heard things,” he explained.

While big hits such as “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” and “Close to You” made Burt a popular songwriter, his success didn’t always lead to personal happiness. The Grammy and Oscar-winning composer, who died on Feb. 8 at age 94, let his obsession with his work overshadow three of his four marriages and create divisions with his writing partners. His eldest child, Nikki, whose mother is Police Woman star Angie Dickinson, suffered from a form of autism that eventually led to her premature death.