Lyricist Hal David dies in LA

2 Sep 2012, 11:31 am   -   Source: AAP

Hal David, who collaborated with Burt Bacharach on a string of hits including Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, has died in Los Angeles aged 91.

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Hal David, whose simple, heartfelt lyrics made a perfect fit with Burt Bacharach's quirky melodies and resulted in dozens of hit songs, has died at the age of 91.

Some of his biggest hits include Do You Know The Way To San Jose and Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head,

David died of complications from a stroke on Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, according to his wife Eunice David.

He had suffered a major stroke in March and was stricken again on Tuesday, she said.

"Even at the end, Hal always had a song in his head," Eunice David said. "He was always writing notes, or asking me to take a note down, so he wouldn't forget a lyric."

David and Bacharach won an Oscar for Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (from the movie Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid), Grammys and Tonys for the songs from the hit Broadway musical Promises, Promises, as well as other top 40 hits including Close To You and That's What Friends Are For.

Many of the duo's lyrics and tunes continue to resonate in pop culture, including I Say A Little Prayer, What The World Needs Now Is Love, and This Guy's In Love With You.

Their music was recorded by performers including The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond and their longtime partner Dionne Warwick.

David joined the board of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1974 and served as its president from 1980 to 1986. He was head of the Songwriters Hall of Fame from 2001 to 2011, and was Chairman Emeritus at his death.

"As a lyric writer, Hal was simple, concise and poetic - conveying volumes of meaning in fewest possible words and always in service to the music," ASCAP's current president, the songwriter Paul Williams, said in a statement.

"It is no wonder that so many of his lyrics have become part of our everyday vocabulary and his songs ... the backdrop of our lives."

In May, Bacharach and David received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during a White House tribute concert attended by President Barack Obama.

David's wife accepted on his behalf.

"It was thrilling," she said. "Even though he wasn't there, Hal said it was the highest honour he had ever received."

More than 55 years after their first songs hit the airwaves, Obama said, "these guys have still got it".

David and Bacharach met when both worked in the Brill Building, New York's famous Tin Pan Alley song factory where writers cranked out songs and attempted to sell them to music publishers.

They scored their first big hit with Magic Moments, a million-selling record for Perry Como.

In 1962, they began writing for a young singer named Dionne Warwick, whose versatile voice conveyed the emotion of David's lyrics and easily handled the changing patterns of Bacharach's melodies.

Together the trio created a succession of popular songs including Don't Make Me Over, Walk On By, I Say A Little Prayer, Do You Know The Way To San Jose, Trains And Boats And Planes, Anyone Who Has A Heart, You'll Never Get to Heaven and Always Something There To Remind Me.

The pair also wrote hit songs for numerous other singers: This Guy's In Love With You (trumpeter Herb Alpert in his vocal debut), Make It Easy On Yourself (Jerry Butler), What The World Needs Now Is Love (Jackie DeShannon) and Wishin' and Hopin' (Dusty Springfield).

They also turned out title songs for the movies What's New, Pussycat (Tom Jones), Wives And Lovers (Jack Jones) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (Gene Pitney).

In a 1999 interview, David explained his success as a lyricist this way: "Try and tell a narrative. The songs should be like a little film, told in three or four minutes. Try to say things as simply as possible, which is probably the most difficult thing to do."

The writer, who lived in New York, often flew to Los Angeles, where he and Bacharach would hole up for a few weeks of intense songwriting. Sometimes they conferred by long-distance telephone. I Say A Little Prayer was written that way.

The hit-making team broke up after the 1973 musical remake of Lost Horizon. They had devoted two years to the movie, only to see it scorned by critics and audiences alike.

Bacharach became so depressed he sequestered himself in his vacation home and refused to work.

Bacharach and David sued each other and Warwick sued them both. The cases were settled out of court in 1979 and the three went their separate ways. They reconciled in 1992 for Warwick's recording of Sunny Weather Lover.

Born in New York City, David had attended public schools before studying journalism at New York University.

He served in the army during World War II, mostly as a member of an entertainment unit in the South Pacific.

After the war, he wrote lyrics for several composers until that fateful Brill Building meeting with Bacharach.

David was married to Eunice David for 25 years. He had two sons, Jim and Craig, from a previous marriage to Anne Rauchman.

A private memorial service was planned.

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