Hal David

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Hal David (2011)

Harold Lane "Hal" David (born May 25, 1921 in New York , † September 1, 2012 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American songwriter whose songs in collaboration with Burt Bacharach were very successful and received numerous awards.

Career

Beginnings

After studying at the New York University School of Journalism, he consequently began working as a journalist for the New York Post . Then he changed jobs, tried - like his older brother Mack David - as a songwriter in 1947 and was registered with the ASCAP . His first song, Isn't This Better Than Walking in the Rain? (together with Louis Ricca) took over bandleader Sammy Kaye for his orchestra in June 1947. The first hit parade came with The Four Winds and the Seven Seas , (music: Don Rodney) for Vic Damone (July 1949, US # 19). Shortly thereafter, Frank Sinatra and Eddy Howard took over his American Beauty Rose (May 1950, # 26 Sinatra). With varying success and ever new author partners, songs such as Have a Hope, Have a Wish, Have a Prayer for The Delta Rhythm Boys (together with Leon Carr; December 1954) were created.

Collaboration with Burt Bacharach

Hal David first met the composer Burt Bacharach in 1956 in New York's Brill Building when he, like Bacharach, belonged to the music publisher Famous Music , the Brill Building's most active music publisher at the time. Their first joint composition was Peggy's in the Pantry , a B-side for Sherry Parsons (June 1956). This was followed by I Cry More , which Alan Dale sang in the classic rock film Don't Knock the Rock (September 1956). Country star Marty Robbins took over The Story of My Life in November 1957 . Driven by a bizarre whistled bracket that arranger and accompanying orchestra leader Ray Conniff had come up with, the single reached # 15 in the US charts (# 1 in the country charts), making it the first successful joint composition of the two. Perry Como's Magic Moments came out in January 1958 and can be seen as the beginning of the typical arrangements with which the Bacharach-David team would be successful in the sixties. In their initial phase as a team, however, everyone also worked with other authoring partners. Hal David often looked for a collaboration with Sherman Edwards, with whom Broken Hearted Melody was created for Sarah Vaughan (July 1959, # 7) - his highest chart position and his first million seller. With My Heart Is an Open Book , sung by Carl Dobkins Jr. , and composed with Lee Pockriss, he already reached the top 3 (April 1959). It was the singer's first and only big hit. From that time on, David's collaboration with Bacharach was intensified.

The great success came with Dionne Warwick , who was discovered by the team of authors in the Drifters' background choir . She was interested in the Bacharach-David composition I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself , which they awarded to Tommy Hunt in August 1962. The song flopped with a # 119 place. Make It Easy on Yourself was not allowed to take it over, but was assigned to Jerry Butler (July 1962, # 20). Annoyed that she was not thought of with these songs, Warwick vented her anger: “Don't make me over, man!” (“Don't lie to me, guys!”). Warwick got her chance: Without knowing it, she gave the team the idea for a new composition with this saying. Don't Make Me Over became their first hit written by the Bacharach / David writing team in December 1962 and reached # 21 on the charts. Like hardly any other interpreter, Dionne Warwick's singing style was shaped by the melancholy, soulful songs of Bacharach / David. Warwick became the vehicle for the two authors' catchy songs.

The producers of the successful James Bond spy film series , known for their skilful music selection, adopted the Hal David text We Have All the Time in the World (music: John Barry , who had accompanied most of the Bond films with music) , which was selected as the James Bond score for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (sung by Louis Armstrong , recorded October 28, 1969 and produced by Phil Ramone ). The winning streak of David and Bacharach broke in 1973 with the musical film Lost Horizon ( Lost Horizon ) from. This was a huge cash flop ; the artists went their separate ways from then on. It was only Dionne Warwick that brought the duo back together with the song Sunny Weather Lover in 1993.

Awards

According to the ASCAP , Hal David wrote 644 songs, 656 are registered for Bacharach, most of which are shared between the team. Raindrops Keep Fallin 'on My Head won an Academy Award for film music for the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ( Two Bandits ). He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984. David was the first non-British person to receive the Ivor Novello Award in 1999 . In October 2011, David was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

In 2015, Rolling Stone listed David together with Burt Bacharach on rank 32 of the 100 best songwriters of all time .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rob Hoerburger: Hal David, Songwriter, Is Dead at 91. In: The New York Times . September 1, 2012, accessed September 5, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Michael Brocken: Bacharach - Maestro! The Life of a Pop-Genius , 2003, p. 86 reports that this song was subsequently covered by at least 25 performers and thus paved the way for him as an author.
  3. ↑ Serene Dominic: Burt Bacharach, Song by Song: The Ultimate Burt Bacharach Reference for Fans , 2003, p. 18, ISBN 0-8256-7280-5
  4. ^ Robin Platts: Anyone Who Had a Heart: The Songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David ; Discoveries Magazine. December 1997
  5. ↑ DPA: Hit writer Hal David is dead. Hannoversche Allgemeine, September 2, 2012. in: haz.de, accessed on November 22, 2018
  6. ^ Hal David in the ASCAP database
  7. ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME David, Hal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES David, Harold Lane (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American songwriter and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 2012
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States