Hal David
Musician · 1921–2012 · Brooklyn, New York
Best known for
Songwriter
Hal David was a Brooklyn-born American lyricist whose half-century partnership with composer Burt Bacharach produced “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “Walk On By,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” and dozens of other songs that became Dionne Warwick’s catalog and the soundtrack of mid-century American pop. He also wrote the country standard “Sea of Heartbreak” with Paul Hampton.
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- Born Harold Lane David on May 25, 1921, in Brooklyn, New York, to Austrian Jewish immigrants who ran a delicatessen.
- Attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn and studied journalism at New York University.
- Wrote lyrics for the Sammy Kaye and Guy Lombardo orchestras in the 1940s.
- Met Burt Bacharach at Famous Music in the Brill Building in 1956; the two wrote together for the next four decades.
- Co-wrote “Sea of Heartbreak” with Paul Hampton in 1961; Don Gibson’s RCA recording reached No. 2 country.
- Co-wrote “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” with Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
- Co-wrote “Walk On By,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Alfie,” and “What the World Needs Now Is Love.”
- Won three Grammy Awards and was awarded, jointly with Bacharach, the 2011 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song — the first songwriting team to receive the honor.
- Died September 1, 2012, at age 91.
