46 | MARCH 2 • 2023 

ARTS&LIFE
REMEMBRANCE

O

ne of Burt 
Bacharach’s hit 
songs is “Message to 
Michael.” My message to Burt 
is gratitude for the life lessons 
I have learned from him. 
Burt Bach-
arach never 
stopped creating 
and composing 
beautiful music. 
He did what he 
loved forever. 
His life will 
always inspire 
me to never stop 
doing what I love and with the 
same compassion and dedica-
tion as when I first started.
In his memoir, Anyone Who 

Had a Heart: My Life and 
Music, he writes, “It’s impor- 
tant that you visit your 
worksite every day … I equate 
it to being a tennis player on 
the circuit. You don’t take three 
weeks off and expect to get by 
the first round at Wimbledon.” 
And his work ethic was 
maintained throughout his 
songwriting career. 
Burt Bacharach is one of the 
most important and prolific 
composers in history. He was 
born in Kansas City, Missouri. 
His parents, Bert and Irma 
Bacharach, moved to Forest 
Hills, Queens, New York, when 
he was a child. Now for the 
“six degrees of Jewish separa-

tion.” Our next-door neighbor 
was his classmate at Forest 
Hills High, and one of Burt’s 
mother’s close friends was also 
a close friend of my mother-
in-law, Annette Solomon. Her 
friend was Jean Friedman, and 
she loved talking to me about 
Burt and gave me a photo of 
him sitting on her lap! 
Burt’s mother was the one 
who encouraged him to take 
piano lessons — he wanted 
to play football. His father 
played football and later 
became a syndicated news-
paper columnist and author. 
His column was a potpourri 
of information, similar in style 
to Danny Raskin’s column and 

syndicated in the Detroit Free 
Press in the 1970s, during the 
same time his son’s music was 
receiving international ova-
tions. 
Burt Bacharach’s many acco-
lades include three Oscars, 
seven Grammys, an Emmy and 
the honor that made him most 
proud, the Gershwin Prize 
presented to him by President 
Barack Obama in 2012.
His songs have been 
recorded by more than 1,000 
different artists. He stayed 
current through the decades 
collaborating with Dionne 
Warwick to Dr. Dre. He wrote 
more great movie theme songs 
than anyone, including “
Alfie,” 

Burt Bacharach will live on 
in Linda Solomon’s heart.

Forever 
 
 
 
 and Ever

Linda 
Solomon 
Special 
to the Jewish 
News

PHOTOS BY LINDA SOLOMON

