What was Burt Bacharach’s cause of death?

Burt Bacharach, writer and composer of some of pop music’s most enduring melodies, has passed away at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 94. The composer’s publicist Tina Brausam reported that he died of natural causes.

Bacharach was known for light, orchestral arrangements, listing among his great hits tunes such as I Say A Little Prayer, Walk On By, What The World Needs Now, Magic Moments, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head, and What’s New Pussycat.

His songs earned him three Oscars two Golden Globes, and six Grammys, and he was hailed as pop music’s greatest maestro by music artists in reaction to his passing.

Rooted in jazz, Bacharach said that his greatest lesson in music was to embrace music that was catchy, saying, “Never be afraid of something that you can whistle.”

Recognizing how lucky he was to have the success that he found early on, he said, “I wasn’t chasing it. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was caught in the drift of things. I’m not a person who will walk over people, kill people, step on people to get to the next place where they want to be. Things just happened for me. I was very fortunate.”

After ruling the charts through the 60′s and 70′s, Bacharach’s career had tailed off in the 80′s and 90′s until he experienced a resurrection after being featured in the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Beloved by the music business, he would often work with stars like Adele, Dr Dre, and Sheryl Crow, and was the inspiration for Oasis’ Half the World Away.

Bacharach is survived by his wife Jane Hansen and their children Oliver and Raleigh, as well as son Cristopher from his marriage to Bayer Sager.