New Design Records and KOCH Records have announced the release of "Back To Bacharach," a new classic, from Grammy winning singer and songwriter/producer Steve Tyrell. At the age of 19, Steve journeyed from Houston, Texas to New York City to work at pop and soul music giant Scepter Records. Upon arriving at Scepter Records and its adjacent Baby Monica Publishing Company, he immediately found himself surrounded by swiftly developing super teams such as Carole King & Gerry Goffin, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil. But it was with a pair of outside contractors -- songwriting producers Burt Bacharach & Hal David -- that Steve would forge his most personal alliance, an alliance that lasted for nine years and enabled Tyrell to forge his initial mark in the music business.
Through his work with Bacharach & David, Tyrell got to work in motion pictures and at a very young age became one of the first music supervisors responsible for coordinating hit songs with the release of the films they appeared in. Those successes included the gold standard of foreplay songs, "The Look of Love" (recorded for the James Bond spy spoof "Casino Royale" by Dusty Springfield,) the theme for "Alfie" (sung by Cher in the film and by Dionne Warwick at the Academy Awards) as well as the theme from the legendary Jacqueline Susan film "Valley Of The Dolls" (which Tyrell helped make Dionne's first Number 1 Pop Hit record.) The film song that Steve played a major role in was "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" -- the one that earned Bacharach & David the Oscar® for 1969's Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. When looking for an artist to sing the song, Steve called in his friend from Texas, B.J. Thomas who recorded it for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
For music lovers the world over, those songs are indelibly bound to our DNA, haunting strands of melodious memories that bring forth a flood of emotions and associations. For Steve Tyrell, they represent milestones in a distinguished career and the joys and pains of his own personal life. It is because of his close proximity to the songs and their creators that Steve is able to bring something unique to his versions while being fortunate enough to include Dionne Warwick, Herb Alpert and 2008 Grammy Award winner Patti Austin as well as Bacharach himself on the CD to relive the golden moments.
The song that gets the Technicolor treatment on "Back To Bacharach" is Bacharach and David's anthem, "What the World Needs Now is Love," a song Steve believes is "more relevant now than it ever was." Bacharach's piano glues together the whole affair which features superstars Rod Stewart, James Taylor, Martina McBride and Dionne Warwick along with Tyrell. The all-star recording is for a worthy cause -- all proceeds will go to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA) in remembrance of Steve's wife Stephanie (who passed away from Colon Cancer five years ago) and Jay Monahan, the late husband of television journalist Katie Couric. Close friends, Steve Tyrell and Katie Couric have worked together constantly since his wife's death, raising funds to benefit Colon Cancer research and co-hosting an annual benefit in Seattle called "Make The Evening Matter."
Other classics featured on the "Back To Bacharach" album are: "Walk On By," The Look Of Love," Close To You," "A House Is Not A Home," "This Guy's In Love," "One Less Bell To Answer," "Reach Out For Me," "I Say A Little Prayer For You," "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself," "Always Something There To Remind Me," "Don't Make Me Over" and the Oscar winning "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head."
Steve Tyrell's previous six albums have earned him a number of accolades, his first album "A New Standard" had a 90 week run on the Billboard Jazz charts and "Standard Time" and "This Time Of The Year" and "Songs Of Sinatra" were all Top 5 charters. "The Disney Standards," his last album was released in 2006 and achieved Top 10 status on the Billboard Jazz charts.
"Back To Bacharach" will be released on Tyrell's own New Design Records/ KOCH Records on May 27, 2008.
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