Throwback: Happy 96th BIrthday, Burt Bacharach!

May is a busy month in music history:

• The 91st anniversary of the birth of the legendary godfather of soul James Brown was on May 3
• The legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter celebrated his 87th birthday on May 4
• The 68th anniversary of the birth of the great soul artist Sharon Jones was on May 4
• The 82nd anniversary of the birth of one of the most beloved singer/songwriters in country, Tammy Wynette was on May 5
• Echo & The Bunnymen‘s Ian McCullouch celebrated his 65th birthday on May 5
• Van Halen co-founder, drummer — and most important Eddie’s brother, Alex Van Halen celebrated his 71st birthday on May 8
• Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan celebrated his 62nd birthday on May 9
• U2‘s Bono celebrated his 64th birthday on May 10
• The Afghan Whigs, The Gutter Twins‘ and The Twilight Singers‘ Greg Dulli celebrated his 59th birthday on May 11

The great Burt Bacharach was born 96 years ago today. He wrote or cowrote some of the most gorgeous, endearing and beloved pop songs ever written in my book. I adore his work with Hal David and Dionne Warwick — but he wrote a ton of other songs, including my favorite Carpenters song ever, “Close To You.”

Happy birthday, Burt! Happy birthday, wherever you are!