John Pagano is a name familiar to many fans of Burt Bacharach as the male vocalist with Burt’s band. On his new CD, Pure Imagination, Pagano steps out on his own with a collection of classic songs in the timeless style of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Chet Baker.

Backed by a 40-piece orchestra, Pagano lends his vocal talents to 12 songs including “Let’s Fall in Love,” “Night and Day,” “Time After Time,”  “Call Me Irresponsible” and the title track, written by Bricusse-Newley as the main theme for the film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”

Of special interest to Bacharach fans, Pure Imagination includes two tracks produced by Bacharach and featuring Bacharach himself on piano–“Any Day Now” and “This Guy’s In Love With You.” Pagano also performs Bacharach’s classic “Wives and Lovers” on the CD. For more information about John and Pure Imagination, visit www.myspace.com/johnpagano or johnpagano.com. You can purchase Pure Imagination online at CDBaby.com.

Ticket’s for Burt’s Oct. 3 performance at Montreal’s Eglise Saint-Jean Baptist are available online via admission.com.

Burt Bacharach will perform along with Jeff Beck, Natalie Cole, Chris Botti, Michael McDonald, Tom Jones, Jimmy Webb and others at the Grammy Foundation’s Starry Night Gala, which this year honors Sir George Martin, the legendary producer of the Beatles. The event takes place on July 12 at McCarthy Quad on the University of Southern California campus. On July 11, Martin will moderate “The Making of Sgt.

Pepper,” a multimedia presentation that will take attendees through the history of Abbey Road Studio featuring video appearances by Phil Collins, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and archive video of George Harrison. “The Making of Sgt. Pepper” will take place in Bovard Auditorium on the University of Southern California campus

For more information or to purchase tickets to either event, visit Grammy.com.

Vincent Cole sent in a few photos taken at Burt’ s recent performance at the Mu

sic Center at Strathmore.

Burt will be appearing at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz., on Sunday, Sept.

28, 2008.

Burt performs in Princeton, N.J., on June 7 for the McCarter Theatre’s 30th Annual Gala Benefit, and New Jersey’s Packet Online has a nice article to preview that show, What’s It All About, Burt

?

Fernando reports in the Discussion Forum that the great U.K. reissues label Ace Records is scheduled to release a new collection of Bacharach rarities on July 15.

Continue reading →

Alvina just sent me these great photos of Burt at the Las Vegas Hilton on May 11, 2008.

Since the show took place the night before Burt’s 80th birthday, Alvina and her friend Barbara delivered a cake in the shape of a grand piano to Burt before the show. Duff Goldman would be proud…

Continue reading →

Tina sent me this a while ago, but I finally got around to formatting and posting Burt’s updated Official Press Bio.

Burt Bacharach turns 80 today.