15 Facts About Hal David

Hal David was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick.

Hal David was born and raised in New York City, a son of Austrian Jewish immigrants Lina and Gedalier Hal David, who owned a delicatessen in New York.

Hal David is the younger brother of American lyricist and songwriter Mack David.

Hal David attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn and studied Journalism at New York University.

Hal David is credited with popular music lyrics, beginning in the 1940s with material written for bandleader Sammy Kaye and for Guy Lombardo.

Hal David worked with Morty Nevins of The Three Suns on four songs for the feature film Two Gals and a Guy, starring Janis Paige and Robert Alda.

In 1956, Hal David began working with composer Burt Bacharach at Famous Music in the Brill Building in New York.

Bacharach and Hal David collaborated on two musicals with their first work in this genre being the 1966 television musical On the Flip Side which was created as a starring vehicle for Ricky Nelson and Joanie Sommers.

Hal David worked successfully as a lyricist with other composers before, during and after his time with Bacharach.

Hal David was recuperating from an illness and was unable to attend the Washington DC presentation ceremony in May 2012.

The television tribute, What the World Needs Now: Words by Hal David was aired on public television stations and released on home video in 2019.

Hal David married his second wife Eunice and had three grandchildren.

Hal David lived for many years in East Hills, New York, in the historic Mackay Estate Dairyman's Cottage of the Harbor Hill estate.

On September 1,2012, Hal David died from a stroke at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at the age of 91.

Hal David is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park beside his first wife, Anne, who died in 1987.