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Carole Bayer Sager (born March 8,^{[citation needed]} 1947^[1]) is an American lyricist, songwriter, singer, and painter.

Introduction[link]

Carole Bayer was born in New York City to parents Anita and Eli Bayer.^[2] She graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech. She had already co-written her first pop hit, "A Groovy Kind of Love", with Toni Wine, while still a student at the New York City High School of Music and Art. It was recorded by the British invasion band The Mindbenders, whose version was a worldwide hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard magazine Hot 100. This song was later recorded by Sonny & Cher, Petula Clark, and Phil Collins, whose rendition for the film Buster reached Number one in 1988. She also had a minor career of singing songs as well—her biggest hit was her 1977 single, You're Moving Out Today.

Albums[link]

Sager's first recording as a singer was the 1977 album Carole Bayer Sager, which included the #1 international single^{[citation needed]} "You're Moving Out Today", a song which she co-wrote with Bette Midler. (Paul Buckmaster provided horn and string arrangements for the album.) The album went platinum in Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom. It was followed by ...Too in 1978 and a third and last album, co-produced by Burt Bacharach, entitled Sometimes Late at Night (1981), which included a top 30 hit single "Stronger Than Before", later recorded by Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan.

Songwriting[link]

Many of Sager's early songs were co-written with her former husband, the composer Burt Bacharach. She has also collaborated with Neil Diamond, Marvin Hamlisch, Michael Masser, Peter Allen, Melissa Manchester, Sheena Easton, Bruce Roberts, Neil Sedaka, David Foster, Albert Hammond, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Donald Fagen, Steve Perry, Babyface, and Clint Eastwood (for the film True Crime).

Ms. Sager has won an Academy Award (out of six nominations), a Grammy Award (out of nine nominations), and two Golden Globes (out of seven nominations). Ms. Sager was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987. Sager won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1981 for Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do), which was the theme song of the movie Arthur. She shared this Oscar with her co-writers Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, and Christopher Cross.

Sager received the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1987 for the song That's What Friends Are For, which she co-wrote with Bacharach. This song was originally written for the movie Night Shift (1982), and it was recorded for this movie by Rod Stewart. This song was also honored for its cover version in 1986 by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Sir Elton John. This one became a number-one hit in Billboard magazine Hot 100 sonces, and it raised millions of dollars for research into the cause and treatment of AIDS.

Painting[link]

Ms. Sager is also an artist. She has been painting now for four years—both abstracts and people. Her first solo art show was in March 2011 at the L.A. Arthouse in Los Angeles. Almost the entire show was sold out, Among her collectors, Elton John, Lynda Resnick, Michael Chow, Margaret Perenchio, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Robert Manoukian, Elaine Wynn, Nigel Lithgoe, and Barbara Walters. She is currently at work on her second show.

Personal life[link]

She married record-producer Andrew Sager in 1970 and they divorced in 1978.^[1] Sager was involved in a romantic relationship with composer Marvin Hamlisch in the late 1970s.^[1] In 1982 she married composer and pianist Burt Bacharach and in December 1985 they adopted an infant son, whom they named Cristopher^[3] Elton Bacharach.^[4] Bacharach and Sager divorced in 1991.^[5] Since June 1996, Sager has been married to Robert Daly,^[6] former chairman of Warner Brothers and former chairman CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, and currently chairman of the American Film Institute as well as an advisor to Brad Grey at Paramount Pictures (Viacom). Sager and her husband live in Los Angeles and New York.^[3]

Sager and Daly co-chair the Los Angeles Advisory Board of DonorsChoose. Two years ago Sager joined the board of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and has recently created a 3D PSA airing in theaters to raise awareness of LACMA. The Urban Lights PSA in 3D received a Telly Award on June 23, 2011, for best 3D commercial or PSA. The piece was produced by Mob scene and directed by Brian Daly. Sager was executive producer.

In May 2006 she was honored at a lunch at NYU's Steinhardt School and later that evening received the Distinguished Alumni Award from New York University. She appeared on the January 24, 2007 episode of American Idol as a judge during the Manhattan auditions. In November 2010 she was honored by the City of Hope for her songwriting career.

She is also part of the American news site Huffington Post where she uploads views on recent news stories.

Discography[link]

• Carole Bayer Sager (Elektra, 1977)
• ...Too (Elektra, 1978)
• Sometimes Late At Night (Boardwalk, 1981)

Selected songs[link]

• Peter Allen ("Fly Away" "Everything Old Is New Again", etc...)
• Bette Midler ("Blueberry Pie", "My One True Friend (Theme from One True Thing)", etc...)
• Melissa Manchester ("Midnight Blue", "Come In From The Rain", "Don't Cry Out Loud", "Theme from Ice Castles (Through the Eyes of Love)", etc..)
• Helen Reddy ("A Bit of OK", "Ah, My Sister", "Never Say Goodbye" (Theme form Continental Divide))
• Dolly Parton ("You're the Only One", "Heartbreaker", "The Day I Fall In Love" (Theme from Beethoven's 2nd))
• Carly Simon ("Nobody Does It Better (Theme from The Spy Who Loved Me)")
• Doobie Brothers ("How Do The Fools Survive")
• Dusty Springfield ("Dream On", "Home to Myself", "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love", etc...)
• Elkie Brooks ("Don't Cry Out Loud")
• Rita Coolidge ("Fool That I Am (song from Coast to Coast)" "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love")
• Bernadette Peters ("Only Wounded", "Sweet Alibi")
• Barbra Streisand ("Niagara", "Love Light", "You and Me for Always", "One More Time Around")
• Liza Minnelli ("More Than I Like You", "Don't Cry Out Loud")
• Carole King ("Anyone At All (Theme from You've Got Mail)").
• Richard Marx ("Now and Forever").
• Rod Stewart ("That's What Friends Are For (theme from Night Shift)")
• Dionne & Friends (Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder) ("That's What Friends Are For")
• Dionne Warwick ("Extravagant Gestures" "Love Power" "Stronger Than Before", etc...)
• Diana Ross (It's My Turn, "Come in from the rain")
• Shirley Bassey ("Better Off Alone" etc...)
• Steve Perry ("I Stand Alone")
• Roberta Flack ("Maybe" (Theme from Romantic Comedy and Making Love))
• Aretha Franklin ("Someone Else's Eyes", "Ever Changing Times")
• Randy Crawford ("One Hello (theme from I Ought to Be in Pictures)")
• Patti LaBelle ("On My Own", "Sleep With Me Tonight", "Need a Little Faith")
• Anita Baker ("When You Love Someone (Theme from Forget Paris)")
• Frank Sinatra ("You and Me (We Wanted It All)")
• Leo Sayer ("When I Need You")
• Neil Diamond ("Heartlight", "On The Way To The Sky", "Front Page Story","I'm Guilty", "Crazy", "Turn Around etc..)
• Christopher Cross ("Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (theme from Arthur))
• Kenny Rogers ("They Don't Make Them Like They Used To" (Theme from Tough Guys))
• Johnny Mathis ("Fly Away", "When I Need You", "Midnight Blue")
• Michael Jackson ("It's The Falling In Love", "You Are My Life", "We've Had Enough")
• Céline Dion & Andrea Bocelli ("The Prayer" (Theme from Quest for Camelot))
• Josh Groban & Charlotte Church ("The Prayer")
• The Corrs ("I Never Loved You Anyway" and "Don't Say You Love Me")
• Diana Krall ("Why Should I Care" (from True Crime))
• Sheena Easton ("One Man" co-written with Sager)
• Brian Wilson ("She Says That She Needs Me")
• Charice ("All That I Need to Survive")

Works for stage[link]

• Georgy (1970) - musical - lyricist
• Dancin' (1978) - revue - featured lyricist for "If It Feels Good, Let It Ride" and "Easy"
• They're Playing Our Song (1979) - musical - lyricist
• Up in One (1979) - revue - featured songwriter
• The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979) - musical - featured songwriter
• Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre (1987) - concert - featured songwriter
• The Boy from Oz (2003) - musical - featured songwriter with Peter Allen

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website for Carole Bayer Sager
• Carole Bayer Sager at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
• Allmusic
• Carole Bayer Sager at the Internet Movie Database
• Carole Bayer Sager at the Internet Broadway Database