Early life and career

Sager was born in New York City to Anita and Eli Bayer. She graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech. She had already 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 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 career as a singer, including her 1977 Australia number one single "You're Moving Out Today".

Albums

Sager's first recording as a singer was the 1977 album Carole Bayer Sager, which included "You're Moving Out Today", a song which she co-wrote with Bette Midler and Bruce Roberts. (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 the single "Stronger Than Before", later recorded by Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan.

Songwriting

Carole had many hits during the seventies. With Marvin Hamlisch and Neil Simon, she wrote the lyrics for They're Playing Our Song which was loosely based on her relationship with Mr. Hamlisch. The musical ran for over three years on Broadway. Many of Sager's 1980s songs were co-written with her former husband, the composer Burt Bacharach. She executive-produced the eponymous solo album for June Pointer, of The Pointer Sisters, in 1989.

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). She 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.

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 popularized in a 1986 cover version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John. Her song with David Foster, "The Prayer" originally recorded by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, won the Golden Globe and is one of few songs to be sung at weddings and funerals alike.

Painting

Sager is also an artist. Her first solo art show was in March 2011 at the L.A. Arthouse in Los Angeles. Her second show ran for two months at the William Turner Gallery in Bergamot Station, Los Angeles, in 2012. Her third show "New Works" ran from Sept-November at William Turner Gallery in Los Angeles.

Philanthropy

Sager has served for the last five years as a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She serves on the advisory board of DonorsChoose, which she and her husband Bob Daly brought to Los Angeles. She created a series of PSAs to promote the organization, with animations voiced by Bette Midler, Claire Danes, Sydney Poitier, and Morgan Freeman.

Personal life

She married record-producer Andrew Sager in 1970 and they divorced in 1977. Sager was involved in a romantic relationship with composer Marvin Hamlisch in the late 1970s. In 1982 she married composer and pianist Burt Bacharach and in December 1985 they adopted an infant son, whom they named Cristopher Elton Bacharach. Bacharach and Sager divorced in 1991.

Since June 1996, Sager has been married to Robert Daly, 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.

Sager has just completed her memoir. 'They're Playing Our Song" published by Simon and Schuster, to be released October 16th of 2016.

Discography

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

Selected songs

• 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 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 Alibis")
• 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 (closing 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" Themes 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")
• Agnetha Fältskog (Abba) "Past Forever"

Works for stage

• 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

[ Source: Wikipedia ]