A German musician of the Baroque era and a prolific composer, Johann Sebastien Bach is one of the greatest composers of all time. He enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and his adaptation of French and Italian rhythms, forms, and textures. Bach's compositions include hundreds of cantatas, sacred and secular. He composed Latin church music, passions, oratorios, and motets and he adopted Lutheran hymns, not only in his larger vocal works, but also in his four-part chorales and sacred songs. He wrote extensively for organ and for other keyboard instruments and composed concertos for violin and harpsichord and suites as chamber music and for orchestra. Many of his works employ the genres of canon and fugue. Throughout the 18th century Bach was primarily valued as an organist, while his keyboard music, such as The Well-Tempered Clavier, was appreciated for its didactic qualities. A numbered catalogue of his works, the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV) lists more than a thousand works. His instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations and his vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor are among his best-known compositions.

Composer, songwriter and record producer Burt Bacharach, born in Kansas City Missouri, was the son of a newspaper columnist father (nicknamed Bert) and a painter and songwriter mother, who made sure he had piano lessons as a child. He was not enthusiastic about that classical piano training as a teen, preferring jazz, but continued with serious musical training. He studied music at McGill University in Montreal with Helmut Blume, at the Mannes School of Music and at the Music Academy of the West in Montecito, California where he was greatly influenced by his composition teacher, French composer Darius Milhaud. Following time in the army, he spent three years as pianist and conductor for pop singer Vic Damone. His big break came in 1956 when he was recommended to Marlene Dietrich and began arranging and conducting for her nightclub appearances. He worked closely with her for five years, touring the world, but in the early 60s, he yearned for more time for song writing. He had met lyricist Hal David in 1957 and began writing with him; their collaborations developed into a partnership in 1963. Having “discovered” Dionne Warwick accompanying a session in 1961, he and David wrote songs for her that sold 12 million recordings over the next 20 years. Dozens of her singles hit the charts, 22 of which made the top 40s. The Bacharach-David team was successful throughout the 60s and early 70s, producing such songs as the Oscar-winner, “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” for the film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” By 1973, however, they had a falling out over the score of the musical re-make film Lost Horizon which flopped. There were lawsuits and they refused to work together any longer. Bacharach continued composing and making television appearances through the 80s and 90s, composing hundreds of pop songs and in the process winning 6 Grammys and 3 Oscars. He and Hal David jointly received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress in 2011. As a tribute to Nikki, his daughter by his second marriage (to actress Angie Dickinson), an undiagnosed victim of Asperger’s syndrome , in 2016, he scored the film “A Boy Called Po,” the true story of an autistic child; Nikki had committed suicide at age 40 in 2007. At age 88, this was Bacharach’s first original score in 16 years. He released “Live to See Another Day,” in 2018, co-written with Rudy Perez; the proceeds of this went to a charity founded by parents of the children killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

He died on February 8, 2023, in Los Angeles, California.

William Montague Backer, also known as Bill Backer, was born on June 9, 1926, in New York City, New York.
 
He was an American advertising executive. He attended Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, where he wrote musical comedies. He was also president of the Fairfax Literary Society and board member/editor-in-chief of The Chronicle. After high school, he served two years in the United States Navy. He then attended Yale University, earning a B.A. in 1950. After college, Backer sold real estate and wrote jingles for three years. His career began in the mailroom at the advertising agency McCann Erickson in 1953, where he worked his way "up the ladder" first to creative director in 1972 and then to vice chairman of the agency in 1978. In 1979, he, along with Carl Spielvogel, co-founded the advertising agency Backer and Spielvogel (it later became Backer, Spielvogel & Bates Worldwide, Inc.). The company would become one of the world's largest marketing and advertising communications companies. During his career, Backer created ad campaigns for Beech-Nut Gum, Buick, Campbell's soup, Coca-Cola, Dole, Exxon, Fisher-Price, Hyundai, Löwenbräu, Miller beer, Miller Lite, Nabisco, Oreo, Parliament cigarettes, Philip Morris, Quaker Oats, and Xerox. Some of his memorable slogans include "Things go better with Coke" and "the real thing” for Coca-Cola; "Soup is good food" for Campbell's; and "Miller Time" for Miller. In 1971, Backer created the Coca-Cola campaign and accompanying song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony). In 1999, Advertising Age included his name in a list of the top 100 players in advertising history.
 
In 1983, he married Ann Allderdice Mudge (1932-?). He died on May 13, 2016, in Warrenton, Virginia.

James Backhouse was born on October 22, 1825, in York, Yorkshire, England.

He was an English botanist, archaeologist, and geologist, the son of James Backhouse (1794–1869), a botanist and missionary. He was educated at Lawrence Street School, (which later became Bootham School), York. He worked in Norway, Ireland, and Scotland, and was particularly known for his work on the flora of Teesdale, England. He was a correspondent of Charles Darwin. In 1856, he published the book "A Monograph of the British Hieracia". He was also a member of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers.

He died on August 31, 1890, in York, Yorkshire, England.

Frederick Thomas Howard Bacon was born on April 16, 1877, in Montreal, Quebec. He graduated in applied science from McGill in 1898.

Hon. Robert Bacon was born on July 5, 1860, in Jamaica Plain, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

He was an American distinguished diplomat and Cabinet Secretary. Bacon graduated from Harvard University and joined the JP Morgan firm. However, in 1905, he left his job to become the Assistant Secretary of State. He served in this position until 1909 when he was appointed as the Secretary of State by President Theodore Roosevelt. He served in this role from January 27, 1909, to March 5, 1909. In 1909, President William Howard Taft appointed him as an Ambassador to France. After returning to the United States in 1912, Bacon was sent to South America by the Carnegie Endowment. In 1914, he returned to France and played a critical role in setting up an ambulance corps to help Allied soldiers. During World War I, he accepted a Major's commission and received the Distinguished Service Medal for his work as General John J. Pershing's aide and commander of his headquarters. Bacon was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and served as a liaison officer at British Headquarters. After the armistice, Bacon returned home in poor health. His son Robert Low Bacon (1884-1938) was a Congressman from New York.

He married Martha Waldron Cowdin (1859-1940). He died on May 29, 1919, in New York City, New York, due to complications after surgery.

A native of Montréal, Thomas H. Bacon obtained a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from McGill in 1911. During World War I he served with the Canadian Forestry Corps in the Jura, constructing sawmills to produce wood for aircraft. He was an employee of the National Fire Proofing Company.