Carole Bayer Sager (born March 8 1947) is an American lyricist, songwriter and singer.
Born in New York City, Sager co-wrote her first pop hit, A Groovy Kind of Love, with Toni Wine, while 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). The song was subsequently recorded by Sonny & Cher, Petula Clark, and Phil Collins, whose rendition for film Buster hit #1 in 1988.
Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, Dramatic Arts and Speech. Her first recording as a singer was the 1977 album Carole Bayer Sager, which included the #1 international single "You're Moving Out Today." 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.
Many of Sager's early songs were co-written with her former husband, composer Bacharach. She has also collaborated with Marvin Hamlisch, Michael Masser, Peter Allen, Bruce Roberts, Neil Sedaka, David Foster, Albert Hammond, Quincy Jones, Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Donald Fagen, Babyface and Clint Eastwood (for the film True Crime).
Sager has won an Oscar (six nominations), a Grammy (nine nominations), two Golden Globe awards (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)", the theme song from the film Arthur. She shared the award with co-writers Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, and Christopher Cross.
Sager received the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1987 for "That's What Friends Are For," which she co-wrote with Bacharach. The song was originally written for the 1982 film Night Shift and was recorded for the movie by Rod Stewart. The song was honored for its 1986 cover version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John, which became a number one hit, raising millions of dollars for AIDS.
Sager now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Robert A. Daly, former chairman CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and former chairman of Warner Brothers. Daly is currently Chairman (CEO) of the charitable organization Save The Children as well as an advisor to Tom Freston and Brad Grey at Paramount Pictures (Viacom). Sager and Daly co-chair the Los Angeles Advisory Board of DonorsChoose.
Sager has one son from her previous marriage, Cristopher Bacharach.
In May 2006 she was honored at a lunch at NYU's Steinhart 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.
