US composer Bacharach awarded top music honour

But Bacharach was not alone in landing the award — the jury also picked classical composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and Robert Moog, father of the synthesiser, for the prizes that recognised their lifetime achievements in changing the face of modern music.

The awards, carried live on a webcast to Swedish embassies around the world, were announced at a glitzy ceremony at Midem, the world’s largest music fair which attracts 10,000 record executives from almost 100 countries to the fashionable French Riviera resort of Cannes.

This is the 10th anniversary of the prize founded by the late Stig Anderson, the manager of ABBA and one of the Prime movers behind the huge international success of the Swedish group.

Bacharach, speaking to the award ceremony in a recorded video message, said he was particularly thrilled to be following in the footsteps of two of his great heroes– Stevie Wonder and Dizzy Gillespie.

The prize’s roll call of honour down the last decade has certainly been varied, ranging from Paul McCartney and Elton John to Mstislav Rostropovich and Ravi Shankar.

Polar Prize managing director Stuart Ward said: "We like to think of this as the music industry’s equivalent of the Nobel prizes. It certainly was difficult picking this year’s winners."

He added: "There have been comments as to why someone like (past winners) Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan needs to be given more money but our attitude is that we are serious about the prize and we are putting our money where our mouth is.

"Although we would never stipulate that the prize might go to a charity, Paul McCartney, for example, gave his prize to the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts."

Ward was the first to acknowledge that Bacharach was the big headline winner in the year 2001 for his contribution to popular music in the 20th century.

His biography took 12 pages just to recall his greatest hits from "I Say A Little Prayer" to "Walk On By" and "There’s Always Something There To Remind Me".

He was hailed as the greatest American composer since George Gershwin and a "King of Cool" whose music had now become hip to a whole new generation of performers.