Len Barry

Len Barry

Len Barry (born Leonard Borisoff, June 12, 1942, West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) is a retired American vocalist, songwriter and record producer.

Career

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Barry had little thought of a show business career while still in school. Instead, he aspired to become a professional baseball player upon his graduation. It was not until he entered military service and had occasion to sing with the Army bands, and was so encouraged by the response of his soldier audiences, that he decided to make music a career.

Upon his discharge from military service, Barry returned home to Philadelphia and joined The Dovells as their lead singer. His is the lead voice on their best selling records "Bristol Stomp", "Hully Gully Baby" and "You Can't Sit Down", among others. "Bristol Stomp" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Barry also made film appearances with The Dovells in films such as Don't Knock the Twist, as well as guest appearances on US television on The Dick Clark Show, Shindig, and Hullabaloo. Soon after leaving the group, Barry recorded his first solo single "Lip Sync".

As a predominately blue-eyed soul singer, he recorded two hits in 1965 for Decca Records in the US and released by Brunswick Records in the UK: "1-2-3", and "Like a Baby", both of which made the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart. Those songs also peaked at #2 and #27 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart respectively. "1-2-3" sold over one and three quarter million copies, and gave Barry his second gold disc. Both "1-2-3" and "Like a Baby" were composed by Barry, John Madara and Dave White, one of the original Juniors from Danny & the Juniors. Barry also covered "Treat Her Right" by another blue-eyed soul act, Roy Head and the Traits.

In 1969 Barry and Madara co-produced The Original Version: Journey To The Moon LP for Buddah Records. According to Madara, "Neil Bogart wanted to be the first record company out with authentic conversations with the astronauts and others, including President Nixon, using original music that we composed." Barry used Madara's studio band (including Daryl Hall of future Hall & Oates fame) that would become Gulliver: (Tim Moore (guitar), Tom Sellers (bass), Daryl Hall (keyboards), Jim Helmer (drums) and named them the 'Sound of Genesis' for this album. Sellers arranged it and it was billed as being recorded live on Earth, in Space and on the Moon. According to Madara, this album "was approved by NASA, who sent in the tapes every day to us of the moon flight, which we used on the LP."

Barry, obsessed with Indian culture, then went on to write and produce "Keem-O-Sabe" (which his longtime friend, sometime manager, and America's first club DJ Alan White called the first disco hit record), and was later instrumental in the creation of the Philadelphia disco sound. Again, Sellers arranged it and the future Gulliver performed it (this time as The Electric Indian) in conjunction with two musicians, Bobby Eli (guitar) and Vince Montana (vibraphone), who would go on to fame with MFSB and the Salsoul Orchestra. "Broad Street", the single's B-side, also written and produced by Barry and never issued on an LP, was an instrumental.

Even after his period of hit records ended, Barry continued performing his entertaining stage act, and later moved into songwriting and production work with WMOT Productions.

In May 2008, Barry reinvented himself as a writer with the publication of the semi-biographical novel, Black-Like-Me. The storyline involved a pair of Caucasian siblings growing up in a largely African-American neighborhood, accepted by some, rejected by others; in a sort of reverse-perspective morality tale.

Legacy

• In 2010, veteran Australian pop / rock musician Billy Miller recorded a new version of the song "1-2-3" with singer Stephanie Dosen and was featured on Australian television. Miller had previously recorded the song as a b-side with his band The Ferrets for Charisma in 1977.
• The song "1-2-3" was featured on the soundtrack for the film, Mr. Holland's Opus.
• "1-2-3" was one of the songs that appeared in John Lennon's jukebox.
• Motown Records sued the songwriters, Len Barry and Dave White, claiming that "1-2-3" was a reworked copy of Holland-Dozier-Holland song "Ask Any Girl". The songwriters did admit to taking the composition and the lawsuit led to Holland-Dozier-Holland getting equal credit for writing "1-2-3" as noted on the Billboard Top 10 official album.
• In December 2005, Welsh singer-songwriter Cerys Matthews recorded a new version of "1-2-3" in Nashville, Tennessee.
• In 1994, Scottish star, Edwyn Collins, sampled "1-2-3" for part of his hit "A Girl Like You".

Discography

Singles

The Dovells (as lead singer)

• "Bristol Stomp" (1961) - #2 US Billboard Hot 100
• "The Continental" (1962) - #37 US Billboard Hot 100
• "Bristol Twisting Annie" (1962) - #27 US Billboard Hot 100
• "Hully Gully Baby" (1962) - #25 US Billboard Hot 100
• "You Can't Sit Down" (1963) - #3 US Billboard Hot 100

Solo

• "Lyp Sync" (1964) - #70 US Billboard Hot 100
• "1-2-3" (1965) - #2 US Billboard Hot 100; #3 UK
• "Like A Baby" (1966) - #27 US Billboard Hot 100; #10 UK
• "Somewhere" (1966) - #26 US Billboard Hot 100

Albums

• 1-2-3 (1965) - Decca Records
• My Kind of Soul (1967) - RCA Records
• More from the 123 Man (1982) - Bulldog

See also

• List of artists under the Decca Records label
• List of people from Philadelphia
• List of NME covers
• List of performers on Top of the Pops

Additional sources

• Billboard Top 40 Hits (8th Edition) by Joel Whitburn

External links

• Len Barry biography at Allmusic website
• Oldies.com biography
• The Dovells biography (official website)
• Billy Miller and Stephanie Dosen's cover version of the song "1-2-3," as broadcasted on Australian television