Barry Blue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barry Blue (born Barry Ian Green, 4 December 1950, London[1]) is a singer / producer / songwriter from the United Kingdom. He is best known for his hit songs, "Dancin' (on a Saturday Night)" (1973), which he co-wrote with Lynsey de Paul, and "Do You Wanna Dance" (1973).
At 14 he signed to record producer Norrie Paramor whose erstwhile assistant was one Tim Rice - the producer of Barry's first song Rainmaker Girl which became a hit for Gene Pitney in America. Later he became bass player in the original line-up of heavy rock band Uriah Heap was followed in 1966 by a two-year period in A&R at the Bee Gees' publishing company Abigail Music. In 1970 he signed as a writer to ATV-Kirshner Music. His first major hit was Sugar Me which became a million seller for Lynsey de Paul.
He signed to Bell Records in 1973 and had five hit singles, including "School Love" (1974). His final Top 40 hit in the UK Singles Chart occurred in October 1974, when "Hot Shot", another song co-penned with de Paul climbed to No.23.[2]
Further success came with the production of multi-million selling band Heatwave, the first British funk/soul act to take the US by storm with such mega classics as Boogie Nights and Always and Forever. In 1989, under the banner of Cry Sisco!, Blue enjoyed another minor UK hit with a song called "Afro Dizzi Act", which reached No.42 on the UK Singles Chart.[2] A compilation album, Greatest Hits was released on Repertoire Records in 2002.
Blue continued to work in the music industry as a record producer for other artists, including Bananarama, Toto Coelo and Cheryl Lynn.
Blue has also been a prolific songwriter for other acts. Among his hit compositions are: "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby" for Brotherhood of Man (a European million seller) (1975) "I Eat Cannibals Part 1" for Toto Coelo (1982) "All Fall Down" for Five Star (1985) and "Escaping" for Dina Carroll (1996).
He has written album tracks for many more artists and has had over forty hits with such artists as Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Celine Dion, The Saturdays and Pixie Lott. Blue in film and TV has provided scores and/or themes for productions including The Eyes of Laura Mars, Long Good Friday and Escape to Athena.
Barry Blue has also had a dynamic career in production music and was founder of Connect 2 Music, now owned by Universal Music Publishing.
He is a committed supporter of the creators' rights in music of all genres and styles and is dedicating his time to become more pro-active in this pursuit.
[edit] References
- ^ "IMDB profile". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1154721/bio.
- ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 65. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
