Gary Barden

Gary Barden
Barden (right) with MSG bandmate Paul Raymond in 1981
Background information
Birth name	Gary John Barden
Born	(1955-08-27) 27 August 1955 Royal Tunbridge Wells, England
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal, pop rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Chrysalis

Gary John Barden (born 27 August 1955, Royal Tunbridge Wells, England) is an English singer-songwriter, best known for his work with Michael Schenker Group.

Barden was discovered by Schenker upon the guitarist's hearing a demo of Barden's previous band, Fraser Nash. Barden proceeded to appear on The Michael Schenker Group (1980), MSG (1981) and One Night at Budokan (1981) albums. He was asked to leave the group and was replaced briefly by former Rainbow frontman Graham Bonnet. In the interim, Barden worked with Gary Moore on the demos of what would later become Moore's Corridors of Power album and joined MSG again to conclude the band's tour after Bonnet's departure and recorded the next album Built to Destroy (1983), and the live album Rock Will Never Die (1984). After his stint in MSG he went on to form Statetrooper with brothers Steve and Paul Johnson, as well as record an album and tour as lead singer with Praying Mantis.

In 2007, Barden was fronting Silver and Statetrooper, and maintaining a solo career. He recorded an album with Michael Schenker Group called In the Midst of Beauty which was released in April 2008, followed by a world tour. In 2010, Barden, Schenker, Simon Philips, Neil Murray and Wayne Findlay embarked in an extensive tour in Japan, recording a new DVD to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of their debut album. After that, Barden left the band amicably to focus in his solo career. He rejoined Michael Schenker to record an album entitled Michael Schenker Fest, which was a collection of MSG's former singers to record new songs. Following the album's release, he and the rest of the group embarked on a world tour.

Barden currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand.

Discography

with The Michael Schenker Group

• The Michael Schenker Group 1980
• MSG 1981
• One Night at Budokan 1982
• Built to Destroy 1983
• Rock Will Never Die 1984
• Heavy Hitters 2005
• Tales of Rock'n'Roll 2006
• In the Midst of Beauty 2008

with Schenker Barden Acoustic Project

• Gipsy Lady 2009

with Praying Mantis

• To the Power of Ten 1995
• Captured Alive in Tokyo City 1996

with Statetrooper

• Statetrooper 1986 (re issued with extra tracks in 2002)
• The Calling 2004

with Silver

• Silver 2001
• Dream Machines 2002
• Intruder 2003
• Addiction 2004
• Gold 2005

Solo as Gary John Barden

• Past & Present (MSG remixed) 2004
• Agony & The Xtasy 2006
• Love and War 2007
• Rock 'n Roll My Soul 2010
• Eleventh Hour 2011

Michael Schenkerfest

• Resurrection (2018)
• Revelation (2019)