Barry Mann
Barry Mann (real name Barry Imberman, born February 9, 1939 in Brooklyn / New York) is together with his wife Cynthia Weil (born October 18, 1940 in New York) one of the most successful American songwriter and music producer teams of the late 1950s until the 1990s.
Beginnings
Barry Mann's first composition (together with Sid Jacobson) was in November 1958 for the newly founded Big Top label, the B-side Stranded , sung by twelve-year-old Bobby Pedric Jr. Mann had come into contact with Paul Case, a manager of the large music publisher Hill & Range. Case referred him to this young label, which had just released two singles, and hired the talented writer at the Brill Building . Bobby pedric jr. was able to celebrate great successes under the name Robert John from 1972 . This was followed by the composition Don't Destroy Me (together with Joe Shapiro), which brought Billy “Crash” Craddock to the lower ranks of the Hot Hundred hit parade at the beginning of his career in November 1959 .
The first measurable hit for Mann was She Say (Oom Dooby Doom) in February 1959 (together with Mike Anthony) for the successful The Diamonds , which made it into the top 20 of the US charts. Barry Mann initially worked with changing authoring partners. One of the first compositions (with Hank Hunter) for Don Kirshner's famous music publisher Aldon Music Publishing was for Steve Lawrence Footsteps , which reached number 7 in February 1960. With the already successful author Howard Greenfield (who mostly composed with Neil Sedaka ), Teddy Randazzo wrote The Way of a Clown , which only reached the lower ranks of the charts in April 1960. It is worth mentioning that the song was based on Vesti la Giubba from the opera Pagliacci by Leoncavallo from 1892. Come Back Silly Girl was another Barry Mann title that Steve Lawrence took over in September 1960.
Beginning of the hit compositions
From the partnership with one of the most successful authors of the Brill Building, Gerry Goffin , the novelty song Who Put the Bomp emerged in July 1961 , which made Barry Mann known as an artist and made it to number 7 in the charts. The song ironizes the excessive onomatopoeia ( onomatopoeia through word creation as in Oom Dooby Doom ) rhythmic new word creations and nonsense syllables of contemporary pop songs, especially from the Doo Wop genre . Among other things, the striking title of the hit Rama Lama Ding Dong is quoted. For Neil Sedaka , who otherwise only sang his own compositions, he wrote Sweet Little You , which in August 1961 only had a middle ranking.
In mid-1961, Mann met Cynthia Weil in the Brill Building. She not only became his writing partner, but they both married on October 29, 1961. The newly wed couple's first joint composition in the same month was Bless You for Tony Orlando , who from 1970 had many successes as the lead singer of the group Dawn . Again and again, compositions by Berry Mann with other Brill Building colleagues, especially Larry Kolber, appeared. He had written the text for the romantic I Love How You Love Me in just 5 minutes on a napkin in a cafeteria for the girl trio Paris Sisters in September 1961, which came in at number 5.
The couple's most successful collaboration up to that point was My Dad for Paul Peterson in November 1962 , which was also his best placement with a No. 6 in the charts. A classic was then created with On Broadway on January 22, 1963 for the Drifters , where Mann can be heard on the piano and Dionne Warwick sings in the background choir. The play describes the dream of many teenagers to be discovered and famous on New York's famous theater street. The recording also includes a guitar solo by Phil Spector , who was one of the Brill Building's many talented writers / songwriters at the time. Spector founded his own record label Philles Records in November 1961 . And his third single Uptown for the girl group The Crystals in March 1962 was written by Mann-Weil. Two more compositions for Philles Records followed, until November 1964 with You've Lost That Lovin 'Feelin' for the Righteous Brothers, a top transatlantic hit (No. 1 in the USA and GB) came out. The pop ballad, pompously produced and arranged by Phil Spector from August to November 1964, has since become one of the most played songs of all time (according to Broadcast Music Incorporated ) and one of the pop classics. Also (You're My) Soul and Inspiration for the false brothers that had not appeared more at Philles Records in February 1966 came from the now established writers-married couple. The latter did not shy away from criticizing drug abuse with kicks for Paul Revere & the Raiders the following month.
We Gotta Get Out of This Place for Animals in July 1965, which reached number 2 in the British charts and was used in protest against the Vietnam War , is also historically significant . The song in the bluesy shout style was individually tailored to the Animals. In 1966, nine more pieces (either as a pair or in collaboration with other partners) were composed, another twelve in 1967, seventeen in 1968, and another nineteen in 1969.
The 1970s and 1980s
However, the great successes became rarer. For BJ Thomas they wrote (I Just) Can't Help Believing in June 1970 , subsequently covered by a total of 40 performers (including by Elvis Presley ). Dan Hill brought her Sometimes When We Touch to US no. 3. Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram sang as a duet the hit Somewhere Out There (US No. 2) published in December 1986 , the 1987 two Grammy Awards for "best song of the year" and "best movie song" (for the animated film Feivel, the mouse wanderer ) received. But the time of very successful compositions was over, their diminishing creativity extended into 1992.
Hit statistics
According to Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) there are 787 songs for Barry Mann and 595 compositions for Cynthia Weil registered. Most of the overlap is the collaboration between the two. For this they both received 108 awards from the BMI. A total of 18 of her compositions reached the US Top 40. In 1997 they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for their life's work . In 2015, Rolling Stone listed the couple as 88th of the 100 best songwriters of all time .
Title selection (not mentioned in the text)
- Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
- He's Sure the Boy I Love - The Crystals
- Magic Town - The Vogues
- Uptown - The Crystals
- Blame It on the Bossa Nova - Eydie Gorme
- Only in America - Jay and the Americans
- Kicks - Paul Revere & the Raiders
- Coldest Night of the Year - Vashti Bunyan
- Looking Through the Eyes of Love - Gene Pitney
- Shape of Things to Come - Max Frost and the Troopers
- Just a Little Lovin '(Early in the Morning) - Dusty Springfield
- I'm Gonna Be Strong - Gene Pitney
- Make Your Own Kind of Music - "Mama" Cass Elliot
- Black Butterfly - Deniece Williams
- Don't Know Much - Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt
- Somewhere Out There - James Ingram and Linda Ronstadt (together with James Horner for the film Feivel, der Mauswanderer )
- Never Gonna Let You Go - Sérgio Mendes
- Saturday Night at the Movies - The Drifters
- None of Us Are Free (Mann, Weil, Brenda Russell) - Ray Charles
- Just Once - James Ingram and Quincy Jones
- Good Time Living - Three Dog Night
- (Walking) In the Rain - The Ronettes
- We're Over - Johnny Rodriguez
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Richard Williams, Phil Spector: Out of His Head , 2003, p. 43.
- ↑ Ken Emerson, Always Magic in the Air , 2005, p. 103.
- ↑ Ken Emerson, Always Magic in the Air , 2005, p. 98.
- ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Man, Barry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Imberman, Barry (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American songwriter and record producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 9, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn , New York |