Jeff Barry

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Jeff Barry (born April 3, 1938 in New York , NY ; real name Joel Adelberg ) is an American singer , composer , songwriter and record producer . Together with his wife Ellie Greenwich , he was one of the coveted songwriting teams in the 1960s who worked in the Brill Building , where they created many bestsellers for other performers .

Beginning

Ricky Valance - Tell Laura I Love Her

With the ballad Teenage Sonata , composed by Jeff Barry alone and recorded by Sam Cooke on January 28, 1960 , Cooke initially stayed in the usual middle of the charts (US Pop # 50, R&B # 22). But Jeff's next composition, this time written together with Ben Raleigh and published in June 1960, made it to number 7, namely Tell Laura I Love Her by Ray Peterson , which is one of the death songs . It tells the story of a racing driver whose thoughts of his great love haunt him even during a car race up to a fatal accident. In January 1961, Gene McDaniels took over the Chip Chip , written by Jeff and Artie Resnick , which can climb up to number 10. It follows, again with Resnick, for Linda Scott I Left My Heart in the Balcony (September 1962). Barry's best-to-date placement was previously noted on the UK charts for Helen Shapiro with Tell Me What He Said in February 1962. There, a cover version of the death song Tell Laura I Love Her by Ricky Valance in August 1960 even rose to number 1. In July 1962 Ellie Greenwich wrote her first song for Jay & the Americans with This is it , which did not reach the charts .

The couple as a composer team

The Crystals - Da doo ron ron

In 1962 Jeff Barry met his future wife Ellie Greenwich, and both married on October 28, 1962. In order to work with his wife as a team of authors, Barry had to work for the music publisher "Trio Music Publishing" (was part of the team of authors Leiber / Stoller ), where his wife was also employed. The first jointly written hit was in April 1963 for The Crystals Da do ron ron , which came up to number 3. The authors pair has now become one of the most important authors teams in the Phil Spector label Philles Records . There her compositions were transformed into Spector's lavish "Wall of Sound" productions. This is how millionsellers such as Then He Kissed Me (The Crystals, August 1963), Be My Baby ( The Ronettes , August 1963) or the death song Leader Of The Pack (September 1964) for the Shangri-Las , underlaid with motorcycle noises, were the most successful hit (No. 1) of the record label. The couple wrote a total of 16 songs for "Philles Records". Among them was the classic River Deep-Mountain High (May 1966, only Pop # 88), which was initially lost in the original version by Ike & Tina Turner in the USA , but reached number 3 in the UK and was later covered by other artists.

In the meantime, the couple had sung their first compositions together under the pseudonym " The Raindrops ", namely What a guy (April 1963) and the next but one single Hanky ​​Panky (B-side; November 1963). The latter song (originally released by the "Summits" shortly before) was superficially about a provocatively performed dance called "Hanky ​​panky", but this alliteration in English means both "duplicity" and a sexual allusion. An early punk version of Tommy James & the Shondells made it to number 1 in June 1966. Further top hits for other labels were made with Chapel of Love ( Dixie Cups , May 1964) or Do Wah Diddy Diddy ( Manfred Mann , July 1964). The latter became the transatlantic No. 1 and the most successful song by the British group at all; however, it was a cover of the US quartet Exciters , which had no success with it in January 1964. Numerous less well-placed compositions were also created during this phase. Barry and Greenwich were divorced in October 1965, but they continued to work together professionally.

Discovery by Neil Diamond

The couple is considered to be the discoverer of Neil Diamond , who at the beginning of 1966 did not get anywhere as a songwriter in the Brill Building. They put him in touch with Bert Berns , who had just founded his record label "Bang Records" and offered Diamond a record deal here. There he had the opportunity to sing one of his first compositions, which was made a super hit by the Monkees : I'm a Believer came on Diamond's second self- sung LP Just For You (July 1967), produced by Barry-Greenwich. His first LP The Feel of Neil Diamond (August 1966) - also produced by the author couple - included Diamond's version of Hanky ​​Panky , which had already been made a hit by Tommy James & the Shondells.

The 1970s and after

In July 1969, Barry and Andy Kim created the song Sugar, Sugar , which became the transatlantic No. 1 for the animated film session musicians The Archies and became the anthem of the bubblegum music wave with over 6 million records worldwide . Barry wrote the Caribbean- themed Montego Bay (September 1970, US-8) for Bobby Bloom , together with this singer the gospel-like Heavy Makes You Happy (December 1970, R & B-6) was created for the Staple Singers . Barry's collaboration with Peter Allen resulted in the romantic I Honestly Love You for Olivia Newton-John in August 1974 , which made it top hit (2 million copies sold). During this time, Barry also wrote some country songs (such as Out of Hand for Gary Stewart in November 1974, Saying Hello, Saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye in December 1976 for Jim Ed Brown , Lie to You for Your Love for the Bellamy Brothers in October 1985; all in the top 5 of the C&W charts).

Ellie turned to composing melodies for commercials in the 1970s and wrote Sunshine After the Rain for Elkie Brooks (August 1977), while Jeff also became one of the sought-after composers of theme songs for television shows.

In May 1991, both were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Hit statistics

According to Broadcast Music Incorporated , there are a total of 703 songs for Jeff Barry and 215 for Ellie Greenwich registered. Her songs have sold around 40 million times worldwide. Both - separately or together - received numerous honors, so Barry a total of 15 "BMI Awards" for his compositions and in 1988 the "BMI TV Award" for the music for the TV series Family Ties . Together they made 25 gold or platinum records with their songs.

In 2015, Rolling Stone listed Barry and Greenwich as 19th of the 100 best songwriters of all time .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Macmillan English Dictionaries . Retrieved December 20, 2010
  2. ^ Ken Emerson, Always Magic in the Air , 2005, p. 231
  3. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 276
  4. ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 8, 2017 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Barry, Jeff
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Adelberg, Joel (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer, composer, songwriter, and record producer
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , NY , USA