Barry Blue

Barry Blue
Barry Blue in the Dutch television program Popzien, 8 June 1973
Background information
Birth name	Barry Ian Green
Born	(1950-12-04) 4 December 1950 London, England
Genres	Pop, glam rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Bell Records, Decca, Private Stock, Jet
Associated acts	Bee Gees, Lynsey de Paul, Heatwave, Lydia Canaan, Bananarama, Toto Coelo, Cheryl Lynn, Brotherhood of Man, Toto Coelo, Five Star, Dina Carroll, Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Celine Dion, The Saturdays, Pixie Lott C.J. & Company
Website	http://www.barryblue.co.uk/

Barry Blue (born Barry Ian Green, 4 December 1950)^[1][2] is an English singer, producer, and songwriter. As an artist he is best known for his hit songs "Dancin' (on a Saturday Night)" and "Do You Wanna Dance" (both 1973).^[2]

Blue has also been a prolific songwriter and producer for many artists and has had over forty worldwide hits including Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Celine Dion, The Saturdays, The Wanted, and Pixie Lott. In film and television, Blue has provided scores and/or themes for productions including The Eyes of Laura Mars, Long Good Friday, and Escape to Athena.^[2]

Early days

At the age of 13, Barry Blue made his first television appearance with his school band The Dark Knights, performing on Stubby Kaye's Silver Star Show, a weekly children's talent show hosted by Kaye via Granada TV. By the age of 14, Blue had signed with record producer Norrie Paramor whose assistant was Tim Rice – the producer of Blue's first song "Rainmaker Girl",^[3] which became a hit for Gene Pitney in the United States. Later he became a bassist in the line-up of Spice; the band featured Mick Box and David Byron and was the precursor to the heavy rock band Uriah Heep.^[2] He followed this in 1966 with a two-year period in A&R at the Bee Gees' publishing company Abigail Music, under direction of their manager Robert Stigwood. In 1970, Blue signed as a songwriter to ATV-Kirshner located in Bruton Street, London where he joined a group of professional songwriters that included Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker. One of their earliest songs was "Sugarloaf Hill",^[4] recorded by the reggae artist, Del Davis. Other early career notable songs co-written by Blue and de Paul include "Tip of My Tongue" for the British group Brotherly Love,^[5] as well as female vocal trio Ellie and "House of Cards" recorded by a number of artists including John Christie, Australian artist Rob Guest, and the D.J. Tony Blackburn. Another from this period included "Crossword Puzzle", also co-penned with de Paul and which led to an appearance on Top of the Pops for Irish singer Dana. At the time he was still using his real surname of Green.^[6]

Blue wrote his first UK Singles Chart hit back in 1972 with de Paul titled "Sugar Me". The song originally was written for Peter Noone, but de Paul's boyfriend at the time, Dudley Moore, suggested that she should take a demo version to manager Gordon Mills, who told her she should record it herself. The song also charted in singles charts in the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium. "Sugar Me" was also covered in the US by Nancy Sinatra and Claudine Longet.

Career

He released his first record in June 1971 under the name of Barry Green on the Ember label titled "Together", written by Jean-Pierre Mirouze,^[7] taken from the French film Le mariage collectif.^[8] He signed up to Decca Records and released four singles between 1971 and 1974.^[9] Including "Papa Do", which was released by Barry Green as a single. His first UK chart success came with a change of name and record deal with Bell Records in 1973 billed as Barry Blue,^[2] and had five hit singles, "Dancin' (On A Saturday Night)" (No. 2 1973) (co-written with de Paul), "Do You Wanna Dance?" (No. 7 1973), "School Love" (No. 11 1974), "Miss Hit and Run" (No. 26 1974).^[10] 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,^[11] and No. 3 in Zimbabwe.^[12] Blue returned to the UK charts in 1989 with a remix version of "Dancin' (On A Saturday Night)".^[13] Throughout 1973-74, Blue appeared on many major TV shows and tours alongside artist such as Queen, Abba and Status Quo.

Blue achieved a million seller in 1975 with "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby" recorded by Brotherhood of Man. Two years later (1977) he co-wrote "Devil's Gun" a song by C. J. & Company from the album of the same name. The song went to No. 1 for five weeks on the Billboard disco/dance chart. The single also peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the R&B chart.^[2] Written by Blue, Ron Roker, and Gerry Shury and produced by Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey. The song is notable for being the first record played at the opening of Studio 54 on April 26, 1977, by DJ Richie Kaczor.^[3] The instrumental portions of "Devil's Gun" were featured prominently in the International version of Crocodile. It also featured in the film The Real Bruce Lee. In 2016, the song was included in The Get Down soundtrack, and the following year it was featured in the film Borg vs McEnroe.

One of his major production success was the multi-racial band Anglo-US funk/soul band Heatwave, who enjoyed hits in the UK and US with "Boogie Nights", "Always and Forever", 'Mind Blowing Decisions", and "The Groove Line".^[14][15][16] Other funk songs produced by Blue include "Funk Theory,^[17] by Rokotto^[18] in 1978 reached No. 49, "Somebody Help Me Out"^[19] by Beggar and Co which reached No. 15 in the UK in 1981 and "Say Yeah"^[20] by The Limit which peaked at No. 17 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 7 on the U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play chart in 1985. In 1989, under the banner of Cry Sisco!,^[21] Blue had another minor hit with a song called "Afro Dizzi Act", which reached No. 42 on the UK Singles Chart.^[22][23]

Blue continued to work in the music industry as a record producer for other artists, including Bananarama, Toto Coelo and Cheryl Lynn.^[2] He latterly concentrated on electronic pop and dance music including short themes, writing under many alias names including Dr. Vibes,^[24] D.J. Midnight,^[25] Darcus Knight,^[26] Big Wheel,^[27] B.T. Lang,^[28] and Dominic Holmes.^[29]

A compilation album, Greatest Hits was released on Repertoire Records in 2002.^[30] Blue was the founder of Connect 2 Music, now owned by Universal Music Publishing.^[2] He is a supporter of the creator's rights in music of all genres and styles, and is dedicating his time to become more pro-active in this pursuit. From 2010, Blue has served on the board of directors of PRS for Music.^[31][32]

Discography

Honours, awards and achievements

• 1965: Silver Star (Stubby Kaye’s talent show)
• 1973: Carl Allan Award - Record of The Year ("Dancing’ On A Saturday Night")
• 1977: 6 BMI / ASCAP Awards (Heatwave USA)
• 1977: Councillor - BASCA
• 1977: Music Week – Market Survey Top Record Producer
• 1986: Founded Aosis Studios in London^[80]
• 1989: Founded The Escape Artist Company^[81]
• 1995: Founded Connect 2 Music^[82]
• 2007: Founded Plan 8 Music^[83]
• 2010: Director - PRS for Music Ltd (2010-2019)
• 2014: Director Karma Songs^[84]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barry Blue.

• Barry Blue on Myspace
• Barry Blue discography at Discogs
• Favorednationsmusic.com
• Interview with M Magazine