Mark Barkan

Mark Barkan
Background information
Occupation(s)	Songwriter, record producer

Mark Barkan (born 1934) is an American songwriter and record producer. He was also a musical director for the television show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, which aired between September 7, 1968, and December 13, 1969, lasting two seasons, on NBC.

He has written numerous songs, including Lesley Gore's Top 5 hit "She's a Fool"; the often-covered "Pretty Flamingo", which was a hit single for Manfred Mann in 1966;^[1] "I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter", which was a hit for Connie Francis in 1963; and "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)" from The Banana Splits.^[2][3]

Barkan has also written songs for many other artists, and was involved in "cult" bands as well. He and Ritchie Adams co-wrote songs for The Archies, The Monkees, and for many other recording artists in the late 1960s. The team of Barkan and Adams was instrumental on the Banana Splits project, and they also wrote and produced all the songs for Toomorrow, an obscure 1970 musical sci-fi thriller,^[4] produced by Don Kirshner, which starred Olivia Newton-John as a band member.

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