Barry White Bio

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Barry White (born Barrence Eugene Carter, September 12, 1944(1944-09-12) - July 4, 2003) was an American record producer and singer-songwriter.

A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his rich bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s with The Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring hit soul, funk, and disco songs. Worldwide, White had many gold and platinum albums and singles, with combined sales of over 100 million, according to critics Ed Hogan and Wade Kergan.

Barry White: Biography

Barry White - Early life and career

White was born in Galveston, Texas and grew up in the high-crime areas of South Central Los Angeles. At 17, he was jailed for four months for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires.

While in prison, White listened to Elvis Presley singing "It's Now or Never" on the radio, an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life. After his release, he left gang life and began a musical career at the dawn of the 1960s in singing groups before going out on his own in the middle of the decade. The marginal success he had to that point was as a songwriter; his songs were recorded by rock singer Bobby Fuller and TV bubblegum act The Banana Splits. He was also responsible in 1963 for arranging "Harlem Shuffle" for Bob & Earl, which became a hit in the UK in 1969. He discovered disco artist Viola Wills in 1965, and signed her to Bronco Records.

Barry White - Success

In August 1969, he got his break producing a girl group called Love Unlimited. His best friend Max Murray helped him get his start in music. He made Barry his protege and led him to fame. Formed in imitation of the legendary Motown girl group The Supremes, the group members honed their talents with White for the next two years until they all signed contracts with 20th Century Records. White produced, wrote and arranged the classic soul ballad "Walking in the Rain (With The One I Love)", which hit the Top 20 of the pop charts. The group would score more hits throughout the '70s and White married the lead singer of the group, Glodean James, on 4 July 1974.

While working on a few demos for a male singer, the record label suggested White step out in front of the microphone, to which he reluctantly agreed. His first solo chart hit, 1973's "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby", rose to #1 R&B and #3 Pop. That same year, the Love Unlimited Orchestra's recording of White's composition "Love's Theme" reached #1 Pop in 1974, one of only a handful of instrumental recordings ever to do so. Some regard "Love's Theme" as the first disco hit ever, although Nino Tempo's "Sister James" had already reached the Hot 100 a few months before.

Other chart hits by White include "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" (1973), "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" (1974), "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" (1974), "What Am I Gonna Do with You" (1975), "Let the Music Play" (1976), "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me" (1977), "Your Sweetness is My Weakness" (1978), and "Change" (1982).

Considered handsome and deeply romantic by his many female fans and admired for the unique blend of soul and classical orchestral musical elements he created, White was often affectionately referred to as the "Maestro" or "The Man with the Velvet Voice". His portly physical stature led some in the popular press to make condescending jokes about his weight by referring to White as the "Walrus of Love," a moniker considered disrespectful by many fans. Barry White was also referred to as "The Sultan of Smooth Soul," but it was his role as brainchild of the funk-fueled, deep soul band, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, in which he was widely branded on several early albums as the group's Maestro, earning him the only documented nickname for which he and his musical colleagues were responsible.

Barry White - Comebacks

Although White's success on the pop charts slowed down as the disco era came to an end, he maintained a loyal following throughout his career. In the 1990s, he mounted an effective comeback with the albums The Icon Is Love (1994), whose biggest hit, "Practice What You Preach" reached the top of the charts. In 1996, White recorded "In Your Wildest Dreams" with rock icon Tina Turner. Staying Power (1999) won two Grammy Awards. In addition, his music was often featured on the sitcom Ally McBeal and he appeared on the show twice.

Barry White - Death

White had been ill with chronically high blood pressure for some time, which resulted in kidney failure in the autumn of 2002. He suffered a stroke in May 2003, after which he was forced to retire from public life. On July 4, 2003, he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering from renal failure. White was cremated, and his ashes were scattered by his family off the California coast.

On 20 September 2004, he was posthumously inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in New York.

Barry White: Musical style

White's recordings featured a distinctive sound that combined symphonic orchestral instrumentation (string section, woodwinds, horns, harpsichords, etc.) with a steady drumbeat and as many as five electric guitars. His arrangements were influential to the emerging sound of disco music in the early 1970s.

A distinctive feature of White's music were the steamy spoken introductions and interludes that appeared in many of his songs. Perhaps the most notorious of these appeared in the track "Love Serenade (Part 1)," from his 1975 album Just Another Way to Say I Love You:

Barry White: Acting

Over the course of his career White occasionally did work as a voice actor. He voiced the character Bear in the 1975 film Coonskin (and also played the character Sampson in the movie's live-action segments). He was featured in two episodes of The Simpsons Which were "Whacking Day" in which he used his deep bass voice played through speakers placed on the ground to attract snakes, and a cameo appearance in "Krusty Gets Kancelled". He played the role of a bus driver for a Prodigy commercial in 1995. He also did the voice of a rabbit in a Good Seasons salad dressing mix commercial, singing a song called "You Can't Bottle Love." In addition, he did some car commercials, most famously for Oldsmobile, and later on, Jeep. He made guest appearances in the show Ally McBeal.