Chart entered : 9 June 1973
Chart peak : 23
Number of hits : 20
It's always difficult to write about someone you know has an army of fans but leaves you completely cold. Barry was a big part of the 70s chart landscape but all his records sounded the same to me.
He was born Barry Carter in a rough area of Los Angeles in 1944 and became something of a piano prodigy playing on Jesse Belvin's 1956 hit "Goodnight My Love" at the age of eleven. At 16 he went to jail for stealing tyres and later claimed that hearing Elvis on the radio there changed his life.
He came out of prison determined to be a singer. He first recorded as part of The Upfronts who released the dreary doo wop single " Too Far To Turn Around" in 1960. He started working on the LA music scene as a session musician and producer. He recorded with The Majestics who put out the lively R & B of "Strange World" and the languid doo wop soul of "Girl of My Dreams" in 1963 although it's hard to detect him on the former. That same year he got his name out front on a single with The Atlantics, "Tracy ( All I Have Is You ) " , which is heavily influenced by the Ray Charles version of Hit The Road Jack but is a pretty good R & B hip swinger all the same.
In 1966 he recorded a single for Downey Records under the name Lee Barry. "A Man Ain't Nothin", written by Barry, is a competent but meandering deep soul effort similar in style to Otis Redding but lacking in commercial punch. The following year he tried again on Bronco with "All In The Run Of A Day" as Barry White. It's a Marvin Gaye-ish slice of life slow builder but is ruined by an anticlimactic fade out just as you're expecting a big finish.
After these setbacks Barry lost confidence in himself as a performer and settled for working in A & R nurturing the careers of Viola Wills, Bob and Earl and Felice Taylor. He sneaked out a cover of "In The Ghetto" as Gene West which gives the song a funky makeover although losing a lot of the melody in the process. In 1971 he started working with the girl group Love Unlimited who included his future wife Glodean. He wrote, arranged, produced and had a cameo part on their transatlantic hit "Walking In The Rain With The One I Love" in 1972.
Barry then made plans to work with a male artist and cut a few new songs on a demo. When his friend, music mogul Larry Nunes heard them he insisted that Barry record them himself and after much arm twisting Barry eventually agreed.
One of the songs was this one. Barry re-recorded it - one of the guitarists on the session was Ray Parker Jr - and it went to number 3 in the U.S. It set the formula for his records; a mid-paced groove, a long "intro" ( often lasting nearly half the running time ) during which Barry would growl sweet nothings into the mike in his utterly unmistakable voice before the lushly orchestrated strings swelled up and Barry sang the rest of the song in a throaty croon. I found it hard to tell one from another - this one's distinguished by a little harpsichord motif - but then pre-pubescent white boys were not his intended audience. No doubt there are many 41-year olds around who owe their existence to this single.
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