Len Barry

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Len Barry


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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Leonard Borisoff
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Born = birth date and age|1942|6|12 West Philadelphia
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Genre = Pop
Occupation = Singer, Songwriter
Years_active = 1958 - 1982
Label = Brunswick Records, RCA Records, Decca Records
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Len Barry (born Leonard Borisoff, June 12 1942 [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1050984/ Len Barry ] ] , West Philadelphia) was an American vocalist and musician.

Career

In 1958 he first appeared on record as the lead vocalist with The Boss-Tones, singing "Mope-Itty Mope". Barry also was a member of the singing group, The Dovells from 1957 to 1963, before going solo.

As a predominately blue-eyed soul singer, he recorded two hits in 1965 and 1966 for Decca Records: "1-2-3", and "Like a Baby", both of which made the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart. Those songs also peaked at #2 and #27 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart respectively. Both songs were part composed by Barry and Dave White, one of the original Juniors from Danny & the Juniors.

When the hits dried up, Barry continued performing his entertaining stage act, and later moved into songwriting and production work with WMOT Productions. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1050984/bio Len Barry - Biography ] ]

Legacy

*The song "1-2-3" was featured on the soundtrack for the film, "Mr. Holland's Opus".
*"1-2-3" was one of the songs that appeared in John Lennon's jukebox.
*Motown Records sued the songwriters, Barry and Dave White, claiming that "1-2-3" was a reworked copy of Holland-Dozier-Holland song "Ask Any Girl". The songwriters did not admit to taking the composition but the lawsuit led to Holland-Dozier-Holland getting equal credit for writing "1-2-3" as noted on the Billboard Top 10 official CD.Fact|date=August 2007
*In December 2005, Welsh singer-songwriter Cerys Matthews recorded a new version of "1-2-3" in Nashville, Tennessee. [ [http://www.jmcreative.net/ Cerys Matthews: "1-2-3" (2005)] ]
*In 1994, Scottish star, Edwyn Collins, sampled "1-2-3" for part of his hit "A Girl Like You".

Discography

ingles

*"1-2-3" - (1965) - Brunswick Records - UK Singles Chart high - Number 3
*"Like A Baby" - (1966) - Brunswick - Number 10cite book
first= David
last= Roberts
year= 2006
title= British Hit Singles & Albums
edition= 19th
publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
location= London
pages= p. 43
id= ISBN 1-904994-10-5]

Albums

* "1-2-3" - (1965) - Decca Records
* "My Kind of Soul" - (1967) - RCA Records
* "Ups & Downs" - (1972) - Ups & Downs
* "More from the 123 Man" - (1982) - Bulldog [ [http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/barry_len/albums.jhtml Len Barry | Listen to Various Music Album Streams, Buy Albums Online | VH1.com ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:09fuxqr5ldse~T1 Len Barry biography] at Allmusic website
* [http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Len-Barry.html Oldies.com biography]
* [http://www.dovells.com/dovbio.htm The Dovells biography (official website)]

ee also

*List of artists under the Decca Records label
*List of people from Philadelphia
*List of NME covers
*List of performers on Top of the Pops

Additional sources

*"Billboard Top 40 Hits" (8th Edition) by Joel Whitburn