Barry Mann | |
|---|---|
 Mann in 1974 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Barry Imberman |
| Born | February 9, 1939 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Pop, country pop, rock |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Spouse(s) | |
Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; [1] February 9, 1939) [2] is an American songwriter and musician, and was part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.
He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. [3]
Mann was born to a Jewish family [4] in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. [5] He was born two days before fellow songwriter Gerry Goffin.
His first successful song as a writer was "She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)", a Top 20 chart-scoring song composed for the band The Diamonds in 1959. Mann co-wrote the song with Mike Anthony (Michael Logiudice). In 1961, Mann had his greatest success to that point with "I Love How You Love Me", written with Larry Kolber and a No. 5 scoring single for the band The Paris Sisters (seven years later, Bobby Vinton's version would reach the Top 10). The same year, Mann himself reached the Top 40 as a performer with a novelty song co-written with Gerry Goffin, "Who Put the Bomp", [5] which parodied the nonsense words of the then-popular doo-wop genre. [2] [6]
Despite his success as a singer, Mann chose to channel his creativity into songwriting, forming a prolific partnership with Weil, [5] a lyricist he met while both were staff songwriters at Don Kirshner and Al Nevin's company Aldon Music, whose offices were located in Manhattan, near the composing-and-publishing factory the Brill Building. Mann and Weil, who married in 1961, [5] developed some songs intended to be socially conscious, with successes such as "Uptown" by The Crystals, "We Gotta Get out of This Place" by the Animals, "Magic Town" by The Vogues, and "Kicks" by Paul Revere & the Raiders. [5] Mann and Weil were disturbed when "Only In America", a song they had written with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and conceived originally for and recorded by the Drifters as a protest against racial prejudice, was re-worked by Leiber and Stoller into an uncontroversial success for Jay & The Americans.
As of May 2009 [update] , Mann's song catalog lists 635 songs. [7] He has received 56 popular music, country, and Rhythm & Blues awards from Broadcast Music Inc., and 46 Millionaire Awards for radio performances numbering more than one million plays. [8] The song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", co-written with Weil and Phil Spector, [5] was the most played song of the 20th century, with more than 14 million plays.
Mann has composed songs for movies, most notably "Somewhere Out There", co-written with Weil and James Horner, for the 1986 animated movie An American Tail . Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram performed the song as a duet during the movie's closing credits; their version was released as a single, which scored No. 2 on the Billboard chart and became a "gold"-scoring record. "Somewhere Out There" would win two 1987 Grammy Awards, as Song of the Year and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television. "Somewhere Out There" was also nominated for a 1986 Oscar as best song, but lost to "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun (a film that featured the Weil-penned "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" in a key scene). Mann's other movie work includes the scores for I Never Sang for My Father and Muppet Treasure Island , and songs for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Oliver & Company .
Mann co-wrote, with Dan Hill, the song "Sometimes When We Touch", which scored No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. [5]
In 1987, Mann and Weil were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. [2] In 2011, they received the Johnny Mercer Award, the greatest honor from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. [9]
Mann and Weil were named among the 2010 recipients of Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [10] Mann and Weil operated a publishing company named Dyad Music. [11]
Mann was married to Cynthia Weil from 1961 until her death in 2023. [12] They had one daughter, Jenn. They resided in Beverly Hills, California. [13]
| Year | Album | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Who Put the Bomp | ABC-Paramount |
| 1969 | Angel, Angel, Down We Go | Tower Records |
| 1971 | Lay It All Out | New Design Records |
| 1975 | Survivor | RCA Victor |
| 1980 | Barry Mann | Casablanca Records |
| 2000 | Soul & Inspiration | Atlantic Records |
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Record label | B-side | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop | US AC | |||||
| 1959 | "All the Things You Are" | — | — | JDS Records | "A Love to Last a Lifetime" | — |
| 1960 | "War Paint" | — | — | ABC-Paramount Records | "Counting Teardrops" | Who Put the Bomp |
| 1961 | "Happy Birthday, Broken Heart" | — | — | "The Millionaire" | ||
| "Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)" | 7 | — | "Love, True Love" | |||
| "Little Miss U.S.A." | 109 | — | "Find Another Fool" | — | ||
| 1962 | "Hey Baby I'm Dancin'" | — | — | "Like I Don’t Love You" | — | |
| "Teenage Has-Been" | — | — | "Bless You" | — | ||
| 1963 | "Graduation Time" | — | — | Colpix Records | "Johnny Surfboard" | — |
| 1964 | "Talk to Me Baby" | 94 | — | Red Bird Records | "Amy" | — |
| 1966 | "Angelica" | 111 | — | Capitol Records | "Looking at Tomorrow" | — |
| 1967 | "Where Do I Go From Here" | — | — | "She Is Today" | — | |
| 1968 | "The Young Electric Psychedelic Hippie Flippy Folk and Funky Philosophic Turned On Groovy 12 String Band" | — | — | "Take Your Love" | — | |
| "I Just Can't Help Believin'" | — | — | "Where Do I Go From Here" | — | ||
| 1970 | "Feelings" | 93 | — | Scepter Records | "Let Me Stay With You" | — |
| 1971 | "Carry Me Home" | — | — | New Design Records | "Sundown" | — |
| "When You Get Right Down to It" | — | — | "Don’t Give Up on Me" | Lay It All Out | ||
| 1972 | "Too Many Mornings" | — | — | "On Broadway" | ||
| 1974 | "Nobody but You" | — | — | RCA Victor | "Woman Woman Woman" | Survivor |
| 1975 | "Nothing Good Comes Easy" | — | — | "Woman Woman Woman" | ||
| "I'm a Survivor" | — | — | "Don't Seem Right" | — | ||
| 1976 | "The Princess and the Punk" | — | — | Arista Records | "Jennifer" | — |
| 1977 | "The Best That I Know How" | — | — | United Artists Records | "Lettin' the Good Time Get Away" | — |
| 1979 | "Almost Gone" | — | — | Warner Bros. Records | "For No Reason at All" | — |
| 1980 | "Brown-Eyed Woman" | — | — | Casablanca Records | "In My Own Way" | Barry Mann |
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Los Angeles area as part of a five-member group called the Paramours, and adopted the name The Righteous Brothers when they became a duo. Their most active recording period was in the 1960s and '70s, and, after several years inactive as a duo, Hatfield and Medley reunited in 1981 and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003. The term "blue-eyed soul" is thought to have first been coined by Philadelphia radio DJ Georgie Woods in 1964 when describing the duo's music.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work, represent, and maintain, the heritage and legacy of a spectrum of the most beloved English language songs from the world's popular music songbook. It not only celebrates these established songwriters, but is also involved in the development of new English language songwriting talent through workshops, showcases, and scholarships. There are many programs designed to teach and discover new English language songwriters. Nile Rodgers serves as the organization's chairman.
Leiber and Stoller were an American Grammy award-winning songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller. As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wrote numerous standards for Broadway.
The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It was built in 1931 as the Alan E. Lefcourt Building, after the son of its builder Abraham E. Lefcourt, and designed by Victor Bark Jr. The building is 11 stories high and has approximately 175,000 square feet (16,300 m2) of rentable area.
Cynthia Weil was an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Weil and Mann were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. In 1987, she was inducted with her husband into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2011, they jointly received the Johnny Mercer Award, the highest honor bestowed by that Hall of Fame.
Jeff Barry is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Then He Kissed Me", "Be My Baby", "Chapel of Love", and "River Deep - Mountain High" ; "Leader of the Pack" ; "Sugar, Sugar" ; "Without Us", and "I Honestly Love You".
"On Broadway" is a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" is a song by Phil Spector, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil, first recorded in 1964 by the American vocal duo the Righteous Brothers. This version, produced by Spector, is cited by some music critics as the ultimate expression and illustration of his Wall of Sound recording technique. The record was a critical and commercial success on its release, reaching number one in early February 1965 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The single ranked No. 5 in Billboard's year-end Top 100 of 1965 Hot 100 hits – based on combined airplay and sales, and not including three charted weeks in December 1964 – and has entered the UK Top Ten on three occasions.
Eleanor Louise Greenwich was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Be My Baby", "Maybe I Know", "Then He Kissed Me", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Christmas ", "Hanky Panky", "Chapel of Love", "Leader of the Pack", and "River Deep – Mountain High", among others.
Eric Carmen is the debut album by American rock musician and singer-songwriter Eric Carmen. It is also his first of two self-titled albums, the other released in 1984. It peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard album chart upon its release in 1975, the highest position of his career, and generated the No. 2 pop single "All by Myself" in the same year. The song reached No. 1 on the Cashbox and Record World charts. The album also included two follow-up top 40 hits, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (#11), and "Sunrise" (#34), both of which charted in 1976.
"Just Once in My Life" is a song written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King and Phil Spector. The song was released by the Righteous Brothers in 1965 and reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Aldon Music was a New York–based music publishing company, founded by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins in 1958. Aldon is regarded as having played a significant role in shaping the Brill Building Sound in the late 1950s and 1960s.
"We Gotta Get Out of This Place", occasionally written "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place", is a rock song written by American songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and recorded as a 1965 hit single by English band the Animals. It has become an iconic song of its type and was immensely popular with United States Armed Forces G.I.s during the Vietnam War.
The New Look is the debut studio album by Fontella Bass released on Checker Records 2997. It contains her biggest hit, "Rescue Me". The album also charted on the pop albums chart, being listed for 8 weeks, with a highest position of #93.
"(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" is a song by American pop duo the Righteous Brothers. It was the group's first hit after leaving their long-time producer Phil Spector. The song was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, who also wrote the group's first hit "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" along with Phil Spector. It is the title track of their album. The single peaked at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and reached No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 single for 1966.
The 1972 Atlantic release Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway is a million-selling duet album by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway produced by Joel Dorn and Arif Mardin.
Twist Uptown is the first album by The Crystals, issued to capitalize upon their success with the Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann composition "Uptown" which was a #13 US hit, and their first top forty hit "There's No Other ". Twist Uptown notably features the first released version of "On Broadway," a composition written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. The song was later modified by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and became a hit for The Drifters in 1963.
Monkeemania is a Monkees compilation released in Australia in 1979. It contains 40 of the Monkees' songs, including hit singles, B-sides, album tracks and three previously unreleased tracks: "Love to Love," "Steam Engine" and a live version of "Circle Sky."
The In Instrumentals is an album by jazz trombonist and arranger Kai Winding recorded in 1965 for the Verve label.
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