John Barry Mason was an English singer and songwriter. A leading songwriter of the 1960s, he wrote the bulk of his most successful songs in partnership with Les Reed. Mason gained many gold and platinum awards for his work including five Ivor Novello Awards, the most recent of them in 1998.
"Night Fever" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees. It first appeared on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever on RSO Records. Producer Robert Stigwood wanted to call the film Saturday Night, but singer Robin Gibb expressed hesitation at the title. Stigwood liked the title Night Fever but was wary of marketing a movie with that name. The song bounded up the Billboard charts while the Bee Gees’ two previous hits from Saturday Night Fever soundtrack were still in the top ten. The record debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at #76, then leaped up 44 positions to #32. It then moved: 32–17–8–5–2–1. It remained at #1 for eight weeks, and ultimately spent 13 weeks in the top 10. For the first five weeks that "Night Fever" was at #1, "Stayin' Alive" was at #2. Also, for one week in March, Bee Gees related songs held five of the top positions on the Hot 100 chart, and four of the top five positions, with "Night Fever" at the top of the list. The B-side of "Night Fever" was a live version of "Down the Road" taken from the Bee Gees 1977 album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live.
The Irish Showband was a dance band format popular in Ireland from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s, hitting its peak in the 1960s. The showband was based on the internationally popular seven-piece dance band, sometimes they had 8, 9, 10 members, if there was singer who didn't play an instrument, or if they had extra brass/woodwind players. The band's basic repertoire included standard dance numbers and covers of pop music hits. The versatile music ranged from rock and roll and country and western songs to traditional dixieland jazz, big band music and even Irish Céilí dance, Latin ballroom dances, folk music and waltzes, Foxtrots, Quicksteps, Jiving. Key to a showband's popular success was the ability to perform songs currently in the record charts. Some bands also did comedy skits onstage.
"Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" is the name of the anthem of Leeds United written by Les Reed and Barry Mason. The vocals on the original recording were sung by the 1972 team members of the Leeds United and their supporters. The record stayed in the UK Singles Chart for almost three months, peaking at number 10.
Leslie David Reed was an English songwriter, arranger, musician and light-orchestra leader. His major songwriting partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason, and Geoff Stephens, although he wrote songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, Peter Callander, and Johnny Worth.
Brendan Bowyer was an Irish singer best known for fronting the Royal Showband and The Big Eight, and who had five number one hits in Ireland. He was also renowned for having The Beatles open for the Royal Showband at a concert on 2 April 1962 at the Pavilion Theatre, Liverpool, England, some six months before the release of The Beatles first single "Love Me Do", in October 1962. Bowyer was regarded as one of the first headlining Elvis impersonators. Elvis Presley himself was a big fan of Bowyer's performances and would often attend Bowyer's concerts in the Stardust Resort & Casino, Las Vegas during the 1970s.
Richard "Dickie" Rock is an Irish singer. He experienced much success on the Irish charts during the 1960s, but has continued on as a popular live act as well as occasionally hitting the charts ever since.
Brian "Red" Hurley is an Irish singer. Hurley's career includes singing lead for bands such as The Colours, The Wheels, and The Nevada. He had a series of number one records in the 1970s while performing with The Nevada. Hurley also represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976 with the song "When".
Our Kid were a British vocal group discovered by the ITV show, New Faces, winning an edition of the programme on 1 May 1976, although they did not go on to reach the series grand final. They then had a number two hit single on the UK Singles Chart in 1976 with "You Just Might See Me Cry", which peaked on 3 July 1976. The track was released on the Polydor label, and spent eleven weeks in the UK Singles Chart. The song was written by Roger Greenaway and Barry Mason. Further singles "I Can't Live Without You" and "Romeo and Juliet" were not successful.
The Miami Showband were an Irish showband in the 1960s and 1970s led firstly in 1962 by singer Jimmy Harte, followed by Dickie Rock and later by Fran O'Toole. They had seven number one records on the Irish singles chart.
"I Pretend" is a song written by Barry Mason and Les Reed and recorded by Des O'Connor. O'Connor's recording of the song became a number-one hit in the UK and Ireland in 1968.
Gloria Smyth, better known as Gloria, is an Irish singer from Navan, County Meath.
Danny Ellis is an Irish singer-songwriter and author.
"Kiss Me Goodbye" is a Les Reed/ Barry Mason composition recorded in 1968 by Petula Clark.
Petula is a 1968 Pye Records album release by Petula Clark leased to Warner Bros. in the USA.
"I'm Yours" is 1961 song recorded by Elvis Presley which appeared on the Pot Luck with Elvis album. The recording was released as a single in 1965. It was written by Don Robertson and Hal Blair.
"I'm Coming Home" is a popular song written by British musicians John Barry Mason and Les Reed. Released in 1967 as a single by Welsh musician Tom Jones, the song was an international hit, reaching the top position on the Belgium record charts, number two in the United Kingdom, sixth place on the Dutch charts, and peaking at number 10 in Ireland.
Pat Lynch was an Irish singer and entertainer of the showband genre born in Cork.
"Treat Me Daughter Kindly" is a 1967 country song written by Cyril Curran and performed by Irish showband singer Pat Lynch and his band, the Airchords.
