Barry Blue

At the age of 13, Barry Blue made his first television appearance with his school band The Dark Knights, performing on Stubby Kaye's Silver Star Show, a weekly children's talent show hosted by Kaye via Granada TV. By the age of 14, Blue had signed with record producer Norrie Paramor, whose assistant was Tim Rice; the producer of Blue's first song Rainmaker Girl,[3] which became a hit for Gene Pitney in the United States. Later he became a bassist in the line-up of Spice; the band featured Mick Box and David Byron, and was the precursor to the heavy rock band Uriah Heep.[2] He followed this in 1966 with a two-year period in A&R at the Bee Gees' publishing company Abigail Music, under direction of their manager Robert Stigwood.

In 1970, Blue signed as a songwriter to ATV-Kirshner located in Bruton Street, London, where he joined a group of professional songwriters that included Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker. One of their earliest songs was Sugarloaf Hill,[4] recorded by the reggae artist, Del Davis. Other early career notable songs co-written by Blue and de Paul include Tip of My Tongue for the British group Brotherly Love,[5] as well as female vocal trio Ellie, and House of Cards recorded by a number of artists including John Christie, Australian artist Rob Guest, and the D.J. Tony Blackburn. Another from this period included Crossword Puzzle, also co-written with de Paul, and which led to an appearance on Top of the Pops for Irish singer Dana. At the time, he was still using his real surname of Green.[6]

Blue wrote his first UK Singles Chart hit back in 1972 with de Paul, titled Sugar Me. The song originally was written for Peter Noone, but de Paul's boyfriend at the time, Dudley Moore, suggested that she should take a demo version to manager Gordon Mills, who told her she should record it herself. The song also charted in singles charts in the Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium. Sugar Me was also covered in the United States of America (USA) by Nancy Sinatra and Claudine Longet.

He released his first record in June 1971, under the name of Barry Green, on the Ember label titled 'Together', written by Jean-Pierre Mirouze,[7] taken from the French film Le mariage collectif.[8] He signed to Decca Records, and released four singles between 1971 and 1974.[9] Including Papa Do, which was released by Barry Green as a single. His first UK chart success came with a change of name, and record deal with Bell Records in 1973, billed as Barry Blue,[2] and had five hit singles, Dancin' (On A Saturday Night) (no. 2, 1973) (co-written with de Paul), Do You Wanna Dance? (no. 7, 1973), School Love (no. 11, 1974), Miss Hit and Run (no. 26, 1974).[10] His final Top 40 hit in the UK Singles Chart occurred in October 1974, when Hot Shot, another song co-written with de Paul, climbed to number 23,[11] and number 3 in Zimbabwe.[12] Blue returned to the UK charts in 1989 with a remix version of Dancin' (On A Saturday Night).[13] Throughout 1973–74, Blue appeared on many major TV shows and tours alongside artists such as Queen, ABBA, and Status Quo.

Blue achieved a million seller in 1975 with Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby, recorded by Brotherhood of Man. Two years later (1977), he co-wrote Devil's Gun, a song by C. J. & Company from the album of the same name. The song went to number 1 for five weeks on the Billboard disco/dance chart. The single also peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 2 on the R&B chart.^[2] Written by Blue, Ron Roker, and Gerry Shury, and produced by Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey. The song is notable for being the first record played at the opening of Studio 54 on 26 April 1977 by DJ Richie Kaczor.^[3] The instrumental portions of Devil's Gun were featured prominently in the international version of the film Crocodile. It also featured in the film The Real Bruce Lee. In 2016, the song was included in The Get Down soundtrack, and the following year it was featured in the film Borg vs McEnroe.

One of his major production successes was the multi-racial, Anglo-US funk/soul band Heatwave, who enjoyed hits in the UK and US with Boogie Nights, Always and Forever, Mind Blowing Decisions, and The Groove Line.[14][15][16] Other funk songs produced by Blue include Funk Theory,[17] by Rokotto[18] in 1978 reached number 49, Somebody Help Me Out[19] by Beggar and Co which reached number 15 in the UK in 1981, and Say Yeah[20] by The Limit which peaked at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and number 7 on the U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play chart in 1985. In 1989, under the banner of Cry Sisco!,[21] Blue had another minor hit with a song called Afro Dizzi Act, which reached number 42 on the UK Singles Chart.[22][23]

In 2020, Barry Blue has announced a new box-set recording project entitled Chapter and Verse... 50 years on (released 18 September 2020) encompassing three CDs: Songs From The Heart Book, Songs From The Lost Book, and Look Blue's Talking (The Podcast), and an edited version of his forthcoming autobiography: Barry Who? (Immortality is not dead!). Songs From The Heart Book is a collection of his songs originally recorded by other artists, but now newly recorded by him for the first time in the way that he has always wanted them to be heard... Blue states with pride but not a trace of arrogance... "On Songs From The Heart Book, I'm singing those tunes I now realise no one ever should have sung before me... because they're all too personal. They are the soundtrack to my life, and I couldn't leave them in the past. I needed to drag them kicking and screaming back into the light where they belong". Songs From The Lost Book features rare tracks recorded in the 1980s and 1990s, that are moments in time... with songs like Afrodizziact recorded under the name Cry Sisco! (which became recognised as one of the soundtracks to 1989's Second Summer of Love)... through the 'New Romantic' scene, with unreleased tracks such as Eye To Eye and Nights Are Colder, and a Les Adam's re-work of his classic Dancin' (On a Saturday Night) '89... the list of rarities goes on and on... Look Blue's Talking focuses on Barry's life way-back to the time-line before his 1970s heart-throb days in the vanguard of Glam-Rock in an animated conversation with DJ Paul O’Reilly. Barry Who? (or immortality is not dead) is an edited version of Blue's forthcoming bittersweet autobiography, (or 'documental', as he calls it), where he boldly portrays the life of a 'middling' pop star, and how he travelled through the highs and lows of an extraordinary time...

• 1965: Silver Star (Stubby Kaye’s talent show)
• 1973: Carl Allan Award – Record of The Year (Dancing’ On A Saturday Night)
• 1977: 6 BMI / ASCAP Awards (Heatwave USA)
• 1977: Councillor – BASCA
• 1977: Music Week – Market Survey Top Record Producer
• 1986: Founded Aosis Studios in London[71]
• 1989: Founded The Escape Artist Company[72]
• 1995: Founded Connect 2 Music[73]
• 2007: Founded Plan 8 Music[74]
• 2010: Director, PRS for Music Ltd (2010–2019)
• 2014: Director, Karma Songs[75]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barry Blue.

• Barry Blue on Myspace
• Barry Blue discography at Discogs
• FavoredNationsMusic.com
• Barry Blue interview with M Magazine