Barry Blue
Barry Blue (born Barry Ian Green, 4 December 1950) is an English singer, producer, and songwriter. As an artist, he is best known for his hit songs "Dancin' (on a Saturday Night)" and "Do You Wanna Dance" (both 1973). Blue has also been a prolific songwriter and producer for many artists, and has had over forty worldwide hits, including Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Celine Dion, The Saturdays, The Wanted, and Pixie Lott. In film and television, Blue has provided soundtracks and/or themes for productions including "Eyes of Laura Mars", "Long Good Friday", and "Escape to Athena". Early days . 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", 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. 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", 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, 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. 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 US by Nancy Sinatra and Claudine Longet. Career. He released his first record in June 1971, under his real name of Barry Green, on the Ember label titled 'Together', written by Jean-Pierre Mirouze, taken from the French film "Le mariage collectif". He signed to Decca Records, and released four singles between 1971  and 1974. Including "Papa Do", which was released by Barry Green as a single. In a 2020 interview, he revelead that he decided to adopt Blue as a stage name after speaking with a record company employee who told him that green is considered an unlucky colour by circus performers, and because all the three singles released as Barry Green had been "quite unsuccessful", he eventually decided to be known as Barry Blue instead of Barry Green. His first UK chart success came with a change of name, and record deal with Bell Records in 1973, billed as Barry Blue , 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). 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, and number 3 in Zimbabwe. Blue returned to the UK charts in 1989 with a remix version of "Dancin' (On A Saturday Night)". 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. 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. 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". Other funk songs produced by Blue include "Funk Theory", by Rokotto in 1978 reached number 49, "Somebody Help Me Out" by Beggar and Co which reached number 15 in the UK in 1981, and "Say Yeah" 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!, Blue had another minor hit with a song called "Afro Dizzi Act", which reached number 42 on the  UK Singles Chart. In April 2021, Barry Blue announced a new 4CD box-set recording project entitled ‘Out Of The Blue – 50 Years of Discovery’ (released 28 May 2021) with an intergalactic theme running through the set; 'Stellar Hits', 'Black Holes & Supernovas', his most recent studio album ‘Boy In The Moon’ and 'Sonic Spaces' (Podcast interview) but this collection is more than that. 'Out Of The Blue...' celebrates 50 years since the release of his debut single 'Together', which is included on this set, alongside all of his UK hits, 'Dancing' (On A Saturday Night)', 'Do You Wanna Dance', 'School  Love', 'Miss Hit And Run' and 'Hot Shot'. Also included are album tracks, non-album b-sides, rarities and his 2020 album, which features his songs that have been recorded by other artists, including 'Escaping' which was a #3 hit for Dina Carroll. “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". To make this special anniversary release extra special, Barry has selected 14 completed but unreleased recordings, to be made available for this set. These tracks were  recorded between 1973 and 1990 and include his later versions of his co-written song 'Sugar Me' by Lynsey de Paul, and Toto Coelo's 'I Eat Cannibals'. Other great songs of many styles have been unearthed which include New Romantic, ballads, pop, soul and dance but which were left behind as he became an in-demand writer for young artists, which continues well into the 2000s. ‘Sonic Spaces’ gives some perspective of his early career as it 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. This is the first time that such a comprehensive set of his own recordings has been released and a respectfully appropriate way to reflect on 50 years as a recording artist and producer. Film, television and advertising. Blue has provided soundtracks and / or themes for various productions: