Jeff Barry - Chart Success

Chart Success

Barry and Greenwich married in October 1962 and shortly afterward decided to write songs exclusively with each other. Greenwich introduced Barry to her latest partner, songwriter-producer Phil Spector, and the threesome went on to help define the "Girl Group" sound of the early 1960s. The Barry-Greenwich-Spector team composed several of Spector's biggest hits, including The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," and The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You", as well as the holiday perennial "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love.

In early 1963, Barry and Greenwich had chart success with "What A Guy" and "The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget", recorded by the couple under the name The Raindrops for Jubilee Records, with Greenwich providing all the female vocals through the process of overdubbing, while Barry sang backgrounds in a bass voice. (Greenwich's sister, Laura, was drafted for live performances by The Raindrops, though she was little more than a prop, singing into a dead microphone.) The Raindrops also recorded a Jubilee single called "That Boy John". Needing a B side in a hurry, Barry and Greenwich dashed off "Hanky Panky", which would resurface in 1966 as a No. 1 cover version for Tommy James & The Shondells, giving the group its first hit.

In 1964 Leiber and Stoller brought Barry and Greenwich onboard their new label, Red Bird Records, as songwriter-producers. Of Red Bird's first 20 releases, 15 hit the charts; all were written and/or produced by the Barry-Greenwich team, including "Chapel of Love", "People Say", and "Iko Iko" by The Dixie Cups, and "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" and "Leader of the Pack" by The Shangri-Las. In 1964 alone, the duo were responsible for writing 17 singles that reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart. One of these was "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", originally recorded by the girl group The Exciters, but reworked for a No. 1 pop hit by the British Invasion group Manfred Mann. Barry and Greenwich also released solo singles under their own names for Red Bird in 1965, Greenwich the haunting "You Don't Know" and Barry the uptempo "I'll Still Love You".

Unbeknownst to many, Barry and Greenwich's marriage had begun to unravel. The couple divorced in late 1965 but would continue to work together for much of the following year, and sporadically after that until the late 1960s. Their professional and personal partnerships were the subject of the 1985 Broadway jukebox musical Leader of the Pack.

In early 1966 Barry and Greenwich discovered a talented young singer-songwriter named Neil Diamond and brought him to the attention of Bert Berns, one of the principals of Bang Records. Diamond was signed to the label, and Barry and Greenwich produced Neil's first hits, including "Solitary Man", "Cherry, Cherry", "Kentucky Woman", and "Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon". Barry and Greenwich can be heard singing backgrounds on many of Diamond's Bang recordings.

During the same period, the pair teamed with Phil Spector to write the classics "River Deep, Mountain High", by Ike and Tina Turner (Tina Turner) and "I Can Hear Music" by The Ronettes and The Beach Boys). Penning songs (especially love songs) together was awkward at best given the circumstances, and Barry and Greenwich's writing partnership soon came to its end. Among Barry's new collaborators were Marty Sanders, a member of the pop group Jay and the Americans, and Bang label CEO Bert Berns, with whom he wrote "Am I Groovin' You?", a top R & B single for Freddie Scott in 1967.

In late 1966, Barry was asked to produce tracks for Monkees, a music group put together specifically as the stars of an NBC sitcom, also called "The Monkees". Drafted by the show's musical supervisor, Don Kirshner, Barry brought with him a few Neil Diamond-penned tunes for the group to record. One among them, "I'm a Believer", under Barry's production, would sail up the U.S. charts to No. 1 and become one of the biggest-selling records of all time. The group also had a hit with another Diamond-composed, Barry-produced single, "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You". After Kirshner's dismissal from Colgems Records, however, Barry would not produce for the Monkees again until 1970's Changes, which contained many songs co-written by Barry.

Having been removed from the Monkees project, Kirshner became music supervisor for a new Saturday morning cartoon, The Archie Show, in 1968, and enlisted Barry as producer and main songwriter. During the next three years, Barry composed dozens of songs for the fictional Archies group, including the show's theme, "Everything's Archie", and the "Dances of the Week" (a staple of the show's first season). Barry had also recently founded his own label, Steed Records, and one of his most successful recording artists was Montreal native Andy Kim, who had hits with remakes of Barry's Ronettes tunes "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You." Barry and Kim collaborated on several tunes for The Archies to record, including their best-known single, "Sugar, Sugar", which hit No. 1, became the RIAA Record of the Year for 1969, and earned the group a gold record.

In 1970, Barry wrote and produced singles and albums for Archies lead singer Ron Dante; Bobby Bloom ("Montego Bay"), and Robin McNamara ("Lay a Little Lovin' On Me"), among others. In addition, Barry penned his first music for motion pictures (Hello Down There (1969) and Where It's At) and wrote the music for and produced Tom Eyen's hit off-Broadway revue The Dirtiest Show in Town.