Barry Blue - Life and Career

Life and Career

At the age of 14, he signed to record producer Norrie Paramor whose erstwhile 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 original line-up of the heavy rock band Uriah Heep, followed in 1966 by a two-year period in A&R at the Bee Gees' publishing company Abigail Music. In 1970, Blue signed as a songwriter to ATV-Kirshner. His first major hit was "Sugar Me", which became a hit for Lynsey de Paul, and was the first of a series of hits that they co-wrote.

He signed to Bell Records in 1973 and had five hit singles, including "School Love" (1974). His final Top 40 hit in the UK Singles Chart occurred in October 1974, when "Hot Shot", another song co-penned with de Paul, climbed to number 23.

Further success came with the production of the British funk/soul band Heatwave, who enjoyed hits in the UK and US with "Boogie Nights", "Always and Forever", and "The Groove Line". In 1989, under the banner of Cry Sisco!, Blue had another minor UK hit with a song called "Afro Dizzi Act", which reached number 42 on the UK Singles Chart. A compilation album, Greatest Hits was released on Repertoire Records in 2002.

Blue continued to work in the music industry as a record producer for other artists, including Bananarama, Toto Coelo and Cheryl Lynn.

Blue has also been a prolific songwriter for other acts. Among his hit compositions are:

• "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby" for Brotherhood of Man (a European million seller) (1975)
• "I Eat Cannibals Part 1" for Toto Coelo (1982)
• "All Fall Down" for Five Star (1985)
• "Escaping" for Dina Carroll (1996)

He has written album tracks for other musicians, and has had over forty hits with such artists as Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Celine Dion, The Saturdays and Pixie Lott. In film and television Blue has provided scores and/or themes for productions including The Eyes of Laura Mars, Long Good Friday and Escape to Athena.

Blue was the founder of Connect 2 Music, now owned by Universal Music Publishing. He is a supporter of the creator's rights in music of all genres and styles, and is dedicating his time to become more pro-active in this pursuit.