BEST OF LEN BARRY Solo & with THE DOVELLS, The Electric Indian, ISIS, & Slick!

THE BEST OF LEN BARRY

LEN BARRY grew up in a black neighborhood in Philly, & got slapped with the “blue-eyed soul” label early on.  He originally had aspirations to play professional basketball.  During his military service he sang with the U.S. Coast Guard band which nudged his bow toward music.    

He showed signs of greatness right out of the gate.  Barry’s debut on wax was as the lead vocalist of The Boss-Tones on their 1958 single Mope-Itty Mope.  Fame came with his next group THE DOVELLS pronounced (like Homer Simpson says “DOH!”) The DOH-vells.  

In an interview I watched, Len says they needed a B-Side for a song they'd just recorded.  Someone in the studio had been talking about a new dance that kids were doing over in Bristol PA; “The Stomp”.  Barry shared that they clipped the hook in BRISTOL STOMP from a song by The Students’ Every Day Of The Week: Listen here.

The Bristol Stomp: Len Barry with The Dovells.

With THE DOVELLS he made the above appearance in the black & white film; Don’t Knock The Twist, & toured the U.K. with The Motown Revue--even though the closest he’d come to being on Motown was dating one of THE MARVELETTES.  According to Len, it was during the early days of the label, & owner Berry Gordy wanted to stack the show.  

With the revue, he performed at The London Palladium, & The Royal Albert Hall.  He was no stranger to big stages, but in The States, he played mostly black theaters; The Apollo in Harlem, The Howard Theatre in Washington D.C., The Fox in Detroit & The Uptown back home in Philly--because people who had only heard The Dovells always assumed they were black.  

Years later, Barry was still a major singing star in The United Kingdom.  From Soulstrutter:  Revered on the Northern Soul scene for his blue-eyed soul for '1-2-3' (#3 UK 1965), 'Like A Baby' (#10 UK 1966), 'You Baby', 'It's A Crying, Shame', 'The Moving Finger Writes',  'I Struck It Rich'. I would say that he was one of the most played Blue-eyed soul artists on the scene.

(https://soulstrutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/len-barry-rip-12061942-05112020.html)

With The Dovells, Barry also toured with SAM COOKE, SMOKEY ROBINSON, MARVIN GAYE, & JAMES BROWN.They covered two songs by his idol; FRANKIE LYMON, who later became a close friend.  They also backed CHUBBY CHECKER on Let’s Twist Again, which they later recorded themselves.   

Len left the band & let them keep the name THE DOVELLS, and went solo under his stage name LEN BARRY.  His first single Lip Sync, was a bunch of tongue twisters (passed off as a song) which failed to find an audience.His second single was the frankly classic 1, 2, 3 co-written by Barry himself.  It sold 4 million copies—which lead to an album by the same name.     

By the mid-70’s, he had tired of the road, but continued to write songs, & to produce other acts.He wrote an entire album of songs for Damon Harris’ group IMPACT right after Harris left The Temptations.  He produced fellow Philadelphian (and one-time label mate) Bobby Rydell, Lola Falana, Major Harris, Blue Magic, ISIS, & Sylvester, as well.    

Alongside Tommy Sellers, he came up with one of the first disco records Keem-O-Sabe which featured a young Daryl Hall, & Gamble-Huff studio players who later rose to fame as MFSB (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother).  Sister Sledge is mentioned in some articles, & left out of others, but the point is he always had a hand in writing & recording music.

While his writing & singing was every bit as good as many of his contemporaries, Len’s stagecraft wasn’t quite on a par with his influences.  But that didn’t keep him from appearing on all the hot teen-centric TV shows, like; Bandstand, Shindig, & Hullaballo surrounded by professional dancers.

It can’t be overstated how difficult it was at this point in history to know how to “play to a camera”.  Recording a hit was just the first step—but then you had to learn what to do with your hands while you sang in front of an audience (check the clip above).

Nowadays, performers often have their first performance digitally preserved.  The first affordable video cameras were 20 years away, & performers in the early '60s had to learn what worked by trial & error.  They had to have a feel for it.  Artists might appear in a movie, & only got to watch their performance months later.  It had to be difficult to develop a sense of what you looked like onstage--or wanted to look like--& to get comfortable in front of a camera.  Most labels were run by businessmen focused on selling records, and lacking Motown’s crew of dance instructors (& clothing designers) dancing in front of a full-length mirror was your only tool.  Even acts that were know to be powerhouses live, like Gene Vincent, often seemed uncomfortable, awkward, & slightly off of their game on camera.  It was a different time.   

Len Barry left an amazing body of work, & several of my favorite songs.  He wasn't restricted to one style of music either, as this collection illustrates.  For more info, check out The Philadelphia Inquirer's nice tribute: Len Barry's Obituary