Barry Mann | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Barry Imberman |
Born | Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. | February 9, 1939
Genres | Pop, country pop, rock |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) | Piano |
Years active | 1958–present |
Spouse(s) |
Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; [1] February 9, 1939) [2] is an American songwriter and musician, and was part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.
He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. [3]
Mann was born to a Jewish family [4] in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. [5] He was born two days before fellow songwriter Gerry Goffin.
His first successful song as a writer was "She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)", a Top 20 chart-scoring song composed for the band The Diamonds in 1959. Mann co-wrote the song with Mike Anthony (Michael Logiudice). In 1961, Mann had his greatest success to that point with " I Love How You Love Me", written with Larry Kolber and a No. 5 scoring single for the band The Paris Sisters (seven years later, Bobby Vinton's version would reach the Top 10). The same year, Mann himself reached the Top 40 as a performer with a novelty song co-written with Gerry Goffin, " Who Put the Bomp", [5] which parodied the nonsense words of the then-popular doo-wop genre. [2] [6]
Despite his success as a singer, Mann chose to channel his creativity into songwriting, forming a prolific partnership with Weil, [5] a lyricist he met while both were staff songwriters at Don Kirshner and Al Nevin's company Aldon Music, whose offices were located in Manhattan, near the composing-and-publishing factory the Brill Building. Mann and Weil, who married in 1961, [5] developed some songs intended to be socially conscious, with successes such as " Uptown" by The Crystals, " We Gotta Get out of This Place" by the Animals, "Magic Town" by The Vogues, and "Kicks" by Paul Revere & the Raiders. [5] Mann and Weil were disturbed when "Only In America", a song they had written with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and conceived originally for and recorded by the Drifters as a protest against racial prejudice, was re-worked by Leiber and Stoller into an uncontroversial success for Jay & The Americans.
As of May 2009 [update], Mann's song catalog lists 635 songs. [7] He has received 56 popular music, country, and Rhythm & Blues awards from Broadcast Music Inc., and 46 Millionaire Awards for radio performances numbering more than one million plays. [8] The song " You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", co-written with Weil and Phil Spector, [5] was the most played song of the 20th century, with more than 14 million plays.
Mann has composed songs for movies, most notably " Somewhere Out There", co-written with Weil and James Horner, for the 1986 animated movie An American Tail. Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram performed the song as a duet during the movie's closing credits; their version was released as a single, which scored No. 2 on the Billboard chart and became a "gold"-scoring record. "Somewhere Out There" would win two 1987 Grammy Awards, as Song of the Year and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television. "Somewhere Out There" was also nominated for a 1986 Oscar as best song, but lost to " Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun (a film that featured the Weil-penned "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" in a key scene). Mann's other movie work includes the scores for I Never Sang for My Father and Muppet Treasure Island, and songs for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Oliver & Company.
Mann co-wrote, with Dan Hill, the song " Sometimes When We Touch", which scored No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. [5]
In 1987, Mann and Weil were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. [2] In 2011, they received the Johnny Mercer Award, the greatest honor from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. [9]
Mann and Weil were named among the 2010 recipients of Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [10] Mann and Weil operated a publishing company named Dyad Music. [11]
Mann was married to Cynthia Weil from 1961 until her death in 2023. [12] They had one daughter, Jenn. They resided in Beverly Hills, California. [13]
Year | Album | Record label |
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1961 | Who Put the Bomp | ABC-Paramount |
1969 | Angel, Angel, Down We Go | Tower Records |
1971 | Lay It All Out | New Design Records |
1975 | Survivor | RCA Victor |
1980 | Barry Mann | Casablanca Records |
2000 | Soul & Inspiration | Atlantic Records |
Year | Title | Peak chart positions |
Record label | B-side | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Pop | US AC | |||||
1959 | " All the Things You Are" | — | — | JDS Records | "A Love to Last a Lifetime" | — |
1960 | "War Paint" | — | — | ABC-Paramount Records | "Counting Teardrops" | Who Put the Bomp |
1961 | "Happy Birthday, Broken Heart" | — | — | "The Millionaire" | ||
" Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)" | 7 | — | "Love, True Love" | |||
"Little Miss U.S.A." | 109 | — | "Find Another Fool" | — | ||
1962 | "Hey Baby I'm Dancin'" | — | — | "Like I Don’t Love You" | — | |
"Teenage Has-Been" | — | — | " Bless You" | — | ||
1963 | "Graduation Time" | — | — | Colpix Records | "Johnny Surfboard" | — |
1964 | "Talk to Me Baby" | 94 | — | Red Bird Records | "Amy" | — |
1966 | "Angelica" | 111 | — | Capitol Records | "Looking at Tomorrow" | — |
1967 | "Where Do I Go From Here" | — | — | "She Is Today" | — | |
1968 | "The Young Electric Psychedelic Hippie Flippy Folk and Funky Philosophic Turned On Groovy 12 String Band" | — | — | "Take Your Love" | — | |
" I Just Can't Help Believin'" | — | — | "Where Do I Go From Here" | — | ||
1970 | "Feelings" | 93 | — | Scepter Records | "Let Me Stay With You" | — |
1971 | "Carry Me Home" | — | — | New Design Records | "Sundown" | — |
"When You Get Right Down to It" | — | — | "Don’t Give Up on Me" | Lay It All Out | ||
1972 | "Too Many Mornings" | — | — | " On Broadway" | ||
1974 | "Nobody but You" | — | — | RCA Victor | "Woman Woman Woman" | Survivor |
1975 | "Nothing Good Comes Easy" | — | — | "Woman Woman Woman" | ||
"I'm a Survivor" | — | — | "Don't Seem Right" | — | ||
1976 | "The Princess and the Punk" | — | — | Arista Records | "Jennifer" | — |
1977 | "The Best That I Know How" | — | — | United Artists Records | "Lettin' the Good Time Get Away" | — |
1979 | "Almost Gone" | — | — | Warner Bros. Records | "For No Reason at All" | — |
1980 | "Brown-Eyed Woman" | — | — | Casablanca Records | "In My Own Way" | Barry Mann |