Alan Leslie Barton (16 September 1953 – 23 March 1995) was a British singer and member of the

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

-making duo

Black Lace Black Lace are a British pop band, best known for novelty party records, including their biggest hit, " Agadoo". The band first came to the public eye after being selected to represent the UK in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, in which they ...

. Their hits included " Agadoo", "

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...

" and their

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Eurovision Song Contest 1979 The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by the ...

seventh-place finisher " Mary Ann" in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Career

Born in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, Barton replaced

Chris Norman Christopher Ward Norman (born 25 October 1950) is an English soft rock singer. Norman was the original lead singer of the English rock band Smokie, (1964–1986), who found success in Europe in the 1970s. "Stumblin' In", a 1978 duet with Suzi ...

in Smokie in 1986,

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

six

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

s with them, and touring extensively as their

lead vocalist The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

and

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

ist. He was the lead singer on Smokie's revival of their hit, "

Living Next Door to Alice "Living Next Door to Alice" is a song co-written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Originally released by Australian pop band New World in 1972, the song charted at No. 35 on the Australian chart. The song later became a worldwide hit for British ...

", recorded with comedian

Roy 'Chubby' Brown Roy Chubby Brown (born 3 February 1945) is an English stand-up comedian whose act consists of offensive humour, high profanity, forthright social commentary and outspoken disdain for political correctness. Early life Roy Chubby Brown (born ...

, as "Living Next Door to Alice (Who the F**k Is Alice)". In the early 1990s, he released his only solo album, ''Precious'' (1991) and two accompanying singles: "July 69" (1990) and "Carry Your Heart" (with Kristine Pettersen) (1991). Barton died in March 1995, at the age of 41, from injuries incurred when Smokie's tour bus crashed during a hailstorm in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, Germany. He is buried at Liversedge cemetery, West Yorkshire. Alan-barton

References

External links

Smokie.co.uk - feature articles about Smokie

barton.adc.kz - official homepage about Alan Barton and his son Dean Barton
1953 births 1995 deaths Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the United Kingdom English male singers English rock guitarists English pop guitarists English male guitarists British soft rock musicians Musicians from Barnsley Road incident deaths in Germany 20th-century English singers 20th-century British guitarists 20th-century British male singers {{UK-musician-stub