Barrence Whitfield (born Barry White, June 13, 1955) is an American soul and R&B vocalist, best known as the

frontman 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 ...

for Barrence Whitfield & the Savages. White was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. When he was a child, his family moved to

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

, where he began singing in a gospel choir. While attending West Side High School he sang and played drums in rock,

prog-rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

bands.Clark, Alice, "Barrence Whitfield: Walk On The Wild Side"
Loudersound.com, September 7, 2015. "Once at West Side High School he grabbed every opportunity to perform, from taking part in productions of Broadway shows and musicals to playing in soul and funk bands."

1970s—1980s

In 1977, White enrolled at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

to study

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

. While in school, he worked in a

record shop A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of t ...

in Brookline, Massachusetts, named Good Vibrations, where his singing was heard by musician Peter Greenberg of the Lyres. White adopted the stage name ''Barrence Whitfield'' to avoid being mistaken for superstar

Barry White Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...

and began performing with Greenberg and former members of the Lyres as Barrence Whitfield & the Savages. Biography by John Dougan at AllMusic/ref> Alice Clark, in a 2015 profile, wrote that Barrence "adopted his Whitfield moniker in tribute to Motown producer

Norman Whitfield Norman Jesse Whitfield (May 12, 1940 – September 16, 2008) was an American songwriter, composer, and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. allmusic Biography/ref> He has been credited as one of the creators ...

." The band garnered a strong reputation for explosive stage performances, described as "raucous and rough, in high gear from the moment they hit the stage." Whitfield himself was described as "a soul screamer in the spirit of

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called ...

, and early

Don Covay Donald James Randolph (March 24, 1936 – January 31, 2015), better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s. His most successful recordings incl ...

." In 1984, the band released their self-titled debut album, mostly comprising cover versions of obscure soul and R&B songs. It received good critical reviews. The following year, they released a second album, ''Dig Yourself'', on

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

. Their music was heard by English radio DJ Andy Kershaw, who taped a

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

performance for airplay in Britain, and brought them to the UK for a tour. Whitfield released a third album, ''Call of the Wild'', in the UK in 1987, featuring a new band line-up; an expanded version, retitled '' Ow! Ow! Ow!'' was later issued in the US. He toured widely in Europe, and won supporting slots on US tours with such artists as

Bo Diddley Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy ...

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

George Thorogood George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s US rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the Bone" and "I Drink Al ...

, Robert Cray, and Solomon Burke. Back home Whitfield earned seven Boston Music Awards. A live album, ''Live Emulsified'', recorded in 1987–88, was followed by the album ''Let's Lose It'', produced by Jim Dickinson and issued in France.

1990s—present

In the 1990s, Whitfield contributed tracks to

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

and

tribute albums, and recorded two albums with

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer-songwriter Tom Russell. The album ''Ritual of the Savages'' was released in 1995. In 1997, he began working with a

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

-based

jump blues Jump blues is an uptempo style of blues, jazz, and boogie woogie usually played by small groups and featuring horn instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Appreciation of jump blues wa ...

and

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

octet, the Movers. As well as continuing to perform in the UK and Europe, Whitfield has also contributed to

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s, including the 2007 film, '' Honeydripper''. In December 2010, Whitfield, Peter Greenberg (DMZ, Lyres, Customs), and Phil Lenker (Lyres) were joined by Andy Jody (Gazelles!, Pearlene, Oxford Cotton, Long Gones) and saxophonist Tom Quartulli to perform two live shows and record a new Barrence Whitfield and the Savages record. That album, ''Savage Kings'', was released on Spanish Label Munster Records and in the US on Shake it Records. In 2013 Whitfield signed with Bloodshot Records, on which he issued ''Dig Thy Savage Soul'' in September 2013. Whitfield again toured Europe, including an appearance on the BBC's ''

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

Show''. A followup, ''Under the Savage Sky'', was recorded in January 2015 at UltraSuede studios and released in August of that year; Whitfield described the album as "giving the kids a musical karate chop to the head." A third album for Bloodshot, ''Soul Flowers of Titan'', was issued in 2018. ''Barrence Whitfield and the Soul Savage Arkestra: Songs from the Sun Ra Cosmos'' was issued by Modern Harmonic on May 3, 2019. The album features idiosyncratic covers of songs composed by the Afrofuturist bandleader

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

. Co-produced by Irwin Chusid and

Brother Cleve Robert Toomey (February 2, 1955 – September 9, 2022), publicly known as Brother Cleve, was an American musician, DJ, record producer, mixologist, and writer. Known as the godfather of the local bar and cocktail scenes in Boston, Massachuse ...

and recorded over a span of 25 years, the album features collaborations with the Concussion Ensemble, Waitiki, Milton Reder (of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages and Four-Piece Suit), and others.

Discography

*''Barrence Whitfield and the Savages'', Mamou, 1984 *''Dig Yourself'', Rounder, 1985 *''Call of the Wild'' EP, UK

Demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

/ Rounder, 1987 *'' Ow! Ow! Ow!'', Rounder, 1987 *''Live Emulsified'', Rounder, 1989 *''Let's Lose It'', France, New Rose Records, 1990 *''Savage Tracks'', France, New Rose Records, 1992 *''Cowboy Mambo'' (with Tom Russell), East Side Digital, 1993 *''Hillbilly Voodoo'' (with Tom Russell), East Side Digital, 1993 *''Ritual of the Savages'', Ocean Music, 1995 *''Savage Kings'', Munster Records, 2011, rereleased Shake It Records *''Dig Thy Savage Soul'', Bloodshot Records, 2013 *''Under The Savage Sky'', Bloodshot Records, 2015 *''Soul Flowers of Titan'', Bloodshot Records, 2018 *''Barrence Whitfield and the Soul Savage Arkestra: Songs from the Sun Ra Cosmos'', Modern Harmonic, 2019 * ''Glory'', Folc (Spain), 2023''Glory'' by Barrence Whitfield and the Savages at AllMusic
/ref>

References

External links

Barrence Whitfield official site
*

The Worcester Phoenix, 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Barrence 1955 births Living people Musicians from Jacksonville, Florida American rhythm and blues musicians Boston University alumni Rounder Records artists Bloodshot Records artists Musicians from East Orange, New Jersey West Side High School (New Jersey) alumni