Gary John Barden (born 27 August 1955) is an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

singer, best known for his work with the

Michael Schenker Group The Michael Schenker Group (often abbreviated as MSG) is an English hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. After the release of their second live album, 1984's '' Rock Will Never Die'', ...

Career

Barden was discovered by Schenker upon the guitarist's hearing a demo of Barden's previous band, Fraser Nash. Barden proceeded to appear on ''

The Michael Schenker Group The Michael Schenker Group (often abbreviated as MSG) is an English hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. After the release of their second live album, 1984's '' Rock Will Never Die'', ...

'' (1980), '' MSG'' (1981) and '' One Night at Budokan'' (1981) albums. He was asked to leave the group and was replaced briefly by former

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

frontman

Graham Bonnet Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal bands including Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Michael Schenke ...

. In the interim, Barden worked with

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...

on the demos of what would later become Moore's '' Corridors of Power'' album and joined MSG again to conclude the band's tour after Bonnet's departure and recorded the next album '' Built to Destroy'' (1983), and the live album '' Rock Will Never Die'' (1984). After his stint in MSG, he went on to form Statetrooper with brothers Steve and Paul Johnson, as well as record an album and tour as lead singer with

Praying Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

. In 2007, Barden was fronting Silver and Statetrooper, and maintaining a solo career. He recorded an album with

called '' In the Midst of Beauty'' which was released in April 2008, followed by a world tour. In 2010, Barden, Schenker, Simon Philips, Neil Murray and Wayne Findlay embarked on an extensive tour of Japan, recording a new DVD to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of their debut album. After that, Barden left the band amicably to focus on his solo career. He rejoined Michael Schenker to record an album entitled Michael Schenker Fest, which was a collection of MSG's former singers to record new songs. Following the album's release, he and the rest of the group embarked on a world tour.

Personal life

Barden currently resides in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, Thailand with his wife Suchi. They have a daughter Chimara (born 2000), who is a model. Barden and his family used to live in his hometown of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England before moving to his wife's native

Ratchaburi province Ratchaburi province (, ) or Rat Buri () is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat'') lies in Western Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram and ...

in Thailand to support her health problems as her doctor was from there.

Discography

with The Michael Schenker Group (MSG)

* ''

'' (1980) * '' MSG'' (1981) * '' One Night at Budokan'' (1982) * '' Built to Destroy'' (1983) * '' Rock Will Never Die'' (1984) * '' Heavy Hitters'' (2005) (only one song) * '' Tales of Rock'n'Roll - Twenty-Five Years Celebration'' (2006) (only one song) * '' In the Midst of Beauty'' (2008) * '' The 30th Anniversary Concert - Live in Tokyo'' (2010) * ''Immortal'' (2021) (guest singer only in one song) * ''Universal'' (2022) (guest singer only in one song, in a duet with Ronnie Romero)

with Schenker Barden Acoustic Project (MSG)

* ''Gipsy Lady'' (2009)

with Michael Schenker Fest (MSG)

* ''Tokyo International Forum Hall A - Live'' (2017) * ''Resurrection'' (2018) * ''Revelation'' (2019)

with Praying Mantis

* ''To the Power of Ten'' (1995) * ''Captured Alive in Tokyo City'' (1996)

with Statetrooper

* ''Statetrooper'' (1986) * ''The Calling'' (2004)

with Silver

* ''Silver'' (2001) * ''Dream Machines'' (2002) * ''Intruder'' (2003) * ''Addiction'' (2004) * ''Gold'' (2005)

Solo as Gary John Barden

* ''Past & Present (MSG remixed)'' (2004) * ''Agony & The Xtasy'' (2006) * ''Love and War '' (2007) * ''Rock 'n Roll My Soul '' (2010) * ''Eleventh Hour '' (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barden, Gary 1955 births Living people English rock singers English heavy metal singers English rock guitarists English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters Michael Schenker Group members The Gary Moore Band members People from Royal Tunbridge Wells Musicians from Royal Tunbridge Wells Musicians from Kent English male guitarists The Company of Snakes members