Leonard Warren Borisoff (June 12, 1942 – November 5, 2020), known professionally by the stage name Len Barry, was an American singer, songwriter, lyricist, record producer, author, and poet.

Life and career

Born on June 12, 1942, and raised in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Barry had little thought of a show business career while still in school. Instead, he aspired to become a professional basketball player upon his graduation. It was not until he entered military service and had occasion to sing with the US Coast Guard band at

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May (sometimes Cape May City) is a City (New Jersey), city and seaside resort located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on the Atlantic Ocean ...

, and was so encouraged by the response of his military audiences, that he decided to make music a career. Upon his discharge from military service, Barry returned home to Philadelphia and formed the Dovells. Barry was the lead singer, appearing on all of the group's best-selling records, such as " Bristol Stomp", " Hully Gully Baby", and " You Can't Sit Down", among others. "Bristol Stomp" sold over one million copies and was awarded a

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. As a Dovell, he also toured with

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. Barry also made film appearances with the Dovells in films such as '' Don't Knock the Twist'' and toured the UK with the

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

Revue. Barry also had guest appearances on US television on ''Bandstand'' and later ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

,'' '' Shindig,'' and '' Hullabaloo.'' Soon after leaving the group, Barry recorded his first solo single, "Lip Sync". As someone who sang

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

, he recorded

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

in 1965 and 1966 for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

in the US and released by

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...

: " 1-2-3", "Like a Baby", and "I Struck It Rich", a song he wrote with Leon Huff of the Philadelphia International Records producers,

Gamble and Huff Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

. His first two hits also made the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart. " 1-2-3" reached number three. Those songs also peaked at number 2 and 27 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

respectively. "1-2-3" sold over four million copies, and gave Barry his second

gold disc and a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nomination for Contemporary Rock & Roll Male Vocal Performance. Both "1-2-3" and "Like a Baby" were composed by Barry, John Madara, and David White. He performed at the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in New York; the

Howard Theatre The Howard Theatre is a historic theater, located at 620 T Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., has been a pillar of the community since its opening in 1910. This historic venue, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, show ...

in Washington, D.C.; The Regal Chicago, Chicago; Illinois; The Fox Theatre (Detroit) in Detroit, Michigan; and The Uptown (Philadelphia), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also toured with

Sam Cooke Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...

, The

Revue in the United Kingdom, and appeared on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. He became a major singing star in the United Kingdom. Highlights of his European tour included featured performances at the London Palladium and

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

as well as numerous appearances throughout England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Barry's respect for the Native American culture led him to write and produce the instrumental " Keem-O-Sabe". The song went to number 16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1969 for The Electric Indian. He also did writing and production work with WMOT Productions. With Bobby Eli he helped write the hit singles " Zoom" for Fat Larry's Band and " Love Town" for Booker Newberry III. In May 2008, Barry reinvented himself as an author with the publication of the novel, ''Black-Like-Me''. The storyline involved a pair of Caucasian siblings growing up in a largely

African-American neighborhood African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African American ...

, accepted by some, rejected by others. In 2011, Barry was featured in the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Series ''My Music: Rock, Pop & Doo Wop''. Len Barry died on November 5, 2020, at Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia. The cause was

myelodysplasia A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may includ ...

, or cancer of the bone marrow.

Discography

Albums

* ''1-2-3'' (1965) -

* ''My Kind of Soul'' (1967) -

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

* ''Ups and Downs'' (1972) -

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundin ...

* ''More from the 123 Man'' (1982) - Bulldog

Singles

As lead singer with The Dovells

(See separate Wikipedia article for The Dovells for full discography)

Solo singles discography

References

External links

* *
Billboard: Len Barry Chart HistoryEntry at 45cat.com

Len Barry's 'Prose & Cons: Advice From a Music Legend Who's Seen It All: Question Everything'Facebook: The Official Len Barry Page YouTube: 'The Len Barry Story' (documentary - full movie)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Len 1942 births 2020 deaths American male singers Jewish American songwriters Jewish American singers Military personnel from Philadelphia Singers from Philadelphia Decca Records artists Songwriters from Pennsylvania American rhythm and blues singers 21st-century American Jews American male songwriters