Barry White - The Legend Lives On - What You NEVER Knew - Barry Revealed - Untold Stories - History

White was born Barry Eugene Carter on September 12, 1944, in Galveston, Texas. His mother was Sadie Marie Carter, and his father was Melvin A. White, who, unbeknownst to his mother, was married. Upon seeing her last name on his son's birth certificate, Melvin scratched that out and wrote White. Although his parents never married, they had a second child, Darryl, who was 13 months younger. White grew up in the Watts neighborhood of South-Central Los Angeles, California, listening to his mother's classical music collection. He took to the piano to emulate what he heard on the records. White said: "My mother had never even told me she could play, but when I walked in the front door and heard her playing Beethoven, it was the most amazing thing, to this day, that I have ever experienced. It was so emotional that I had to play piano." White has often been credited with playing piano on Jesse Belvin's 1956 hit single, "Goodnight My Love" at age 11, but White denied that and said it was an exaggeration because Belvin, who was 12 years older, lived in the same neighborhood. White attended Jacob A. Riis High School, an all-boys academy in southeast Los Angeles. White's voice deepened suddenly when he was 13 or 14. He recalled: "[As a child], I had a normal squeaky kid voice. Then as a teenager, that completely changed. My mother cried because she knew her baby boy had become a man." He further recalled: "I woke up one morning ... I spoke to my mother, and I scared both of us." White was jailed for four months at the age of 16 for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires (equivalent to $310,000 in 2023). While in jail, he listened to Elvis Presley singing "It's Now or Never" on the radio,[19] an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life. White had another moment of inspiration on his 18th birthday, which also was the first day of his senior year of high school. He skipped class to walk to Capitol Records headquarters in Hollywood and stood across the street from the office staring for hours. Seeing the liveliness of the area it inspired him to work in Hollywood in the entertainment industry, despite not knowing how to read or write music. After his release from jail, White left gang life and began a musical career at the beginning of the 1960s in singing groups. He first released "Too Far to Turn Around" in 1960 as part of the Upfronts before working for various small independent labels in Los Angeles. He also recorded several singles under his own name in the early 1960s, backed by vocal groups the Atlantics (for the Rampart and Faro labels) and the Majestics (for the Linda and Jordan labels). White had no involvement with Bob & Earl's 1963 hit single "Harlem Shuffle", a song he has sometimes been credited with producing; in his 1999 autobiography, White confirmed the song had been produced by Gene Page, who had worked with him on many of his 1970s successes. In 1965, White produced "Feel Aw Right" by the Bel Cantos, released on the Downey label. He recorded his debut single, "Man Ain't Nothin'"/"I Don't Need It", released under the name "Lee Barry" on Downey in 1966. He also co-wrote "Together Forever", released by Pat Powdrill & the Powerdrills in 1967. In the mid-'60s, Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records hired him as an A&R man for his new Bronco Records imprint, and White started working with the label's artists, including Viola Wills and the Bobby Fuller Four, as a songwriter, session musician, and arranger.[4] He discovered singer Felice Taylor and arranged her song "I Feel Love Comin' On", co-written with his friend Paul Politi. It became a big hit in the UK.[11] Other charting hits written by White and Politi for her included "It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart It's Spring)" and "Under the Influence of Love". Bronco issued one of White's first singles, 1967's "All in the Run of a Day", produced by Keane and White itself. White also wrote "Doin' the Banana Split" for TV bubblegum pop act the Banana Splits in 1968. In 1969, White was signed by Forward Records of Los Angeles, a division of Transcontinental Entertainment Corporation, as a producer. In 1972, White got his big break producing a girl group he had discovered called Love Unlimited. Formed in imitative style of the Motown girl group the Supremes, the group members had gradually honed their talents with White for two years until they signed contracts with Uni Records. His friend Paul Politi told him about music industry businessman Larry Nunes, who helped to finance their album. After it was recorded, Nunes took the recording to Russ Regan, who was the head of the Uni label owned by MCA. The album, 1972's From A Girl's Point of View We Give to You... Love Unlimited, became the first of White's string of long-titled albums and singles. #barrywhite #music #blackhistory #love #lovesong #lovemusic #lover #baritonevoice #loveunlimited #rnb