Barry Mann

Barry Mann
Barry Mann in 1974
Background information
Birth name	Barry Imberman
Born	(1939-02-09) February 9, 1939 Brooklyn, New York City
Genres	Pop, country pop, rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1961–present
Associated acts	Cynthia Weil, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Carole Bayer Sager
Notable instruments
Piano

Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman, February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.

He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US.

Early life

Mann was born on February 9, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York City.

Career

His first successful song as a writer was "She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)", a Top 20 chart-scoring song composed for the band the Diamonds in 1959. Mann co-wrote the song with Mike Anthony (Michael Logiudice). In 1961, Mann had his greatest success to that time with "I Love How You Love Me", written with Larry Kolber and a No. 5 scoring single for the band the Paris Sisters. (Seven years later, Bobby Vinton's version would score in the Top 10.) The same year, Mann himself reached the Top 40 as a performer with a novelty song co-written with Gerry Goffin, "Who Put the Bomp", which parodied the nonsense words of the then-popular doo-wop genre.

Despite his success as a singer, Mann chose to channel his creativity into songwriting, forming a prolific partnership with Weil, a lyricist he met while both were staff songwriters at Don Kirshner and Al Nevin's company Aldon Music, whose offices were located in Manhattan near the famed composing-and-publishing factory, the Brill Building. Mann and Weil, who married in 1961, developed some songs intended to be socially conscious, with successes such as "Uptown" by the Crystals, "We Gotta Get out of This Place" by the Animals, "Magic Town" by the Vogues, and "Kicks" by Paul Revere & the Raiders. (Mann and Weil were disturbed when "Only In America", a song they had written with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and conceived originally for and recorded by the Drifters as a protest against racial prejudice, was re-worked by Leiber and Stoller into an uncontroversial success for Jay & the Americans.)

As of May 2009, Mann's song catalog lists 635 songs. He has received 56 popular music, country, and Rhythm&Blues awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated, and 46 Millionaire Awards for radio performances numbering more than one million plays. The song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", co-written with Weil and Phil Spector, was the most played song of the 20th century, with more than 14 million plays.

Mann has composed songs for movies, most notably "Somewhere Out There", co-written with Weil and James Horner, for the 1986 animated movie An American Tail. Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram performed the song as a duet during the movie's closing credits; their version was released as a single, which scored No. 2 on the Billboards charts and became a "gold"-scoring record. "Somewhere Out There" would win two 1987 Grammy Awards, as Song of the Year and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television. "Somewhere Out There" was also nominated for a 1986 Oscar as best song, but lost to "Take My Breath Away" from "Top Gun" (a film that featured the Weil-penned "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" in a key scene). Mann's other movie work includes the scores for I Never Sang for My Father and Muppet Treasure Island, and songs for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Oliver and Company.

Mann co-wrote, with Dan Hill, the song "Sometimes When We Touch," which scored No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1987, Mann and Weil were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2011, they received the Johnny Mercer Award, the greatest honor from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Mann and Weil were named among the 2010 recipients of Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mann and Weil now operate a publishing company named Dyad Music.

Personal life

Mann married Cynthia Weil in August 1961. They have one daughter, Dr. Jenn Mann. They reside in Beverly Hills, California.

Songs written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil

Main article: List of songs written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil

Carole Bayer Sager, Carole King, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann in December 2012

• "Absolutely Green" – Dom DeLuise (written for A Troll in Central Park).
• "Another Goodbye" – Donna Fargo (co-written with Scott English).
• "Black Butterfly" – Deniece Williams.
• "Blame It on the Bossa Nova" – Eydie Gorme.
• "Bless You" - Tony Orlando.
• "Brown Eyed Woman" – Bill Medley.
• "Christmas Vacation" – movie title song.
• "Coldest Night of the Year" – Twice As Much featuring Vashti Bunyan.
• "Don't Know Much" – Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt (written with Tom Snow).
• "Don't Make My Baby Blue" – The Shadows, The Move.
• "Good Time Living" – Three Dog Night.
• "Heart" – Kenny Chandler, Wayne Newton.
• "Here You Come Again" – Dolly Parton.
• "He's Sure the Boy I Love" – The Crystals.
• "How Can I Tell Her It's Over" – Andy Williams.
• "Hungry" – Paul Revere & the Raiders.
• "I Just Can't Help Believing" – B. J. Thomas, Elvis Presley.
• "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – Gene Pitney; Cyndi Lauper.
• "It's Getting Better" – Cass Elliot.
• "It's Not Easy" – Colin Blunstone.
• "I Will Come to You" – Hanson.
• "Just a Little Lovin' (Early in the Morning)" – Dusty Springfield, Carmen McRae, Billy Eckstine, Bobby Vinton, Shelby Lynne.
• "Just Once" – James Ingram with Quincy Jones.
• "Kicks" – Paul Revere & the Raiders.
• "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" – Gene Pitney, Marlena Shaw, The Fortunes, The Partridge Family.
• "Love Her" - The Everly Brothers, The Walker Brothers.
• "Love Led Us Here" – John Berry, Helen Darling.
• "Magic Town" – The Vogues.
• "Make Your Own Kind of Music" – "Mama" Cass Elliot.
• "Never Gonna Let You Go" – Sérgio Mendes.
• "None of Us Are Free" (Mann, Weil, Brenda Russell) – Ray Charles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Solomon Burke.
• "On Broadway" – The Drifters George Benson (written with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller).
• "Once Upon a Time in New York City" – (written with Howard Ashman for Oliver and Company).
• "Only in America" – Jay and the Americans.
• "Proud" – Johnny Crawford.
• "Rock and Roll Lullaby" – B. J. Thomas.
• "Saturday Night at the Movies" – The Drifters.
• "Shades of Gray" and "Love is Only Sleeping" – The Monkees.
• "Shape of Things to Come" – Max Frost and the Troopers.
• "She's Over Me" – Teddy Pendergrass.
• "Something Better" – Marianne Faithfull (written with Gerry Goffin)
• "Somewhere Out There" – Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram (written with James Horner for the animated film An American Tail) – a double Grammy Award winner.
• "Sweet Sorrow" – Conway Twitty.
• "Teenage Has-Been" - Barry Mann, (written with Gerry Goffin)
• "Too Many Mondays" – Barry Mann, Wicked Lester (unreleased).
• "Uptown" – The Crystals.
• "Walking in the Rain" – The Ronettes, The Walker Brothers.
• "We Gotta Get out of This Place" – The Animals.
• "We're Over" – Johnny Rodriguez.
• "Whatever You Imagine" - Wendy Moten (written with James Horner for the live-action/animated film The Pagemaster)
• "Where have you been (all my life)" - Arthur Alexander also played by Gene Vincent, The Beatles and by Gerry and the Pacemakers
• "Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp) - Barry Mann (written with Gerry Goffin)
• "A World of Our Own" – Closing theme song from Return to the Blue Lagoon – Surface.
• "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" – The Righteous Brothers.
• "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" – The Righteous Brothers (written with Phil Spector).

See also

• Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
• Grammy Award for Song of the Year
• Academy Award for Best Original Song
• List of Christmas carols
• List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States

External links

• Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil Official website
• Audio interview with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil on the Sodajerker on Songwriting podcast
• Barry Mann at the Internet Movie Database