Tuesday 2 February 2016

Glenn Barber born 2 February 1935


Martin Glenn Barber (February 2, 1935 – March 28, 2008), was an American country and rockabilly performer.
Glenn Barber was born in Hollis, OK, on February 2, 1935. From there, he and his family moved to Pasadena, TX, where the young Barber showed an early interest in music. Originally a guitar player, he also took up bass, drums, dobro, and mandolin.
He first appeared on wax with the 1952 Stampede single "You Took the Twinkle Out of My Stars"; by 1954, he had a contract with the Starday label. Over the next few years, Barber would release numerous countrified rockabilly singles on the label, the last being issued in 1956, just as rock & roll was sweeping the country. From there, he and manager Pappy Dailey travelled to the D imprint, which issued four Barber singles during the remainder of the 1950s.
 


As the '60s arrived, Barber became a disc jockey and featured performer on Houston's KIKK. He and his band, the Western Swingmasters, appeared on the station five nights a week until 1968, when he signed with the Nashville outfit Hickory. There he made his full-length debut with 1970's A New Star.
While with Hickory, Barber charted four times, taking songs like "Kissed By the Rain, Warmed By the Sun" (1969) and "Unexpected Goodbye" (1972) all the way to the Top 30. Another Hickory single, "She Cheats on Me," would later be recorded by Roy Orbison. After Hickory, Glenn had releases on Groovy, Tudor, Century 21, GRT and MMI (in 1979) and penned the hit "Everyone Wants to Disco." It was his last charting single, He then recorded for Sunset Sunbird (1981) and Brylen, then turning to other interests in the 1980s and '90s, including painting and screenwriting.

 
Just as he was about to appear in France for the very first time in his career, Glenn suffered a congestive heart failure and kidney failure on August 22, 2006, and had to be taken to a hospital in Gallatin, Tennessee.


Glenn did go to France in March 2007 and shared the bill with Haley's Comets on a memorable night. Unfortunately, Glenn passed away on March 28, 2008 .

Glenn Barber passed away on 28th March 2008. He had a heart attack and died holding his guitar in his hands practising for his show at Viva Las Vegas. He was 73. (Info various, mainly All Music Guide)

Here's a small clip of Glenn  jamming in Green Bay with a Hallmark guitar

1 comment:

boppinbob said...

For “Close But No Cigar – Glenn Barber” go here:

http://www12.zippyshare.com/v/23143487/file.html

01 Shadow My Baby
02 Ain't It Funny
03 Livin' High And Wide
04 Your Heart Don't Love
05 Most Beautiful
06 Atom Bomb
07 Poor Man's Baby
08 Feeling No Pain
09 Styles And Ways Of The World
10 Hello Sadness
11 Ice Water
12 Same Old Fool Tomorrow
13 Stronger Than Dirt
14 If Anyone Can Show Cause
15 Another Man's Woman
16 Blue Bayou
17 Cheating
18 Cry Cry Darlin'

Close But No Cigar spotlights Glenn Barber's Crazy Cajun recordings for Huey P. Meaux's Houston-based label. Among the ten tracks are honky tonk tunes "Cheating," "Warm All Over Feelin'," "I Created a Monster," and the Doug Sahm-penned "We'll Take Our Last Walk Tonight." While these tracks never made a dent on the country charts, they are still recommended for Barber fans, especially taking into account the lack of his music that remains in print. ~ Al Campbell, Allmusic

A big thank you to Jake @ Jukebox City blog for link.