BIO

Barry Blum was born In San Francisco to “show biz” parents.  His dad, Albert, was a successful “vaudevillian” and his mother was a Tap Dancer.  Dads friends ranged from Bob Hope to Pinky Lee and Moms big shows were in Las Vegas with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, (they were a beatnik tap dance group).  Barry and his brother Joel were raised in South San Francisco and later in Marin County to the sounds of the Beach Boys and the Beatles.  Barry’s first band the Niteriders, were an early rock/surf outfit that did shows with 13^th Floor Elevator among others.

After College Barry went on the road and toured the US with various bands.  He came off the road and started to write his own songs and form his own original project.  These songs were performed with the “Stingers” and later with his own band the Barry Beam Band.  Yes, Barry had changed his stage name, which was the rage for New Wave Bands at the time.  He put out one album with AIM records of New Haven, Connecticut as Barry Beam.  This album had the song “Wac’s in Slacks” which was a favorite on KUSF as well as a tune called “Radiohead”.   To support this album the Barry Beam Band toured the US with notable shows in New York City, Minneapolis, Charlette, NC, and Austin, TX.

Back is San Francisco, Barry teamed up with John Hedges, a DJ in San Francisco, to produce a dance record called “JUMP SHOUT” which became a big hit, selling over 500,000 in the first year worldwide, going Platinum in Mexico.  They went on, with the singer, Lisa Freidenthal, to make a very successful dance album on the Moby Dick label.  This album did very well, with 3 singles from it marching up the billboard charts, “Rocket to your Heart”, “Mandatory Love” and “Sex Dance”. They are still played on dance floors around the world.  The song, “Sex Dance”, became a big Cult hit in Japan.  Barry then released on Fantasy Records a tune called “Ritespot” which featured him as a recording artist and also charted well.  All and all, Barry released over 30 singles during this period. One of them was a remake of “Spirit in the Sky” into a modern dance record featuring the original Artist Norman Greenbaum.  Joel Selvin of the SF Chronicle has called him San Francisco’s “hottest Dance record producer”.  Philip Elwood said Barry tune “WAC’s in Slacks” ought to be a Big number, it is very, very good”.

Aside from his recording and performing, Barry also had many requests from top companies like SEGA, SONY and Electronic Arts to compose musical scores for the $10 Billion-a-year electronic gaming industry. He has composed over 50 scores for various game projects for a worldwide audience.  Hear some them here.

The current project combines Barry fine songwriting skills with his sexy voice, thick harmonies and his mastery of production to make music with beautiful melodies and haunting lyrics.  He plays guitar, bass and keyboards and well as singing all the voices on these songs.  Major Influences are The Beatles, Bob Dylan.