Richard Barrett (5)

American singer, musician, composer, songwriter, dancer, choreographer and producer

Manager and the founder of [l1472763].

Born: 14 July 1933, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Died: 03 August 2006, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

As [b]Barrett[/b] grew out of his teenage years, performing in Philadelphia with the Royal Angels, he moved to New York and became lead singer with [a=The Valentines]. After their first single in 1957 the band made seven singles on [a=George Goldner]'s [l=Rama] label, where [b]Barrett[/b] also began to work as a talent-scout and manager, aided by gopher [a=Artie Ripp]. He discovered, mentored and produced [a=Little Anthony & The Imperials], [a=Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers] and [a=Chantels]- playing bass, piano and drums on the latter's single 'Maybe', which he wrote and which reached #15 in the charts. When Arlene Smith left the group he performed as lead singer on two singles. [b]Barrett[/b] started his own label Princeton Records in 1960, creating a girl act called The Veneers, adding Annette Smith to the three remaining Chantels. Later, as the new Chantels, they also found success.

In 1962 [b]Barrett[/b] co-wrote and recorded Some Other Guy with [a=Jerry Leiber] & [a=Mike Stoller] on [l=Atlantic], recorded later by [a=Beatles] and [a=The Big Three] in the UK. He released further material on Crackerjack and [l=SWAN] and moved back to Philadelphia to work with other artists, such as [a=Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes].

His greatest success was as creator, manager and producer of [a=The Three Degrees].

After receiving the Philadelphia Music Alliance Founder's Award in 1990 he was portrayed by Ben Vereen in the 1998 biopic of [a=Frankie Lymon] "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". [b]Barrett[/b] suffered with pancreatic cancer in his later years and died peacefully with his family at his bedside at Pennsylvania Hospital.