Barry Booth

Born in 1937 in Rothwell, Yorkshire, England, Booth grew up in a West Yorkshire mining community where his father worked as a coal miner. He attended Rothwell Grammar School and performed with a church choir based in nearby Leeds. The Sir Edward Bairstow scholarship enabled him to study organ and general musicianship under Dr. Melville Cook. In 1955 a County Music Scholarship took him to London, where he pursued piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. After completing his studies in 1958 he worked across theatre, concert halls, cabaret, rock concerts, television, radio and studio sessions. During the 1960s he served as musical director for Roy Orbison on tours throughout Europe and the Americas. He also acted as musical director and arranger for the British television programme Five O’ Clock Club, on which Alexis Korner appeared; together they created an award-winning commercial jingle. His songwriting partners on the 1968 minor psych-rock classic Diversions! included Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In Canada he held the positions of musical director and arranger for Rolf Harris, later assuming comparable duties on the BBC television series Rolf On Saturday OK? and the BBC radio series Rolf’s Walkabout in the United Kingdom. On recording sessions he has functioned as musical director, composer and arranger for Harris, Libby Morris, Orbison, Topol and the comic actor Kenneth Williams. In both the United Kingdom and Australia he has produced records for Harris and for several projects introducing popular classical music to children. He has appeared frequently as guest conductor with symphony orchestras in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, on occasion presenting his own compositions, and has also performed as guest pianist with the BBC Concert Orchestra. A 1999 duo recording made with horn player Terry Johns earned strong critical acclaim. In 2002 he received a commission for the Jubilee Cantata ‘Better The World With A Song’, which received its premiere before members of the Royal Family. During the early 2000s his ensemble Les Crocked Messieurs gave regular performances at the Quecumbar venue in Battersea, London. Numerous compositions and transcriptions by Booth are available for download from the Internet.