Mentioning Barry White immediately evokes a performer whose appeal crossed generational, racial, and stylistic boundaries more broadly than almost any other recording artist of his era. He felt equally at ease delivering a performance on Soul Train, joining a full ensemble for a live appearance on The Today Show, or surfacing in animated form across multiple episodes of The Simpsons. Although a stretch occurred during which he issued no new albums and registered no fresh entries on the pop charts, he remained visible through extensive touring and guest contributions to recordings by Quincy Jones on “The Secret Garden (The Seduction Suite),” Regina Belle on “Quiet Time,” and rap star Big Daddy Kane on “All of Me.” Remarkably, a career of such scope nearly failed to launch, since White expressed little initial interest in stepping forward as a recording artist.
Born in Galveston, Texas, he absorbed gospel repertoire from his mother and mastered piano without formal instruction. At sixteen he cut his debut single, “Little Girl,” with the Upfronts for a small Los Angeles imprint. He subsequently held various posts at independent Los Angeles labels and eventually secured an A&R role with Bob Keane, the producer behind Sam Cooke’s earliest pop sides. In 1966, while Mustang enjoyed success with the Bobby Fuller Four, White joined Keane’s operation—Del-Fi, Mustang, and Bronco—for forty dollars weekly. He briefly tested the waters as a performer with the Bronco release “All in the Run of a Day,” yet chose to concentrate on A&R. Among his earliest projects was the Versatiles, soon renamed the 5th Dimension. His first substantial success arrived with Viola Wills, whose “Lost Without the Love of My Guy” reached the Top 20 on the R&B chart and lifted his salary to sixty dollars a week. He also began collaborating with the Bobby Fuller Four.
Keane and Larry Nunes, who would later serve as White’s spiritual advisor, sought a female act. White located singer Felice Taylor, and together they produced three charting singles: “It May Be Winter Outside,” “I’m Under the Influence of Love,” and “I Feel Love Coming On.” The records scored heavily in England, raising White’s compensation to four hundred dollars weekly. After Bronco folded, he turned to freelance production during financially strained years. Arranger Gene Page, later central to White’s own hits, provided both employment and non-repayable loans. Three years afterward, former Bronco colleague Paul Politti informed White that Nunes wished to launch a joint venture and had already begun laying tracks for a conceptual project. At the same time White was shaping a non-professional girl group that rehearsed for nearly a year. Drawing lyrical inspiration from conversations with one of its members, Glodean James—who would become his second wife—he wrote “Walkin’ in the Rain (With the One I Love)” and christened the ensemble Love Unlimited.
Nunes presented the finished recording to Russ Regan, head of MCA’s Uni label. Love Unlimited’s From a Girl’s Point of View became a million-seller. Regan soon departed for 20th Century, leaving White’s relationship with Uni untenable. Seeking a male artist to produce, White prepared three song demos featuring his own vocals and piano. Nunes insisted the performances be released commercially. After days of debate, White relented, though he remained uncertain even as label copy was prepared. He considered issuing the material under the name White Heat, yet the 1973 album I’ve Got So Much to Give on 20th Century appeared instead as the first Barry White LP, containing the title track and “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby.”
Securing Love Unlimited’s release from Uni, White brought the group to 20th Century. He next conceived an instrumental album credited to the Love Unlimited Orchestra. Its single, “Love’s Theme,” ascended to number one on the pop chart, earned million-seller status worldwide, and garnered a BMI award for surpassing three million covers. Between 1974 and 1979 the White Hit Train rolled on without interruption, yielding Stone Gon’, Barry White Sings for Someone You Love (including “It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me” and “Playing Your Game Baby”), Let the Music Play (title track and “You See the Trouble with Me”), Just Another Way to Say I Love You (“I’ll Do for You Anything You Want Me To” and “Love Serenade”), The Man (“Your Sweetness Is My Weakness,” “Sha La La Means I Love You,” “September When We Met,” and a striking reading of Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are”), and Love Unlimited’s In Heat (“I Belong to You,” “Move Me No Mountain,” “Share a Little Love in Your Heart,” and a lyricized “Love’s Theme”). He also supplied the soundtrack to the 20th Century Fox feature The Together Brothers, which later enjoyed renewed visibility on home video.
His studio ensemble featured guitarists Ray Parker, Jr.—who co-wrote “You See the Trouble with Me”—alongside Nathan East, Wah Wah Watson, David T. Walker, Dean Parks, Don Peake, Crusaders bassist Wilton Felder, Lee Ritenour, drummer Ed Greene, percussionist Gary Coleman, and, later, keyboardist Rahn Coleman. The unbroken run of hits eventually slowed after Regan and ally Hosea Wilson exited 20th Century, leaving White with management he regarded unfavorably. He fulfilled his contract with two final releases, Love Unlimited Orchestra’s My Musical Bouquet and his own I Love to Sing the Songs I Sing, then negotiated a custom-label arrangement with CBS Records. Unlimited Gold housed White, Love Unlimited, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, Jack Perry, and teenage vocalist Danny Pearson, who charted with “What’s Your Sign Girl.” A duet album with Glodean James, Barry & Glodean, appeared as well. Although The Message Is Love earned gold certification, most subsequent projects sold modestly. Following eight Barry White albums, four Love Unlimited sets, four Love Unlimited Orchestra albums, relentless touring, and the pressures of the industry, White elected a hiatus.
In 1992 he signed with A&M, issuing The Man Is Back, The Right Night & Barry White, and Put Me in Your Mix, the last containing the duet “Dark and Lovely” with Isaac Hayes. The Icon Is Love, propelled by the platinum single “Practice What You Preach,” became his strongest seller since the seventies and achieved multi-platinum status. Production credits included Gerald Levert and Tony Nicholas, godson Chuckii Booker, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, White himself, and longtime associate Jack Perry. In contrast to later efforts that submerged his voice beneath electronic textures, the original mix placed his deep, steam-engine baritone front and center. Staying Power, released in 1999, returned to classic soul principles by foregrounding singer and song; the album earned White two Grammys.
Suffering from hypertension and chronic high blood pressure, White was hospitalized for kidney failure in September 2002. Despite dialysis treatment, the combined ailments proved fatal, and he passed away on July 4, 2003, at a West Hollywood hospital. By the time of his death, Barry White had attained a breadth of acclaim and popularity matched by few artists, particularly during their lifetimes.
