Barry Mann

At 85 years old, Barry Mann has this physical status:

Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American singer who is also a part of a fruitful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the United Kingdom and 98 in the United States.

Early life

Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, to a Jewish family. He was born two days before fellow songwriter Gerry Goffin died.

Personal life

In August 1961, Mann married Cynthia Weil. Jenn is their one daughter. They live in Beverly Hills, California.

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Career

"She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)," a Top 20 chart-scoring song written for The Diamonds in 1959, was his first hit as a writer. Mann co-wrote the song with Mike Anthony (Michael Logiudice). Mann had his best success to that point in 1961 with "I Love How You Love Me," written with Larry Kolber and a no. 57. The Paris Sisters' 5 scoring single (even years ago, Bobby Vinton's version would make it to the Top ten) is a hit on the charts. Mann himself performed in the Top 40 with Gerry Goffin's "Who Put the Bomp," which parodied the nonsense words of the then-popular doo-wop style.

Mann continued to write, focusing on songwriting, forming a fruitful collaboration with Weil, a lyricist he encountered while working in Manhattan near the Brill Building, a composing-and-publishing company. Mann and Weil, who married in 1961, wrote songs that were supposed to be socially aware, including "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by the Animals, "Magic Town" by The Vogues, and Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Kicks" by Mann and Weil. Mann and Weil were both disturbed when "Only In America," a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and conceived as a protest against racial stereotyping, was re-worked by Leiber and Stoller as a protest against racial bigotry and turned into an uncontroversial success for Jay & The Americans, which was originally intended for and performed by the Drifters as a show against r

Mann's song catalog shows 635 songs as of May 2009. Broadcast Music Inc. has given him 56 major music, country, and Rhythm & Blues awards, as well as 46 millionaire Awards for radio performances, with more than 100,000 plays received. With more than 14 million performances, the song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" was co-written with Weil and Phil Spector.

Mann has written songs for movies, most notably "Somewhere Out There," co-written with Weil and James Horner for the 1986 animated film An American Tail. During the film's closing credits, Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram performed the song as a duet; their version was released as a single, which received No. 301. 2 on the Billboard chart and set a new "gold" record. As Song of the Year and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television, "Somewhere Out There" will win two 1987 Grammy Awards. "Somewhere Out There" was also nominated for a 1986 Academy Award for Best Song, but it was ultimately defeated by Top Gun's "Take My Breath Away" (a film that included the Weil-penned "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" in a main scene). Mann's other film projects include the scores for I Never Sang for My Father and Muppet Treasure Island, as well as National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Oliver & Company.

Mann co-wrote the song "Sometimes We Touch" with Dan Hill, which reached No. 1 in the charts. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Mann and Weil were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987. They were given the Johnny Mercer Award in 2011, the highest award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Mann and Weil were voted recipients of the Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Dyad Music, Mann and Weil's publishing company, now has Dyad Music.

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