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Barry White: Los Angeles
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Barry White, the honey-voiced baritone known for his sultry, romantic songs, dies at a hospital in Los Angeles. White, 58, had been in poor health for several years and died while awaiting a kidney transplant. The soul singer became a star during the disco era, but had a resurgence in popularity in recent years. He won two Grammies for his 1999 album, "Staying Power." NPR's Scott Simon has a remembrance.
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Barry White's autobiography ("Love Unlimited") details the struggle the artist had to overcome in order to escape the Los Angeles streets. Mr. White chronicles his ups and downs on the road to musical preeminence in the 1970's. His fluid and straightforward style makes this a combination "rags to riches" story and a social commentary on being black and trying to make it in the music industry....
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The Man: His Music Barry Eugene White was born on 12 September 1944, in Galveston, Texas, the eldest of two children. His birth at Galveston was entirely due to his mother visiting relatives and extending her stay there. Back home in California, he was raised in Watts, Los Angeles, along with his brother Darryl who was born thirteen months later. Darryl was to be murdered in a meaningless Gangland killing on 5 December 1983 which devastated Barry who later remarked "Believe me, life is very cheap in that world. It's crazy, but he only died over two dollars." As children the two brothers doted on each other and were best friends; indeed their mutual nickname 'Burly' was a slip of the tongue as the infants tried to say 'Buddy'.
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White was born Barry Eugene Carter in September of 1944, in Galveston, Texas, but only because his mother, Sadie Marie Carter, had extended a family visit there. He was raised in California in the Watts area of south Los Angeles. White's father, machinist Melvin White, who already had a wife and children across town, never married Sadie Marie but was around occasionally. When White started school, his father happened to catch a glimpse of the boy's birth certificate with the name Carter on it. He crossed it out and wrote in White.
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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Velvet-voiced singer Barry White, the two-time Grammy winner who inspired millions to get in the mood with such hits as "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," died Friday, his manager told CNN. He was 58.
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Known to fans as "The Maestro," White has been satisfying soul music lovers for nearly 30 years. Raised in Los Angeles, he was initially inspired in the '60s by the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland and The Supremes. White's breakthrough musical project was Love Unlimited, a female trio featuring his wife, Glodean. The group's 1972 debut album went gold and yielded the hit single, "Walkin' in the Rain with the One I Love."
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