LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ray Barrett
built 643 days ago
When the charanga craze hit the Latin world, Ray was given the opportunity by the jazz label, Riverside, to form his own band, Charanga la Moderna. Then, salsa began to simmer and he signed on to Fania, in 1967. Barretto had his own band with Fania, was their musical director for 4 years, and was pivotal amongst the super line-up of the Fania All-Stars. Barretto is quick to point out that the many hits Fania turned out were not carbon copies of inferior material, but genuinely fine pieces of composition, arrangement and virtuosity, spiced way up with the individualism that characterized the band leaders, Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colon, Johnny Pacheco, Barretto, and others. He is proud of and grateful for his years with them. They have made him a legend.
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Over the next 20 years Barrett Resources grew into one of the largest energy companies in Colorado, despite less than favorable conditions. In the early 1980s major oil companies began to pull out of the region, but Barrett, sensing opportunity, remained and was able to secure several important leases from the majors. At the same time, he was a disciplined businessman who refused to take on debt, unlike many competitors who became overly aggressive in the early 1980s. Instead, Barrett Resources sold interests in the wells it discovered, initially retaining about 12.5 percent. As the company established itself, it increased its ownership position to 25 percent, until finally it was strong enough to own projects in their entirety. This conservative approach to risk management served the company well during the oil and gas crash of the mid-1980s, allowing Barrett Resources to survive while many other energy companies fell by the wayside.
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For the fourth arrangement Ray brings out the Latin Band. They open with a rumba then dynamically stop and change to an upbeat jazz swing. Ray’s seventeen-year-old son, Christopher, takes an alto solo. He begins carefully and then wails his horn; executing long melodic runs and flourishes. The two alto saxophone players alternate solos as the band is smokin’. Ray conducts the Latin Band ensemble, which features a full complement of percussionists.
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Some of Barrett's sons had worked for Barrett Resources, but after it was sold to Williams, they were at loose ends. In October 2001, Fred and Terry Barrett, both trained geologists, approached their 73-year-old father and urged him to join them, along with a number of like-minded Barrett Resources employees, to launch a new Barrett energy company based in Denver. Bill Barrett, who had not lost his love for geology, was won over by his sons' enthusiasm and agreed to serve as CEO and chairman of the new venture, which traded on his sterling reputation as an oil finder by adopting the name Bill Barrett Corporation. His stature was such that the new company was able to lure away the entire management team from his previous venture, all of whom had worked together for 15 to 20 years and were expert at locating oil and gas in the Rocky Mountains.
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Ray Barrett was one of the more popular leading men on British television in the 1960s. He played one of the lead roles in the British TV series Emergency Ward 10 and appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Rescue in 1965. He was on the series The Troubleshooters from 1965 to 1971, and did the voice of John Tracy, The Hood and many of the extra characters in the Gerry Anderson marionette series Thunderbirds; he ... starred in Anderson's previous series, Stingray, in which he voiced Commander Shore and Titan, as well as many of the extras. It was only in the decades that followed that he emerged to big-screen stardom in his native country. He won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Awards Longford Life Achievement Award.
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[O]f assembling such an experienced team, Barrett had no difficulty in raising seed money. An initial investment of $27.5 million came from members of the management team as well as family members. The first round of outside financing lasted just two months, with a number of investors having to be turned away. The company raised $107.5 million from Warburg Pincus, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, and JP Morgan Partners. In addition, the company supplemented its war chest with another $175 million in credit. Another important factor in the company's ability to raise money was fortuitous timing: In the early months of 2002, gas prices began increasing steadily and there was a perception in the marketplace that gas prices would continue to climb.
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Ray Barrett