Pick a Day

Barry White Is Born

R&B singer Barry White is born Barry Eugene Carter in Galveston, Texas. He is raised in South Central Los Angeles.

By the time he's a teenager, White's squeaky voice deepens into a lush bass-baritone that will boom in bedrooms across America, but he has to break free of the gang life first. After he's arrested for boosting $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires, the 16-year-old criminal experiences an awakening during a four-month stint in jail. A song on the radio inspires him to pursue a different path and, with the words of Elvis Presley's "It's Now Or Never" echoing in his mind, he heads to Hollywood to become a singer. White releases a handful of forgettable singles in the '60s before he catches his big break as a songwriter and producer. As an A&R man for Del-Fi Records, he discovers R&B singer Felice Taylor and co-writes her hit "It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart It's Spring)." But a move to Forward Records brings him his greatest behind-the-scenes success when he launches the girl group Love Unlimited in 1972 (and finds a wife in the lead singer, Glodean James). Comfortable in his role as a producer, White doesn't consider stepping back up to the mic until he writes a song that has trouble finding the right voice. When he finally admits his own velvety vocal is a perfect match for "I'm Gonna Give You Just A Little More Baby," he already has an album's worth of material written. His debut album, I've Got So Much To Give, is released in 1973 and "I'm Gonna Give You Just A Little More Baby" is a smash hit, peaking at #3 on the Hot 100. With the success of his solo debut allaying his fears, White quickly releases Stone Gon' that same year, with Can't Get Enough (1974), and Just Another Way To Say I Love You following closely behind. His steady output of melodic love songs in the Disco era, including "I've Got So Much To Give," "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up," "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe," and "You're the First, the Last, My Everything," earns him the nickname The Godfather of Bedroom Soul. According to White, his albums are responsible for producing more than hit songs. In 1974, a baby boom in the US is dubbed the Barry Boom thanks to the proliferation of the singer's seductive tunes getting folks in the mood. "A lot of babies have been named Barry," he says in a 1987 interview. Although his charting career slows down, the '90s bring a renewed interest in '70s music that revives many of his hit songs. Guest appearances on The Simpsons and Ally McBeal also help introduce him to a new generation of fans. At the end of the decade, he releases his final album, Staying Power, which earns him a pair of Grammy Awards (Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance) for the title track. With more than 100 million records sold worldwide, White remains one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He says of his legacy of love: "Everyone to me has to pick a subject to talk about in music if you're going to be a writer. Mine is love, because I know when a man's making love the last thing he thinks about is war." On July 4, 2003, two months after suffering a severe stroke, Barry White dies at age 58.

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