BARRY WHITE, 'THE FIRST, THE LAST, MY EVERYTHING'

Today, The Grandma has been relaxing at home after a great day of celebration. She has decided to listen to some music, and she has chosen Barry White, the American singer-songwriter and musician, who was born on a day like today in 1944.

Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944-July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and composer.

A two-time Grammy Award-winner known for his bass-baritone voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with The Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring soul, funk, and disco songs such as his two biggest hits: You're the First, the Last, My Everything and Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe.

White recorded 19 studio albums during the course of his career, but multiple versions and compilations were released worldwide that were certified gold, 41 of which also attained platinum status. White had 20 gold and 10 platinum singles, with worldwide record sales in excess of 100 million records, and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His influences included James Cleveland, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, The Four Tops, and Marvin Gaye.

More information: Rock's Back Pages Library

White was born Barry Eugene Carter on September 12, 1944, in Galveston, Texas.

White was jailed for four months at the age of 16 for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires. While in jail, he listened to Elvis Presley singing It's Now or Never on the radio, an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life.

After his release from jail, White left gang life and began a musical career at the beginning of the 1960s in singing groups. He first released Too Far to Turn Around in 1960 as part of The Upfronts before working for various small independent labels in Los Angeles.

He also recorded several singles under his own name in the early 1960s, backed by vocal groups The Atlantics and The Majestics. 

White had no involvement with Bob & Earl's 1963 hit single Harlem Shuffle, a song he has sometimes been credited with producing; in his 1999 autobiography, White confirmed the song had been produced by Gene Page, who had worked with him on many of White's 1970s successes.

In 1965, White produced Feel Aw RIght by the Bel Cantos, released on the Downey label. He recorded his debut single, Man Ain't Nothin'/I Don't Need It, released under the name Lee Barry on Downey in 1966. He also co-wrote Together Forever, released by Pat Powdrill & the Powerdrills in 1967.

In the mid-'60s, Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records hired him as an A&R man for his new Bronco Records imprint, and White started working with the label's artists, including Viola Wills and The Bobby Fuller Four, as a songwriter, session musician, and arranger.

He discovered singer Felice Taylor and arranged her song I Feel Love Comin' On co-written with his friend Paul Politi. It became a big hit in the UK. Other charting hits written by White and Politi for her included It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart It's Spring) and Under the Influence of Love.

More information: The Guardian

Bronco issued one of White's first singles, 1967's All in the Run of a Day, produced by Keane and White.

White also wrote Doin' the Banana Split for TV bubblegum act The Banana Splits in 1968.

In 1969, White was signed by Forward Records of Los Angeles, a division of Transcontinental Entertainment Corporation, as a producer.

It eventually became White's first solo album, 1973's I've Got So Much to Give. It included the title track and his first solo chart hit, I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby, which also rose to No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts as well as No. 3 on the Billboard Pop charts in 1973 and stayed in the top 40 for many weeks.

Other chart hits by White included Never, Never Gonna Give You Up, Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe, You're the First, the Last, My Everything, What Am I Gonna Do with You, Let the Music Play, It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me and Your Sweetness Is My Weakness and others.

White also had a strong following in the UK, where he scored five Top 10 hits and a No. 1 for You're the First, the Last, My Everything. Due to his large frame, facial hair, and deep voice, he was given the nickname The Walrus of Love in the UK.

White's final album, 1999's Staying Power, resulted in his last hit song Staying Power, which placed No. 45 on the Billboard R&B charts. The single won him two Grammy Awards in the categories Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.

His autobiography, Love Unlimited, written with Mark Eliot, was published in 1999 by Broadway Books.

White's unstable health prevented him receiving a new kidney and on July 4, 2003, he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering a severe cardiac arrest; he was 58. His remains were cremated, and the ashes were scattered in the ocean off the Californian coast.

More information: NPR

I don't know if it's my music, my lyrics, my sound,
and knowing the music business the way I do-all I can say is,
my career has lasted way longer than I expected.

Barry White