Richard Barone

Richard Barone
Richard Barone (2006)
Background information
Born	Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Genre(s)	Rock Pop Power pop Chamber pop Alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Musician Songwriter Author Music director Record producer
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Mellotron, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, Stylophone, waterphone
Years active	1980s–present
Label(s)	RCA Records MCA/Universal Geffen Records MESA/Atlantic Sony BMG Fetish Records Passport Records Stiff Records Cooking Vinyl others
Associated acts	The Bongos
Website	Official website

Richard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida. He also works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, and releases albums as a solo artist.

Biography

Barone began his career at age 7 as 'The Littlest DJ' on a local Tampa top-40 radio station, and later gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for the Bongos, a new wave band at the center of the early 1980s Hoboken, New Jersey music scene. After their first string of independent singles, released on the U.K.- based Fetish label and compiled for the U.S. as Drums Along The Hudson (PVC), the group signed to RCA Records. The Bongos amassed a fierce cult following and critical acclaim [1], and Barone began to be recognized for his pop songwriting abilities. [2] Stepping out as a solo artist, Barone's albums venture into chamber pop, orchestral, and more narrative singer-songwriter territory.

Barone actually released his first solo album, Cool Blue Halo (recorded live at the Bottom Line in New York) before the Bongos' amicable breakup in 1987.Anthony DeCurtis, writing in Rolling Stone, praised Barone's "spare, elegant arrangements" and credits him with fashioning "a kind of rock chamber music." [3] While Trouser Press described the record as "intimate but confused," [4] NPR's Tom Moon, in a more recent assessment, called the album "a plaintive masterpiece," and credited Barone with foreshadowing Nirvana's Unplugged performance of Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World," adding "Cool Blue Halo feels timeless, and maybe even exotic." [5]

Cool Blue Halo by Richard Barone, album cover.

Two more solo albums followed: the rock-dominated Primal Dream (MCA) in 1990, and the more acoustic-based Clouds Over Eden (WEA) in 1994, the latter dedicated to his late friend, rock journalist Nicholas Schaffner, and bearing a cover portrait by photographer Duane Michals. Trouser Press championed the "fine set of yearning love songs" on Primal Dream, while calling their production and arrangements as a "step backwards" from his debut album. [6] But, David Browne, writing in Rolling Stone, gave the album four stars and commented that "Barone is fast moving beyond the limited vocabulary of twelve strings and wimp-pop vocals." [7] Billy Altman, in The New York Times, called his next album, Clouds Over Eden "unquestionably the most fully realized effort of Barone's career," while Trouser Press described the album as "wrenching and thoroughly worthwhile" and "the great album fans always imagined [Barone] making." [8]

In 1997, Barone released Between Heaven and Cello, an album recorded live at NYC's intimate Fez nightclub, accompanied only by cellist Jane Scarpantoni. A boxed set of his first three solo albums was released in Europe in 2000 as The Big Three. In 2004, he released a limited edition solo anthology entitled, COLLECTION: An Embarrassment of Richard, comprised of personal favorites from his back catalogue.

Barone then turned his attention to producing, helming a number of recordings for a variety of artists including a recent duet between Liza Minnelli and pianist Johnny Rodgers, a children's album for former model Jolie Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones, recordings for B-52's frontman Fred Schneider, and others. As a producer/director, he has created large-scale concert events, including tributes to Peggy Lee at Carnegie Hall, Chicago's Ravinia Festival, and the Hollywood Bowl in 2003 and 2004, and concerts for New York's Central Park SummerStage. According to Barone's official website, more such events are planned for 2009. [9]

Other projects have included executive producing The Nomi Song DVD (Palm Pictures, 2005), which includes his remix of operatic New Wave countertenor Klaus Nomi's "Total Eclipse"; musical direction and orchestration for Bright Lights, Big City at the New York Theatre Workshop (with Rent director Michael Grief); as well as directing and performing in The Downtown Messiah, a modern interpretation of Handel's baroque oratorio, broadcast annually on over 200 public radio stations nationwide for six consecutive years. His songs and collaborations, including those written with singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, have been heard on several popular television programs, including The West Wing, Dawson's Creek, Felicity, and South Of Nowhere.

In 2006, he and the original Bongos reunited in the studio with Moby producing, to create a new version of "The Bulrushes," an early Bongos single, and a music video for the special edition re-issue of the group's debut album. The 27-track collection, Drums Along the Hudson - Special Edition, was released by Cooking Vinyl Records in June 2007. Several Bongos reunion concerts were held, culminating with an outdoor concert in Hoboken, at which the band was honored with a Mayoral Proclamation and "Keys to the City."

In September 2007, Barone's memoir, FRONTMAN: Surviving the Rock Star Myth [10], was published by Backbeat/Hal Leonard Books, and his complete solo catalog was re-launched at the iTunes Music Store. In late 2007, he began staging a series of 'musical readings' of FRONTMAN, both live and on radio, with excerpts of the book read by television actress Joyce DeWitt and radio personality Vin Scelsa, among others. Musical accompaniment was performed using the new Gibson Les Paul HD.6x-Pro Digital guitar (an instrument to which Barone contributed as artist consultant) in surround sound. On his birthday, October 1, 2008, he brought FRONTMAN: A Musical Reading to the stage at Carnegie Hall in New York City, with "Special Guests and Legendary Friends," including Moby, Lou Reed, The Band's Garth Hudson, Marshall Crenshaw, Terre and Suzzy Roche, Randy Brecker, Carlos Alomar, and many others. The concert was held as a benefit for public radio station WFUV 90.7 FM in New York. [11]

Barone lives in Greenwich Village, where he is currently in the studio with veteran producer Tony Visconti (Bowie, T. Rex), recording tracks for a 2008 release. Also working with Barone are producers Mike Thorne (Soft Cell, Bronski Beat, Communards, Wire), Steve Rosenthal (Lou Reed, Monster Magnet) and Steve Addabbo (Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin), songwriter Paul Williams, engineer Leslie Ann Jones at Skywalker Sound, photographer Mick Rock and others.

Discography

Solo albums

• Collection: An Embarrassment of Richard (2004) - Compilation; ITunes Store
• The Big Three (2000) - Box set; Line Records, Germany
• Between Heaven and Cello (1997) - Live; Line Records, Germany
• Clouds over Eden (1993), Produced by Hugh Jones - MESA Bluemoon/Atlantic Records
• Primal Dream (1990), Produced by Richard Gottehrer and Don Dixon - MCA Records
• Cool Blue Halo (1987), Recorded live at the Bottom Line, New York City - Passport Records
• Nuts and Bolts (1983), with James Mastro and Mitch Easter - Passport Records

With The Bongos

• Drums Along the Hudson - Special Edition (2007), bonus track produced by Moby - Cooking Vinyl, US and UK
• Beat Hotel (1985), Produced by John Jansen - RCA Victor
• Numbers with Wings (1983), Produced by Richard Gottehrer - RCA Victor
• Drums Along the Hudson (1982), Produced by The Bongos, Ken Thomas, and Mark Abel - PVC Records, US
• Time and the River (1982), Produced by The Bongos and Ken Thomas, Fetish Records, UK
• Start Swimming (1981) (compilation) Live at the Rainbow, London - Stiff Records

Publications

• FRONTMAN: Surviving the Rock Star Myth, Backbeat/Hal Leonard Books, 2007, ISBN-10 0-87930-912-1, ISBN-13 978-0-87930-912-1

FRONTMAN: Surviving the Rock Star Myth by Richard Barone, book cover.

See also

• The Bongos

References

• CMJ: The First Decade 1979-1989, (College Media, Inc. 1989)
• Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, (Simon & Schuster, 1995)
• Allmusic to Rock, (Miller Freeman Books, 1995)
• "Man About Town Barone Heads for Fresh Fields", by Jim Bessman -- (Billboard Magazine, September 22, 2001)
• The Official Richard Barone Website

External links

• RichardBarone.com - Richard Barone's official website
• FrontmanBook.com - Official website for Richard Barone's book, FRONTMAN.
• YouTube.com - Richard Barone's video channel on YouTube
• All Music Guide - Richard Barone overview on Allmusic
• NPR.org - Tom Moon's "Shadow Classics" feature on Cool Blue Halo (March 28, 2007)
• The New York Times - Robert Palmer's New York Times review of Cool Blue Halo
• Rolling Stone - Rolling Stone reviews of Clouds Over Eden, Primal Dream, and Cool Blue Halo
• MySpace.com - Richard Barone's profile page at MySpace.com
• Facebook - Richard Barone's page at Facebook
• "There'll Be Another Spring: A Tribute To Miss Peggy Lee" - Produced by Richard Barone - Press Release