Talk:Barry White

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of WikiProject R&B and Soul Music, a project to improve Wikipedia's articles related to R&B and Soul Music. For guidelines see the project page and Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.
Biography Portal
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]
This article is supported by WikiProject Musicians, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed biographical guide to musicians and musical groups on Wikipedia.
Photo request It is requested that a picture or pictures of this person be included in this article to improve its quality.
This article is part of WikiProject Texas, a WikiProject related to the U.S. state of Texas.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.

Mr. Barry White, a genius of music! He was a giant of soul, disco and dance. Lives for ever. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.43.25.138 (talk) 03:33, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

a sad day for those who like to get their groove on.

Absolutely...Barry was without doubt one of the most talented artists ever. The problem is that disco and soul has never been given the credence of rock music. Of course, why should it have done? It was made by and for blacks and gays in the early days. Instead, The Stones and others got the credit, when they simply ripped of black music for their own ends. Outrageous!! No matter because soul and disco, was of course, a social movement as well as a wonderful music too. And Barry was pure quality, purveying a sound that was tuneful and laden with strings, the like of which almost sounded classical. I dislike it that Barry is trivialised as 'the love walrus', as this tag simply undermines his wonderful talent. Thank you Barry from a kid who grew up in the 70s. You made my life so enjoyable. Barry was a genius and his music will live on forever and will always be played. His position is assured.

Barry was incredible, every song regardless of its status on the charts was brilliant in my opinion. He could sing, compose, produce, and conduct, he certainly earned his place in the musical hall of fame, my heart and MP3. Had it not been for his incredible soulful voice I would have never started listening to and performing R&B music. We are trully blessed to have been able to witness a Saint like Mr. White. Thank you Barry! Eatspie (talk) 04:52, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Systemic high blood pressure per se doesn't cause liver damage. I don't know if BW did indeed have any liver problems, but I can't find any evidence of it in his obituary or on a web-search, so I'm removing it as the likely confusion of liver and kidney. -- Someone else 02:45 5 Jul 2003 (UTC)

The Ally Mcbeal connection should only be mentioned on the Ally McBeal page, if at all. It seems trite for it to appear here. Vroman 06:55 5 Jul 2003 (UTC)


I suppose it may seem like that. Did it raise his profile though? Wasn't he thought of as a 1970s star who had faded from public view until he featured on that show? Also, I once saw him referred to (affectionately) as the 'walrus of love'. Was that a common nickname? should we mention all the parents who say 'our first child was thanks to Barry White'? -- Tarquin 16:32 5 Jul 2003 (UTC)
If the point of mentioning Ally was that it significantly revived his career or profile, that should be added, otherwise we should go list every car commercial that uses 60s classics on the respective artists' pages, etc. Vroman 19:38 5 Jul 2003 (UTC)


FWIW, I've read two obituaries [1] [2] and both mention Ally McBeal. The former also mentions that his nickname was the Walrus of Love. -- Jim Regan 19:59 5 Jul 2003 (UTC)

If mentioning Ally McBeal is controversial, I suppose a mention of Mark and Lard's "Fat Harry White" parody is out of the question, is it...? :) -- Oliver P. 02:55 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I don't see why the Ally McBeal connection is a problem. I watched Ally McBeal from the end of the 1st season (1997) until Gil Bellows' character was killed off around 1999. Part of plotline of the show (as I remember it) was Peter MacNicol's character's obession with Barry White as a tool to have sex. Until I heard the references to Barry White and seeing him on the show made me aware of who he was. Bottom line: it's totally relevent. -- hoshie

I added the original Ally reference because in my mind, that show and the singer are linked. I can't hear his music without thinking about the show (okay, usually his music means sex, but the show is a big memory for me, too!). . . -- Acid_burnd

I reverted some info on Barry White's genitals and sexual prowess. Dunno if it's true. Tristanb 05:08 7 Jul 2003 (UTC)

what? no picture? blasphemy! SECProto 02:55, Dec 27, 2004 (UTC)

L'annonce de son décès fût comme une déchirure cardiaque pourtant, n'étant âgé que de 20 ans, je n'ai pas vraiment connu le phénomène Barry White comme beaucoup d'autres fans mais j'ai été bercé toute mon enfance par sa musique, la musique de Barry est intemporelle, jamais un artiste n'a eu une telle voix et une telle prestance. Merci à Barry pour son oeuvre et sa personne, RIP tu laisses derrière toi beaucoup de fans atristés mais au souvenir de tout le bonheur que tu nous as offert, on ne peut que relever la tête et te dire MERCI !

Une voix, un art, un Maestro

Tout le talent et l'émotion de l'amour en une seule personne, son talent a traversé les générations et il demeurera malgrès la mort dans les mémoires de tous comme l'un des plus grands artistes du 20e siècle.

Bien à l'opposé de la tendance actuelle qui tend à promouvoir la délinquance, la violence et toutes les malversations, Barry n'a toujours communiqué qu'un message positif : l'amour.

Ne faudrait il pas plutot suivre son exemple ? Vandamme Jordan

Website [3]

Contents

[edit] Vandals, vandals

There are some "vandalisms" on this page. Can you look through it? I don't really know enough about Mr White to check them, I'm afraid Philip Howard 10:40, 15 July 2006 (UTC)


who took away his picture? it should be put back

[edit] Barry White a vegan?

Is this for real or a joke? I do not know of any vegans that have been troubled by obesity (vegetarians perhaps - all that animal fat i.e. cheese, butter etc), then ended up dying of renal failure (commonly associated with excessive amounts of animal protein in the diet). I have requested the source of this information. nirvana2013 19:02, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

The source of protein is irrelevant. Obesity is due to excessive consumption of food. This has nothing to do with consuming animal fat per se.
OK, I do not intend to get into a discussion about diet. You did not answer my question though - Was he a vegan, and if so what is the source? nirvana2013 00:07, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

No citation given after 11 days, deleted vegan references from article. nirvana2013 01:46, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

If you type in Barry White vegan on google there are plenty of sources aswell as his support for PETA i'm pretty sure he became one in the early 1990's

13:55, 25 July 2007

[edit] Date of Birth

Has anyone ever looked into why the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) lists his date of birth as June 12, 1943? All the popular websites list him as Sept. 12, 1944. Is the government data wrong and can it be proven wrong? I know the SSDI is not infallible but it is pretty good. Kentucho 05:51, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Can you add a link? Some sort of proof for the June 12th date? As of now, Wikipedia has September 21/1944 as Barry's DOB. Which one is right? Hotwine8 21:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Number of releases

Can someone confirm the "106 gold and 41 platinum albums, 20 gold singles and ten platinum singles" figure and/or replace with a far more realistic number? The idea that over a 30-year career a man could release an average of almost five albums a year is incredibly farfetched. Vintagejonny 23:28, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Your sentiment doesn't make sense. An album can go platinum four, five, six, seven, X amount of times. LuciferMorgan 01:20, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
These figures should have citations. InnocuousPseudonym 01:42, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Although I dislike incorrect information Vintagejonny's argument just isn't enough for us to delete the provided statistics, after all Michael Jackson's album "Off The Wall" went gold 7 times. Now imagine if all of Barry White's albums gained the same success, it's not so far fetched now, is it? The idea is possible, and Vintagejonny is nothing more than a troll (who's only apparent intention on Wikipedia is to vandalize the God in Israel page) anyway. 72.152.135.75 (talk) 23:08, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Controversy on his death bed / baby claims

A documentary I caught recently, "The Barry White Story" included interviews with his children where they describe his last months, and how his business manager had power of attorney and refused to let his family visit. It also documents how his girlfriend was pregnant with what she claimed was White's child until after his death, when DNA test proved otherwise.

http://www.bullz-eye.com/music_dvd/2007/barry_white.htm briefly describes this.

I was suprised not to find a mention on his wikipedia page.

I was also suprised to find more detail on this page: http://members.chello.nl/p.klein6/Html/barry_white_profile.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tehwa (talk • contribs) 14:04, 3 April 2008 (UTC)



In my opinion, this article needs to be rewritten, the first line for instance, stating that many people can claim to of been conceived to his songs? Pure crap that is, unless I see some sources. Deal with it please. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.106.106.131 (talk) 07:28, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Love Unlimited Orchestra?????????

where is the info about "Love Unlimited Orchestra" ?? you can fill a whole page with..Love Unlimited Orchestra

[edit] Bias

Considered handsome and deeply romantic by his many female fans and admired for the unique blend of soul and classical orchestral musical elements he created, White was often affectionately referred to as the "Maestro" or "The Man with the Velvet Voice". His portly physical stature led some in the popular press to make condescending jokes about his body weight by referring to White as the "Walrus of Love," a moniker considered disrespectful by many fans. Barry White was also referred to as "The Sultan of Smooth Soul," but it was his role as brainchild of the funk-fueled, deep soul band, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, in which he was widely branded on several early albums as the group's Maestro, earning him the only documented nickname for which he and his musical colleagues were responsible.

This paragraph is obviously biased and unless someone can prove this information is true it should remain deleted. 74.224.50.136 (talk) 06:08, 8 April 2008 (UTC)