Len Barry

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Len Barry (born Leonard Borisoff, June 12, 1942 ^[1], West Philadelphia) was an American vocalist and musician.

1 Career
2 Legacy
3 Discography
- 3.1 Singles
- 3.2 Albums
4 References
5 External links
6 See also
7 Additional sources

[edit] Career

In 1958 he first appeared on record as the lead vocalist with The Boss-Tones, singing "Mope-Itty Mope". Barry also was a member of the singing group, The Dovells from 1957 to 1963, before going solo.

As a predominately blue-eyed soul singer, he recorded two hits in 1965 and 1966 for Decca Records: "1-2-3", and "Like a Baby", both of which made the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart. Those songs also peaked at #2 and #27 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart respectively. Both songs were part composed by Barry and Dave White, one of the original Juniors from Danny & the Juniors.

When the hits dried up, Barry continued performing his entertaining stage act, and later moved into songwriting and production work with WMOT Productions.^[2]

[edit] Legacy

The song "1-2-3" was featured on the soundtrack for the film, Mr. Holland's Opus.
"1-2-3" was one of the songs that appeared in John Lennon's jukebox.
Motown Records sued the songwriters, Barry and Dave White, claiming that "1-2-3" was a reworked copy of Holland-Dozier-Holland song "Ask Any Girl". The songwriters did not admit to taking the composition but the lawsuit led to Holland-Dozier-Holland getting equal credit for writing "1-2-3" as noted on the Billboard Top 10 official CD.^{[citation needed]}
In December 2005, Welsh singer-songwriter Cerys Matthews recorded a new version of "1-2-3" in Nashville, Tennessee.^[3]