Barb Morrison

Barb Morrison
Background information
Birth name Barbara Jean Morrison
Also known as Buzz Morrison, 'Super Buddha'
Born May 22, 1967
Schenectady, New York, US
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, musician, producer, Film Score Composer
Instruments Vocals, saxophone, guitar, bass
Years active 1984–present
Associated acts Deborah Harry, Dito Montiel, Blondie, Rufus Wainwright, LP, Antony and the Johnsons, Pink
Website Barb Morrison website
Notable instruments
multi-instrumentalist

Barb Morrison (born Barbara Jean Morrison on May 22, 1967) is an American recording artist, Top 5 Billboard dance chart songwriter, and Gold record producer, best known as producer for numerous artists such as Blondie, Rufus Wainwright, LP, as an ASCAP-featured film score composer and formerly, as one half of the production duo Super Buddha.

Early life and music

Barb Morrison, the daughter of James and Helen Morrison, was born May 22, 1967 in Schenectady, New York and has two brothers, James Jr. and Shawn. After beginning piano at age 7 and saxophone at age 9, Barb joined her first punk band as a drummer at age 14. She bought her first guitar for $15.00 at the age of 17 and moved to New York City later that year to pursue a career in music.

Career

In 1985, she played her first NYC show at CBGB and became a regular onstage at many East Village venues of the era such as Danceteria, The Ritz, Pyramid Club, and Limelight. While still a teenager Barb was already playing sax with punk legends Sylvain Sylvain, Johnny Thunders and Cherry Vanilla.

In 1987, she joined the band 'Gutterboy' as a saxophone player, guitarist and back up singer. 'Gutterboy', fronted by writer/director Dito Montiel, toured with Bryan Adams, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Stray Cats and Ramones. They were signed to Mercury Records in 1989, released "St. Stanislaus of E. 7th St." and modeled for photographer Bruce Weber's Gianni Versace catalog.

In 1992, she left Gutterboy to start the band "Itchy Trigger Finger" with longtime friend Harry Nagle. In Itchy Trigger Finger she toured on Lollapalooza along with Sonic Youth, Hole, Sinéad O'Connor, Cypress Hill, Moby, Beck, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Coolio, yo la tengo, The Roots and Patti Smith. From 1995–1998, she was also the sax player and guitarist for the Squeeze box house band at Don Hill's, sharing that stage with Green Day, Deborah Harry, Joey Arias, Lady Bunny, John Cameron Mitchell, Nina Hagen, The Runaways, Justin Bond and Jayne County.

In 2000, Barb scored her first film, The Safety of Objects starring Glenn Close. She also wrote a song titled "Kiss It All Goodbye" for the movie with LP, and later that year co-wrote and produced three songs, including the title track, for L.P.'s debut album Heart-Shaped Scar. That same year, Barb also joined Antony and the Johnsons as a clarinet player and saxophonist. In 2001 Barb began producing a number of bands who had contributed to the film's soundtrack. Barb spent 2000–2006 co-producing and scoring films with teams such as Emboznik, 'Sonic & Buzz' and Blizzard Twins. For a detailed film score discography see the Film Scores discography section.

Most notably, from 2000–2012 Barb made up half of the record production duo Super Buddha. In 2005, Barb received her first Gold Record for producing the song 'In the Flesh' for Blondie's album Sight & Sound, and also collaborated with Grammy Award winner Pink on the video for the song Hello Bonjour. In 2006, Barb co-wrote the Top 5 Billboard dance chart remix 'Two Times Blue: Debbie Harry vs. Soul Seekerz' and the song If I Had You, which was featured regularly on VH-1. In 2011, Barb co-wrote 3 songs on Blondie's Panic of Girls album as well as contributing production to releases by Franz Ferdinand and Lily Allen.

In 2012, Barb left Super Buddha to pursue a solo career. Her first endeavor was writing and producing 3 songs for Blondie: Dead Air, Bride of Infinity and Practice Makes Perfect. That same year she composed the film score for the movie Concussion, starring Robin Weigert and Maggie Siff, an official selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and winner of the Berlin Film Festival's Teddy Award Jury Prize. Also that year, Barb mixed the album 'Black Tie Elevator' for The Cliks.

In 2013, music that Barb produced for Rayya Elias' book Harley Loco was presented by author Elizabeth Gilbert at the Detroit Institute of Arts, following the release of the book and accompanying soundtrack by Viking Press. 'Harley Loco' and Blue Microphones also released a mini-documentary about Barb's work as a music producer called 'Harley Loco and Blue Microphones present Barb Morrison'.

In 2014, Barb produced records for various artists including Rachael Sage, Miranda Di Perno, Princess Superstar, Carrie Ashley Hill and composed scores for the films Sidewalk Traffic, 'FAST' and Ma/ddy. She also spoke on the Gender Amplified panel at Barnard College, and was a featured film score composer on ASCAP's 2014 "Spotlight"

Currently

Barb is currently producing records and film scores in her NYC studio. Recent projects include upcoming releases by Baby Alpaca, Venus DeMars and Laura Jane Grace as well as a number of songs featuring Grammy-nominated mixer Tony Maserati.

Barb is endorsed by TubeTech, Sugar Bytes, Blue Microphones, Namba Gear, DrumCore, Earthquaker Devices, and Gibson Guitars.

Discography

Albums

Film scores

References

    External links