Harry Barris
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Harry Barris (November 24, 1905 – December 13, 1962) was an American popular singer and songwriter, and is one of the earliest singers to use "scat singing" in recordings. Barris, one of Paul Whiteman's "The Rhythm Boys," along with Bing Crosby, scatted on several songs, including "Mississippi Mud," which Barris wrote in 1927.
Biography
Born in New York City, Barris was a member of the Rhythm Boys, a late 1920s singing trio that included Al Rinker and Bing Crosby, and was Crosby's entry into show business. The group sang several songs in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra film King of Jazz (1930) and recorded both with Whiteman and on their own with Barris on piano.
Barris appeared in 57 films between 1931 and 1950, usually as a band member, pianist and/or singer. In The Lost Weekend (1945), he is the nightclub pianist who humiliates Ray Milland by singing "Somebody Stole My Purse". An unusual change of pace for Barris was his comedy role in The Fleet's In (1942), as a runty sailor named Pee Wee who perpetrates malapropisms in a surprisingly deep voice.
Offscreen, Barris successfully composed songs including "Mississippi Mud", "I Surrender, Dear", "It Must Be True" and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams". Rinker and Crosby also carved out careers on their own as well.
Barris married Hazelle Thompson in 1925. They divorced in 1930. In 1931, Barris married Loyce Whiteman, daughter of Paul Whiteman. They appear together in an episode of Rambling 'Round Radio Row; she sings his composition "It Was So Beautiful" after he plays his composition "Music Has Charms." They had one daughter, Marti Barris, who also became a musician. They divorced in 1946. Barris was the uncle of game show host and producer Chuck Barris. Chuck Barris was a co-creator and host of the The Gong Show.
He died in Burbank, California, aged 57.
Selected filmography
- Rambling 'Round Radio Row (1932)
- That Rascal (1932)
- Birth of the Blues (1941)
- San Diego, I Love You (1944)
Sources
- Donald Shepherd and Robert F. Slatzer, Bing Crosby: The Hollow Man (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981), ISBN 978-0-523-42164-3
External links
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