Barrence Whitfield
Encyclopedia
Barrence Whitfield is an American
soul
and R&B vocalist and best known as the singer of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages in the 1980s.
, White's family moved to East Orange, New Jersey
when he was a child, and he began singing in a local gospel choir. While attending West Side High School
he also sang and played drums in local rock
and funk
bands. In 1977 he went to Boston University
to study journalism
. There, he also worked in a local record shop
, where his singing was heard by local musician Peter Greenberg of The Lyres. White adopted the stage name
of Barrence Whitfield to avoid confusion with the other Barry White
and began performing with Greenberg and other former members of the Lyres as Barrence Whitfield and the Savages.
The band gathered a strong local reputation for their stage performances, described as "raucous and rough, in high gear from the moment they hit the stage." Whitfield himself was described as "a soul screamer in the spirit of Little Richard
, Wilson Pickett
, Solomon Burke
, and early Don Covay
." In 1984, the band released their self-titled debut album, mostly comprising cover versions of obscure soul songs, to good critical reviews. The following year, they released a second album, Dig Yourself, on Rounder Records
. Their music was heard by English radio DJ
Andy Kershaw
, who taped a Boston performance for playing on air in Britain, and took them to the UK to tour.
Whitfield released a third album, Call of the Wild, in the UK in 1987, featuring a new line-up of his band; an expanded version, retitled Ow! Ow! Ow! was later issued in the US. He toured widely in Europe, and won supporting slots on US tours by artists including Bo Diddley
, Tina Turner
, George Thorogood
, Robert Cray
, and Solomon Burke. This was followed by seven Boston Music Awards. A live album recorded in 1987-88 was followed by the album Let's Lose It, produced by Jim Dickinson
and first issued in France
.
In the 1990s, Whitfield contributed tracks to Merle Haggard
and Don Covay
tribute albums, and recorded two albums with country music
singer-songwriter
Tom Russell
. His final album with the Savages, Ritual of the Savages, was released in 1995. In 1997, he began working with a New Hampshire
-based jump blues
and rockabilly
octet
, The Movers. As well as continuing to perform in the UK and Europe, Whitfield has also contributed to film score
s, including the 2007 film, Honeydripper
.
In December 2010 Barrence reunited with original Savages Peter Greenberg (DMZ, Lyres, Customs) with Andy Jody (Gazelles!, Pearlene, Oxford Cotton, Long Gones) and Tom Quartulli on sax to perform two live shows and record a new Barrence Whitfield and The Savages record.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and R&B vocalist and best known as the singer of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages in the 1980s.
Life and career
Born in Jacksonville, FloridaJacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, White's family moved to East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange is a city in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the city's population 64,270, making it the state's 20th largest municipality, having dropped 5,554 residents from its population of 69,824 in the 2000 Census, when it was the state's 14th most...
when he was a child, and he began singing in a local gospel choir. While attending West Side High School
West Side High School (New Jersey)
West Side High School is a four-year public high school in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Newark Public Schools....
he also sang and played drums in local rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
bands. In 1977 he went to Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
to study journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
. There, he also worked in a local record shop
Record shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...
, where his singing was heard by local musician Peter Greenberg of The Lyres. White adopted the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
of Barrence Whitfield to avoid confusion with the other Barry White
Barry White
Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
and began performing with Greenberg and other former members of the Lyres as Barrence Whitfield and the Savages.
The band gathered a strong local reputation for their stage performances, described as "raucous and rough, in high gear from the moment they hit the stage." Whitfield himself was described as "a soul screamer in the spirit of Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...
, Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
, and early Don Covay
Don Covay
Don Covay is an American R&B/rock and roll/soul music singer and songwriter most active in the 1950s and 1960s, who received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1994...
." In 1984, the band released their self-titled debut album, mostly comprising cover versions of obscure soul songs, to good critical reviews. The following year, they released a second album, Dig Yourself, on Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
. Their music was heard by English radio DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw is a British broadcaster, known for his interest in world music.His shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, spoken word performance from the likes of Ivor Cutler, and other music from around the world.- Early Life :Kershaw and his sister, fellow broadcaster Liz...
, who taped a Boston performance for playing on air in Britain, and took them to the UK to tour.
Whitfield released a third album, Call of the Wild, in the UK in 1987, featuring a new line-up of his band; an expanded version, retitled Ow! Ow! Ow! was later issued in the US. He toured widely in Europe, and won supporting slots on US tours by artists including Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
, Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
, George Thorogood
George Thorogood
George Thorogood is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilmington, Delaware, United States, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One...
, Robert Cray
Robert Cray
Robert Cray is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.-Career:...
, and Solomon Burke. This was followed by seven Boston Music Awards. A live album recorded in 1987-88 was followed by the album Let's Lose It, produced by Jim Dickinson
Jim Dickinson
James Luther "Jim" Dickinson was an American record producer, pianist, and singer who fronted, among others, the Memphis based band, Mudboy & The Neutrons.- Biography :...
and first issued in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
In the 1990s, Whitfield contributed tracks to Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
and Don Covay
Don Covay
Don Covay is an American R&B/rock and roll/soul music singer and songwriter most active in the 1950s and 1960s, who received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1994...
tribute albums, and recorded two albums with country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Tom Russell
Tom Russell
Thomas George "Tom" Russell is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Texas Country music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, Tex-Mex, and the cowboy music of the American West. Many of his songs have been recorded by other artists, including...
. His final album with the Savages, Ritual of the Savages, was released in 1995. In 1997, he began working with a New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
-based jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
and rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
octet
Octet (music)
In music, an octet is a musical ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or a musical composition written for such an ensemble.-Octets in classical music:Octets in classical music are one of the largest groupings of chamber music...
, The Movers. As well as continuing to perform in the UK and Europe, Whitfield has also contributed to film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
s, including the 2007 film, Honeydripper
Honeydripper (film)
Honeydripper is a 2007 American musical drama film written and directed by John Sayles.-Plot:Filmed and set in Alabama, the film stars Danny Glover as the owner of a blues club that is failing until he hires a young electric guitarist . The film also stars musician Keb' Mo', actor/comedian Kel...
.
In December 2010 Barrence reunited with original Savages Peter Greenberg (DMZ, Lyres, Customs) with Andy Jody (Gazelles!, Pearlene, Oxford Cotton, Long Gones) and Tom Quartulli on sax to perform two live shows and record a new Barrence Whitfield and The Savages record.
Discography
- Barrence Whitfield and the Savages, Mamou, 1984
- Dig Yourself, Rounder, 1985
- Call of the Wild EP, UK Demon/Rounder, 1987
- Ow! Ow! Ow!, Rounder, 1987
- Live Emulsified, Rounder, 1989
- Let's Lose It, France, New Rose, 1990
- Savage Tracks, France, New Rose, 1992
- Cowboy Mambo (with Tom Russell), East Side Digital, 1993
- Hillbilly Voodoo (with Tom Russell), East Side Digital, 1993
- Ritual of the Savages, Ocean Music, 1995
External links
- Barrence Whitfield official site
- AMG Guide P= 196065 AMG
- Article by John O'Neill, Barrence Whitfield still swings and rocks and belts out soul, The Worcester Phoenix, 1998