Paul Michael Barry is a British songwriter and musician. Some of his best-known songs he has co-written include " Believe" by

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

, "

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...

" and "

Bailamos "Bailamos" ( en, "We Dance") is a single by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias sung in Spanglish. The song was released in 1999 as part of the soundtrack to the film ''Wild Wild West'' (1999) and later as the lead single from Iglesias's fourth and ...

" by

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...

and 5 times platinum single in the US "

Let It Go "Let It Go" is a song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'', whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert L ...

" by James Bay. He has won three

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

and

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

PRS writer of the year 2000. He has scored three US number-one singles, as well as other number-ones around the world. His songs have been recorded by

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost par ...

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

, James Morrison,

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...

Lemar Lemar Obika (born 4 April 1978), known as Lemar, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially rising to fame after finishing third on the first series of British talent show ''Fame Academy'', he was later signed to Sony BMG ...

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta), Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger (UK band), Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ' ...

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

Lara Fabian Lara Sophie Katy Crokaert (born January 9, 1970), better known as Lara Fabian, is a Belgian-Canadian pop singer and songwriter. She has sold over 20 million records worldwide as of 2021Broadway World (2017)"Lara Fabian annule finalement sa tourn ...

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

, Esmee Denters,

JLS JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing) are an English boyband, which consists of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill, originally formed by Williams. They initially signed to Tracklacers production company ...

Rebecca Ferguson Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström (born 19 October 1983) is a Swedish actress. She began her acting career with the Swedish soap opera ''Nya tider'' (1999–2000) and went on to star in the slasher film ''Drowning Ghost'' (2004). She came to in ...

, the Vamps,

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado (; ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Furtado has sold over 40 million records worldwide making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. She first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired deb ...

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress. She released her first album, ''The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and ...

Mica Paris Michelle Antoinette Wallen (born 27 April 1969), known professionally as Mica Paris (), is an English singer, presenter and actress. Paris was born in Islington in North London, but moved to Brockley, South London, when she was nine. She rel ...

Andrew Roachford Andrew Roachford (born 22 January 1965) is a British singer-songwriter and the main force behind the band Roachford, who scored their first success in 1989 with the hit record, hits "Cuddly Toy (song), Cuddly Toy" and "Family Man". He has als ...

, and

Tom Walker (singer) Thomas Alexander Walker (born 17 December 1991) is a British singer-songwriter. He was trained at the stage school London College of Creative Media, and was given a contract soon after. He rose to fame after the release of his single " Leave a ...

among others.

Career

Barry was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland where his band first signed with Bruce Findlay's Zoom Records as lead singer with

the Questions The Questions were a Scottish pop band, active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. History They formed in the summer of 1977 at St. Augustine's High School in Edinburgh, and performed their first gig in December of that year at St. Marga ...

while still at high school. Whilst attending University, he went on to pursue his dream with his band, who were signed to

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

's Respond record label. He co-wrote "The House That Jack Built" for

Tracie Young Tracie Young (often just billed as Tracie; born 25 March 1965) is a former English pop singer in the 1980s. She achieved success after becoming a protégée of Paul Weller. Career Born in Derby, England, Young was discovered by The Jam frontma ...

which reached number 9 on the UK charts in 1983. In the 1990s, Barry was a member of the Eurodance

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, jazz, funk, soul, disco, electronic and latin. Origin Although artists have been mixing reggae with other genres from as ...

group Dreamhouse, best known for their covers of "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

" and "

Sha La La "Sha La La" is a song written by Robert Mosely (whose name is spelled "Moseley" on the record) and Robert Taylor. The Shirelles released the original version of the song as a single in 1964 which reached #15 on the U.S. R&B chart and #69 on the U ...

". He then continued his songwriting career, writing for many artists, including five songs on the multi-platinum LP '' Believe'' by

, including " Strong Enough" and "Believe". He also co-wrote the Cher songs "

Song for the Lonely "Song for the Lonely" (originally titled "(This is) A Song for the Lonely") is a song by American singer Cher from her twenty-fourth studio album, '' Living Proof'' (2001). It was written by Mark Taylor, Paul Barry and Steve Torch, and produce ...

" and "

The Music's No Good Without You "The Music's No Good Without You" is a song recorded by American singer Cher for her twenty-fourth studio album, '' Living Proof''. It was released in the United Kingdom on November 5, 2001, by WEA, while in the United States, it was released ...

" from the '' Living Proof'' album. Barry has also worked with

, initially writing for and later collaborating with him. He has been a source of eight singles from four albums of Iglesias, including "Hero", "Bailamos" and " Be with You", the latter two songs reaching the number one spot on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Hero" stayed at number three in the US for four weeks, and was number one in the UK and several other countries. Other hits include "

Rhythm Divine "Rhythm Divine" ("Ritmo Total" in Spanish countries) is a song by Spanish recording artist Enrique Iglesias, taken from his fourth studio album and debut English-language record ''Enrique'' (1999). It was released on 26 October 1999 by Interscop ...

", " Love to See You Cry" and " Not in Love" (featuring

Kelis Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Perform ...

). Barry worked with Lionel Richie for his ''

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

'' album, co-writing six songs, including the singles "Angel", "Don't Stop the Music" and "Tender Heart", then on five songs for Richie's '' Just for You'' album, including the title track, which Richie re-recorded on his No. 1 US album '' Tuskegee''. Barry co-wrote the Bryan McFadden/Delta Goodrem duet "Almost Here (Brian McFadden and Delta Goodrem song), Almost Here", which first brought the two artists together, and was number one in Ireland and Australia, as well as number three in the UK. Barry worked with James Morrison on two songs for his ''Songs for You, Truths for Me'' album, including the first single "You Make It Real". He also contributed two songs for

's debut album ''JLS (album), JLS'' and "Another World" for the Vamps' debut album, ''Meet the Vamps''. Barry co-wrote James Bay's single "

" and

's song "Phoenix" (also co-written by Mark Taylor (music producer), Mark Taylor) for her sixth album ''The Ride (Nelly Furtado album), The Ride''. In 2013 and 2017, he worked with Shane Filan of Irish boy band Westlife on four tracks from the albums ''You and Me (Shane Filan album), You and Me'' and ''Love Always (Shane Filan album), Love Always'', which charted in the top 10 of both the UK Albums Chart, UK and Irish Albums Chart, Irish albums charts. Barry also co-wrote "Cry Out" with Tom Walker (singer), Tom Walker for his UK number one album ''What a Time to Be Alive (Tom Walker album), What a Time to Be Alive''. He co-wrote the single "Mama Said" from the

album ''Gospel (Mica Paris album)''. Paris also covered Barry's song "In Broad Daylight", written after the murder of George Floyd.

Selected singles discography

Awards

*ASCAP PRS, Writer of the year 2000 *ASCAP PRS, Song of the year 1999 "Believe" *ASCAP PRS, Song of the year 2002 "Hero" *IVOR NOVELLO, Best Song musically/lyrically 1998 "Believe" *IVOR NOVELLO, Best Selling UK single 1998 "Believe" *IVOR NOVELLO, International Hit of the year 1998 "Believe" *Nominated – IVOR NOVELLO, International Hit of year 2001 "Hero" *Nominated – IVOR NOVELLO, Best Selling UK single 2002 "Hero" *Grammy Awards, Best Dance Recording 2000 "Believe" *Nominated, Best Dance Recording 2001 "Be with You" *Nominated, Best Dance Recording 2002 "Angel"

References

External links

* * http://swisscharts.com/showperson.asp?name=Paul+Barry * http://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/awards/prs/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20110718214457/http://www.umusicpub.com/news_readmore.aspx?ID=1406 {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Paul Living people British songwriters Ivor Novello Award winners Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)