Barrence Whitfield (born Barry White, June 13, 1955) is an American soul and R&B vocalist, best known as the

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

for Barrence Whitfield & the Savages. White was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

. When he was a child, his family moved to

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...

, where he began singing in a gospel choir. While attending West Side High School he sang and played drums in rock,

prog-rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

bands.Clark, Alice, "Barrence Whitfield: Walk On The Wild Side"
Loudersound.com, September 7, 2015. "Once at West Side High School he grabbed every opportunity to perform, from taking part in productions of Broadway shows and musicals to playing in soul and funk bands.'"

1970s—1980s

In 1977, White enrolled at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

to study

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

. While in school, he worked in a

record shop A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record sho ...

in Brookline, Massachusetts named Good Vibrations, where his singing was heard by musician

Peter Greenberg Peter S. Greenberg (born January 20) is an American journalist. He is the CBS News Travel Editor, reporting regularly on ''The Early Show'', its replacement ''CBS This Morning'', and the ''CBS Evening News''. He may be best known as the Travel ...

of The Lyres. White adopted the stage name ''Barrence Whitfield'' to avoid being mistaken for superstar

Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...

and began performing with Greenberg and former members of the Lyres as Barrence Whitfield & the Savages. Biography by John Dougan at AllMusic/ref> Alice Clark, in a 2015 profile, wrote that Barrence "adopted his Whitfield moniker in tribute to Motown producer

Norman Whitfield Norman Jesse Whitfield (May 12, 1940 – September 16, 2008) was an American songwriter and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. allmusic Biography/ref> He has been credited as one of the creators of the Mo ...

." The band garnered a strong reputation for explosive 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 Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...

, Solomon Burke, and early

Don Covay Donald James Randolph (March 24, 1936 – January 31, 2015), better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s. His most successful recordings incl ...

." In 1984, the band released their self-titled debut album, mostly comprising

cover versions In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of obscure soul and R&B songs. It received good critical reviews. The following year, they released a second album, ''Dig Yourself'', on

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

. Their music was heard by English radio DJ

Andy Kershaw Andrew J. G. Kershaw (born 9 November 1959) is a broadcaster and disc jockey, predominantly on radio, and known for his interest in world music. Kershaw's shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, African music, spoken word ...

, who taped a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

performance for airplay in Britain, and brought them to the UK for a tour. Whitfield released a third album, ''Call of the Wild'', in the UK in 1987, featuring a new band line-up; 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 with such artists as

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

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 ...

, George Thorogood,

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was statione ...

, and Solomon Burke. Back home Whitfield earned seven

Boston Music Awards Founded in 1987, the Boston Music Awards are a set of music awards given annually that showcase talent in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Past shows have featured such notable talent as Aerosmith, Paula Cole, Esperanza Spalding, Boston, Rubyho ...

. A live album, ''Live Emulsified'', recorded in 1987–88, was followed by the album ''Let's Lose It'', produced by

Jim Dickinson James Luther Dickinson (November 15, 1941 – August 15, 2009) was an American record producer, pianist, and singer who fronted, among others, the band Mud Boy and the Neutrons, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Biography Dickinson was born in Lit ...

and issued in France.

1990s—present

In the 1990s, Whitfield contributed tracks to

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

and

tribute albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, and recorded two albums with

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer-songwriter

Tom Russell Thomas George Russell (born 1947/1948) is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Americana music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, rock, and the cowboy music of the American West. Man ...

. The album ''Ritual of the Savages'' was released in 1995. In 1997, he began working with a

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

-based

jump blues Jump blues is an up-tempo style of blues, usually played by small groups and featuring horn instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Appreciation of jump blues was renewed in the 1990s as ...

and

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

octet Octet may refer to: Music * Octet (music), ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or composition written for such an ensemble ** String octet, a piece of music written for eight string instruments *** Octet (Mendelssohn), 1825 compos ...

, The Movers. As well as continuing to perform in the UK and Europe, Whitfield has also contributed to

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s, including the 2007 film, '' Honeydripper''. In December 2010, Whitfield, Peter Greenberg (DMZ, Lyres, Customs), and Phil Lenker (Lyres) were joined by Andy Jody (Gazelles!, Pearlene, Oxford Cotton, Long Gones) and saxophonist Tom Quartulli to perform two live shows and record a new Barrence Whitfield and The Savages record. That album, ''Savage Kings'', was released on Spanish Label

Munster Records Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

and in the US on

Shake it Records Shake It Records (often stylized Shake It! Records) is a record label and record store in the Northside, Cincinnati, Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is co-owned by brothers Jim and Darren Blase. As of 2010, their record store had alm ...

. In 2013 Whitfield signed with

Bloodshot Records Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, which specializes in alternative country. History Bloodshot Records was founded in 1994 by Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller, and Eric Babcock, who knew each other from jobs ...

, on which he issued ''Dig Thy Savage Soul'' in September 2013. Whitfield again toured Europe, including an appearance on the BBC's '' Jools Holland Show''. A followup, ''Under the Savage Sky'', was recorded in January 2015 at UltraSuede studios and released in August of that year; Whitfield described the album as "giving the kids a musical karate chop to the head." A third album for Bloodshot, ''Soul Flowers of Titan'', was issued in 2018. ''Barrence Whitfield and the Soul Savage Arkestra: Songs from the Sun Ra Cosmos'' was issued by Modern Harmonic on May 3, 2019. The album features idiosyncratic covers of songs composed by the

Afrofuturist Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technocultur ...

bandleader

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...

. Co-produced by

Irwin Chusid Irwin Chusid (born April 22, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history t ...

and Brother Cleve and recorded over a span of 25 years, the album features collaborations with the Concussion Ensemble, Waitiki, Milton Reder (of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages and Four-Piece Suit), and others.

Discography

*''Barrence Whitfield and the Savages'', Mamou, 1984 *''Dig Yourself'',

Rounder Rounder(s) or The Rounder(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Rounders'' (1914 film), a comedy short * ''The Rounder'' (1930 film), a comedy short * ''The Rounders'' (1965 film), a western comedy * ''Rounders'' (film), a 1998 poker f ...

, 1985 *''Call of the Wild'' EP, UK

Demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

, 1987 *'' Ow! Ow! Ow!'',

, 1987 *''Live Emulsified'',

, 1989 *''Let's Lose It'', France, New Rose Records, 1990 *''Savage Tracks'', France, New Rose Records, 1992 *''Cowboy Mambo'' (with Tom Russell),

East Side Digital East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, 1993 *''Hillbilly Voodoo'' (with Tom Russell),

, 1993 *''Ritual of the Savages'', Ocean Music, 1995 *''Savage Kings'',

, 2011, rereleased

Shake It Records Shake It Records (often stylized Shake It! Records) is a record label and record store in the Northside, Cincinnati, Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is co-owned by brothers Jim and Darren Blase. As of 2010, their record store had alm ...

*''Dig Thy Savage Soul'',

, 2013 *''Under The Savage Sky'',

, 2015 *''Soul Flowers of Titan'', Bloodshot Records, 2018 *''Barrence Whitfield and the Soul Savage Arkestra: Songs from the Sun Ra Cosmos'', Modern Harmonic, 2019

References

External links

Barrence Whitfield official site
*

The Worcester Phoenix, 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Barrence 1955 births Living people Musicians from Jacksonville, Florida American rhythm and blues musicians Boston University alumni Rounder Records artists Bloodshot Records artists People from East Orange, New Jersey West Side High School (New Jersey) alumni