Barry White was founder and maestro of the Love Unlimited Orchestra, a 40-piece orchestral group to be used originally as a backing band for the girl group Love Unlimited, that featured a groundbreaking synthesis of strings and funk-based percussion. Barry White became well known as a chart-topping soul artist for his blend of bass vocals and passionate delivery.
Considered handsome and deeply romantic by his many female fans and admired for the unique blend of soul and classical orchestral musical elements he created, White was often affectionately referred to as the 'Maestro' or the 'man with the velvet voice'. His portly physical stature led some in the popular press to make condescending jokes about his weight by referring to White as the 'Walrus of Love', a moniker considered disrespectful by many fans. Barry White was also referred to as 'the Sultan of Smooth Soul', but it was his role as brainchild of the funk-fueled, deep soul band, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, in which he was widely branded on several early albums as the group's Maestro, earning him the only documented nickname for which he and his musical colleagues were responsible.
White was born in Galveston, Texas and grew up in the high-crime areas of South Los Angeles, where he joined a gang at the age of 10. At 17, he was jailed for four months for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tyres.
While in prison, White listened to Elvis Presley singing 'It's Now or Never' on the radio, an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life. After his release, he left gang life and began a musical career at the dawn of the 1960s in singing groups before going out on his own in the middle of the decade. The marginal success he had to that point was as a songwriter; his songs were recorded by rock singer Bobby Fuller and TV bubblegum act the Banana Splits. He was also responsible in 1963 for arranging Harlem Shuffle for Bob & Earl, which became a hit in the UK in 1969.
While working on a few demos for a male singer, the record label suggested White step out in front of the microphone, to which he reluctantly agreed. His first solo chart hit, 1973's 'I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby', rose to number one in R&B and number three in pop.
The Love Unlimited Orchestra's recording of White's composition 'Love's Theme', on the album Rhapsody in White, reached number one on the Billboard Pop charts in 1974. It was one of only a handful of instrumental recordings ever to do so.
Other chart hits by White include 'Never, Never Gonna Give You Up' (1973), 'Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe' (1974), 'You're the First, the Last, My Everything' (1974), 'What Am I Gonna Do with You' (1975), 'Let the Music Play' (1976), 'It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me' (1977), 'Your Sweetness is My Weakness' (1978) and 'Change' (1982).
White is sometimes credited with ushering in the disco sound, seamlessly combining R&B music with classical music. Some also regard the song as the first hit in the actual disco era, but Nino Tempo & the 5th Ave Sax Band's song 'Sister James' had already reached the Billboard Hot 100 a few months before and had a disco sound in its own right.
In 1979, after six years, White left 20th Century to launch his own label, Unlimited Gold with CBS/Columbia Records. Although White's success on the pop charts slowed down as the disco era came to an end, he maintained a loyal following throughout his career. Despite several albums over the next three years he failed to repeat his earlier successes, with no singles managing to reach the Billboard Hot 100 except for 1982's 'Change', climbing into the Billboard R&B Top 20 at number 12. His label venture was exacting a heavy financial cost on White, so he concentrated on touring and finally folded his label in 1983.
After four years he signed with A&M Records, and with the release of 1987's The Right Night & Barry White, the single titled 'Sho' You Right' made it to the Billboard R&B charts, peaking at number 17.
In 1989 he released The Man Is Back! and with it had three top 40 singles on the Billboard R&B charts: 'Super Lover', which made it to number 34, 'I Wanna Do It Good to Ya', which made it to number 26 and 'When Will I See You Again', which made it to number 32.
After White took part in a Quincy Jones' record, 'The Secret Garden', which topped the R&B chart in 1990, he mounted an effective comeback with several albums, each one more successful than the last. He returned to the top of the charts in 1991 with the album Put Me in Your Mix, which reached number eight on the Billboard R&B Albums chart and the song by the same name reached number two on the Billboard R&B singles chart.
In 1994 he released the album The Icon Is Love which went to number one on the Billboard R&B album charts. The single 'Practice What You Preach' gave him his first number one on the Billboard R&B singles chart in almost 20 years, and it was nominated for a Grammy in the Best R&B Album category (it lost to TLC's CrazySexyCool).
White had been ill with chronically high blood pressure for some time, which resulted in renal failure in the autumn of 2002. He suffered a stroke in May 2003, after which he was forced to retire from public life. On July 4 2003, he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 58 from renal failure.White was cremated, and his ashes were scattered by his family off the California coast. He was a very good friend of Luciano Pavarotti, who said in an interview that White would be missed.
On September 20, 2004, he was posthumously inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in New York.