White Music: The Barry White Story

by Tom Rubython

Overview

White Music is the first full length biography of the maestro, Barry White. White was born in Galveston in 1944. Melvin White, Barry’s father, was already married with two children of his own; something of which his mother Sadie Carter had no knowledge. Sadie and baby Barry soon returned to Los Angeles where a brother Darryl joined the family 16 months later.
She and her two sons made the best of their lives and lived happily in the Watts area of Los Angeles. As soon as he could walk and talk Barry displayed a musical bent, while Darryl became a young thug, terrorising the neighbours.

Sadie bought a piano, then a gramophone to help her son develop. He dazzled the church choir with his talents and was running it by the age of 12.

Barry’s life changed forever when his voice broke at 14. And from that moment, armed with a voice like no one else on the planet, he began a 15-year struggle to make it as a professional musician. Along the way he went to prison, got married, fathered five children and got divorced. Then he met his second wife Glodean and suddenly the path forward became clear. His first hit record was for his girl band, Love Unlimited. It was called Walking In The Rain With The One I Love. It was the song that made Barry White. His solo career took off after he got together with arranger, Gene Page and recorded an album called I’ve Got So Much To Give followed by Stone Gon’ and Can’t Get Enough. The albums made Barry White an international star and gave him the hit single that defined his life – You’re The First, The Last, My Everything.

For the next five years Barry White produced hit album after hit album for himself, Love Unlimited and the Love Unlimited Orchestra establishing him as one of the greats of music. He continued to perform around the world playing to huge audiences until his death in 2003 at the age of 58.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780990619925
Publisher:	The Myrtle Press
Publication date:	04/07/2018
Pages:	602
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

White Music is Tom Rubython’s first biography of a musician, but he felt uniquely qualified to undertake the task as he has been a Barry White fan from the age of 17 when White first burst onto the music scene. He has bought all of his albums over the years, first as cassettes, then CDs and finally iTunes. During the process of this book he listened again and again to every track Barry White ever wrote, produced or sung so that he could make sense of his life. He wanted to make sure that he wrote a complete biography that covered every facet of the maestro’s life as well as all of his music. Rubython is a former magazine and newspaper editor spanning the worlds of sport and business. For over 30 years he worked in business magazines editing, amongst others, BusinessAge, EuroBusiness and Spectator Business. Then he moved to sport, editing F1 Magazine, BusinessF1 and SportsPro before becoming a full-time biography writer. He wrote his first book in 1995, and there have been more than 20 since. He is best known for his motor racing biographies including Life of Senna, which has sold more than 250,000 copies across the world, and Shunt, the story of James Hunt, which has sold more than 70,000 copies. He also wrote And God Created Burton, the story of the life of Richard Burton, and Boy Plunger, the biography of legendary share trader Jesse Livermore. Rubython specialises in non-fiction storytelling and is passionate and methodical about the process of writing and researching the definitive biography. He starts with a determination to tell the full story of a person’s life, emphasising what is important and de-emphasising what is not, the two skills he believes are the crucial tools of any biographer.

Table of Contents

White Music – Chapter List CHAPTER 1: The End Came - Death of the maestro CHAPTER 2: The Errant Father - The beginning of Barry White CHAPTER 3: Musical Awakening - Talent shows through at early age CHAPTER 4: Growing up in South LA - Childhood CHAPTER 5: The Voice Emerges - All change at 14 CHAPTER 6: Guided by Destiny A love affair begins with astrology CHAPTER 7: A criminal goes to Jail - Barry White goes out of control CHAPTER 8: Epiphany - Release from juvenile prison CHAPTER 9: Meeting Mary - Emotional meltdown and alcoholism CHAPTER 10: A Murdering Brother Childhood marred CHAPTER 11: Seconds from Oblivion - A narrow escape CHAPTER 12: Marriage to Mary - A proper family and four children CHAPTER 13: Break out - First chance in the music business CHAPTER 14: Going to Hollywood - A paid job at last CHAPTER 15: Two Year Funk - Ups and downs of life CHAPTER 16: Meeting Gene Page - The first game changer CHAPTER 17: The Mustang Bronco Years - Bob Keane leads to Larry Nunes CHAPTER 18: Split from Mary - The final schism CHAPTER 19: Turning down Motown - Meeting Aaron and Abby Schroeder CHAPTER 20: The Love is Unlimited - Meeting the three girls CHAPTER 21: Making It Happen - Creating Love Unlimited CHAPTER 22: A Moment of Creative Truth - With Love Unlimited in the studio CHAPTER 23: So Much To Give - Enter Barry White, the singer CHAPTER 24: Regan’s Indecision - He says ‘no’ and then ‘yes’ CHAPTER 25: Loving Glodean - Getting it right second time around CHAPTER 26: Under the Influence - The second Love Unlimited album CHAPTER 27: Divorce and Remarriage -A proper family at last CHAPTER 28: Stone Gon’ -Second solo album – October 1973 CHAPTER 29: Rhapsody In Genius- Sheer orchestral brilliance CHAPTER 30: Feel the Heat - In Heat - third Love Unlimited album CHAPTER 31: The Signature Song - The breakthrough single - 1974 CHAPTER 32: Can’t Get Enough -Third solo album – August 1974 CHAPTER 33: Two more Orchestrals - Rounding off an extraordinary 1974 CHAPTER 34: Just Another Way to Say - Fourth solo album – March 1975 CHAPTER 35: Prolific Producer - Protégés fail to break though CHAPTER 36: Larry Nunes exits - Barry’s mentor checks out CHAPTER 37: Barry builds Barryland - Moving to dream house in Sherman Oaks CHAPTER 38: Money and Horses - All to play for CHAPTER 39: The Music Bursts Out - So many melodies CHAPTER 40: Family Bliss - 10 years together in harmony CHAPTER 41: Let the Music Play - Fifth and sixth solo albums – 1975 and 1976 CHAPTER 42: On Tour in the Seventies - A joyful time for all CHAPTER 43: Sings for Someone You Love - Seventh solo album – August 1977 CHAPTER 44: The Death of Larry Nunes- Only 48 and gone from a heart attack CHAPTER 45: The Man - Eighth solo album – September 1978 CHAPTER 46: A Label of His Own At Last - Ground-breaking but flawed deal with CBS CHAPTER 47: I Love to Sing the Songs - Ninth solo album and last with Twentieth CHAPTER 48: Unlimited Gold Takes Shape - Barry White’s musical revolution CHAPTER 49: The Message is Love - First album at CBS – 1979 CHAPTER 50: Sheet Music - 11th solo album – 1980 CHAPTER 51: Barry & Glodean - 12th solo album is a duet with wife – 1981 CHAPTER 52: Beware of Change - 13th solo album - 1981 CHAPTER 53: Darryl Dies - The end of a brother – 1982 CHAPTER 54: Dedicated to Change - 14th and 15th solo albums – 1982 and 1983 CHAPTER 55: Harmony of Purpose - A lifelong obsession with astrology CHAPTER 56: Death of a Friend -Marvin Gaye is murdered by his father CHAPTER 57: Down But Not Out - Upheaval and withdrawal CHAPTER 58: A New Label - A pseudo rapper emerges CHAPTER 59: The End of the Affair -Split from Glodean and secret daughter CHAPTER 60: The Man Is Back - Avoiding a career ending crisis CHAPTER 61: Extra-Curricular Music -Put Me in Your Mix 18th solo album - 1991 CHAPTER 62: Disaster at Sherman Oaks - Northridge earthquake shatters dream house CHAPTER 63: New House, Album, Start - Move to Las Vegas and the icon album CHAPTER 64: Life and Death Setbacks - Health fails and Sadie and Gene die CHAPTER 65: Staying Power - 20th and final solo album CHAPTER 66: The Last - The end of Barry White CHAPTER 67: Making Love with Barry A passion for what he sang