Barry Wood[1] (February 12, 1909 - July 19, 1970), was an American singer and television producer. He is best known for being Frank Sinatra's predecessor as the lead male vocalist on the long running NBC radio program Your Hit Parade.[2].
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Wood was the younger brother of bandleader Barney Rapp.[3] He attended Yale (where he swam and played water polo)[4] and was a sideman for Buddy Rogers's band.[5] He left to become a singer and eventually signed on at Your Hit Parade, where he maintained his popularity for several years and was promoted as the nation's "sweater boy" (a counterpart to the sweater girl pin-ups popular in the World War II era).[4]
Wood was identified with several significant wartime records. In 1941 he was the first to record Irving Berlin's "Any Bonds Today?" and "Arms for the Love of America".[4] In 1942, recording as Barry Wood and the Wood Nymphs, he had a hit with "We Did It Before (And We Can Do It Again)", written by Charles Tobias and Cliff Friend; this song became a popular wartime anthem, and was later used in a number of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoons.[6] Another notable song he recorded for a war bond drive was called "Ev'rybody Ev'ry Payday", written by Tom Adair and Dick Uhl, and heavily promoted by the radio division of the United States Treasury to encourage workers to purchase bonds through payroll deductions.[7] [8]
According to author Will Friedwald, Wood had "an interesting voice, gray and appropriately woody", and a "sort of robust charm", but "his super-stiff rhythm makes him tough to listen to today."[2]
Sinatra replaced Wood on Your Hit Parade in 1943. Wood had his own show on NBC from 1943 to 1945, first called The Million Dollar Band and then (with Patsy Kelly as co-star) the Palmolive Party.[9] He later became a television producer[3] and died in 1970.
References
edit- ^ According to a 1941 article in Time magazine, his birth name was "Lou Rapaport". "Berlin-Washington Axis", TIME, June 23, 1941. Note, however, that his brother Barney Rapp's birthname is generally given with the spelling "Rappaport".
- ^ a b Will Friedwald, Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer's Art (Da Capo Press, 1997), ISBN 9780306807428, pp. 127-128 & n.3 (excerpt available at Google Books}.
- ^ a b William F. Lee, American Big Bands (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005), ISBN 9780634080548, p. 73 (excerpt available at Google Books).
- ^ a b c "Berlin-Washington Axis", TIME, June 23, 1941.
- ^ Lee, p. 122 (excerpt available at Google Books).
- ^ M. Paul Holsinger, War and American popular culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999), ISBN 9780313299087, p.329 (excerpt available at Google Books).
- ^ Kathleen E.R. Smith, God bless America: Tin Pan Alley goes to war (University Press of Kentucky, 2003), ISBN 9780813122564, p.45 (excerpt available at Google Books).
- ^ Billboard, November 14, 1942, p.62.
- ^ John Dunning, On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Oxford University Press US, rev. ed. 1998), ISBN 9780195076783 (excerpt available at Google Books).
External links
edit- Barry Wood at IMDb
American male singers | Big band singers | American radio personalities | American pop singers | 1909 births | 1970 deaths | People from New Haven, Connecticut
Other
edit- Yet another Barry Wood!
- Best known as the singer who preceded Sinatra on Your Hit Parade --see footnote her for more details about his career [1]
- I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
- Barney Rapp
- The Happy Gang
- [2] and [3] (birth/death dates, but perhaps not WP:RS)
- played with Buddy Rogers[4]
- http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-8269041.html (Boston Globe column mentions him, birth name Louis Rapp, younger brother of bandleader Barney Rapp, attended Yale, and then played sax in 1931 with the Buddy Rogers band, etc.)
- [5] brief Time 1941 profile--says he was born in New Haven, Louis Rapaport (not Rapp),
- Encyclopedia of old time radio [6] and other pages; after Your Hit Parade, in 1943-44 Hosted The Million Dollar Band on NBC with Patsy Kelly; 1945-46 Johnny Presents (Philip Morris) on NBC.
- see Snooky Lanson for a model singer stub: Categories: American male singers | Big band singers | American television personalities | American pop singers | Bell Records artists | Starday Records artists | 1909 births | 1970 deaths | United States pop singer stubs, people from New Haven?
- We did it before (and we can do it again) [7] {redir to Charles Tobias)
- Became a TV producer: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0939563/
([ excerpt available] at Google Books).</ref>
- ^ John Dunning, On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Oxford University Press US, rev. ed. 1998), ISBN 9780195076783 (excerpts available at Google Books).
- ^ "Berlin-Washington Axis", TIME, June 23, 1941.
- ^ William F. Lee, American Big Bands (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005), ISBN 9780634080548 ([http://books.google.com/books?id=un9rWzvn8lgC&printsec=frontcover#PPA73,M1 excerpt available at Google Books).