Singer and songwriter Barry Mann – born Barry Imberman on February 9, 1939 – is best known as one-half of a successful songwriting team with his wife Cynthia Weil. He began his musical career as both a performer and a songwriter. He achieved his first taste of success co-writing the Top 20 hit “She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)” for the Diamonds in 1959 and “I Love How You Love Me,” a number 5 hit for the Paris Sisters in 1961. As a performer, he scored a Top 40 hit in 1961 with the novelty rock / doo-wop song “Who Put the Bomp,” which became almost as classic as the doo-wop songs it parodied. He released several other singles as a solo artist, but they barely made the Hot 100. Marrying Cynthia Weil in 1961, the duo wrote iconic pop and rock classics including “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” (Eydie Gorme / 1961), “On Broadway” (The Drifters / 1963), “Walking in the Rain” (The Ronettes / 1964), “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (The Righteous Brothers / 1964), “We Gotta Get out of This Place” (The Animals / 1965), “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” (The Righteous Brothers / 1966), “Kicks” (Paul Revere & the Raiders / 1966), “Rock and Roll Lullaby” (B. J. Thomas / 1972), and many more. In total, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil scored nearly 100 hits on the US singles chart. At 14 million plays, their collaboration “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” was the most played song in the 20th century. Barry Mann has also co-written with other artists including Dan Hill’s “Sometimes When We Touch” and the Grammy Award-winning “Somewhere Out There,” co-written with Weil and film composer James Horner. Inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1987, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil received the Ahmet Ertegun award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Barry Mann’s wife and songwriting partner Cynthia Weil died on June 1, 2023, at the age of 82.
