Joe Barry, real name Joseph Barrios, is an American singer born on July 13, 1939 in Cut Off, Louisiana. Originally from a French-speaking Cajun background, he began his musical career in the late 1950s in the Gulf Coast region, influenced by swamp pop, a hybrid style mixing rhythm and blues, country, Cajun music and early rock 'n' roll. In 1961, he scored a national hit with his cover of "I'm a Fool to Care", a ballad originally recorded by Les Paul and Mary Ford in the 1950s. His version reached number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a swamp pop classic, characterized by his plaintive voice and slow, melodic arrangement. Despite a few more recordings in the 1960s, including "Teardrops in My Heart" (#63 in 1961), "Little Papoose" (1962), "Come What May" (1965) and other singles, he didn't achieve the same level of commercial success. Joe Barry gradually left the music industry over the following decade, partly for personal and health reasons. He returned briefly in 1977 with an album of the same name produced by Huey P. Meaux for ABC Records, then in 2002 with Been Down That Muddy Road, before retiring for good. He died in his hometown of Cut Off on August 31, 2004, at the age of 65.
