Paul Barry (songwriter)

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Paul Michael Barry is a British songwriter and musician. Some of his best-known songs include "Believe" by Cher, "Hero", "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias and 5 times platinum single in the US "Let It Go" by James Bay. He has won three Ivor Novello Awards and ASCAP PRS writer of the year 2000. He has scored three US number-one singles, as well as other number-ones around the world.

His songs have been recorded by James Bay, Lionel Richie, James Morrison, Celine Dion, Ricky Martin, Lemar, Craig David, Tina Turner, Britney Spears, Rod Stewart, Lara Fabian, Ronan Keating, Esmee Denters, JLS, Rebecca Ferguson, The Vamps, Nelly Furtado, Beverley Knight, Mica Paris, Andrew Roachford, and Tom Walker (singer) among others.^{[citation needed]}

He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland^{[citation needed]} where his band first signed with Bruce Findlay's Zoom Records as lead singer with The Questions while still at high school. Whilst attending University, he went on to pursue his dream with his band signed to Paul Weller's Respond Record label. He co-wrote "The House That Jack Built" for Tracie Young reaching number 9 in the UK charts.

Songwriting career[]

Barry has five songs on the multi-platinum Cher LP Believe, including "Strong Enough" and "Believe". He has also co-written more songs for Cher including "Song for the Lonely" and "The Music's No Good Without You" from the Living Proof album. Barry worked with Enrique Iglesias, initially writing for and later collaborating with him. He has been a source of eight singles from four albums for Iglesias: "Hero", "Bailamos” and "Be With You", the latter two songs reaching the number one spot on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Hero" stayed at number three in the US for four weeks, and was number one in the UK and several other countries. Other hits include "Rhythm Divine", "Love to See You Cry" and "Not in Love" (featuring Kelis).^{[citation needed]}

Barry worked with Lionel Richie for his Renaissance album, co-writing six songs, including the singles "Angel", "Don't Stop the Music" and "Tender Heart", then on five songs for Richie's Just for You album, including the title track, which Richie re-recorded on his No.1 US album Tuskegee (album).

He co-wrote the Bryan McFadden/Delta Goodrem duet "Almost Here", which first brought the two artists together, and was number one in Ireland and Australia, as well as number three in the UK. Barry worked with James Morrison on two songs for his Songs for You, Truths for Me album, including the first single "You Make It Real". He also contributed two songs to JLS debut album JLS and Another World to The Vamps debut album, Meet the Vamps.^{[citation needed]} Barry has co-written James Bay's single "Let It Go". He co-wrote Nelly Furtado's songs "Phoenix", also co-written by Mark Taylor, for her sixth album The Ride. In 2013 and 2017, he worked with Shane Filan of Irish pop band Westlife on four tracks from the albums You and Me and Love Always, which charted in the top 10 in both UK Albums Chart and Irish Albums Chart.

Paul Barry also co-wrote Cry Out with Tom Walker (singer) for his number one UK album What a Time to Be Alive (Tom Walker album). He co-wrote the single Mama Said from the Mica Paris album Gospel (Mica Paris album). Mica also covered Barry's song In Broad Daylight written after the tragic death of George Floyd.

Selected singles discography[]

Awards[]

• ASCAP PRS, Writer of the year 2000
• ASCAP PRS, Song of the year 1999 "Believe"
• ASCAP PRS, Song of the year 2002 "Hero"
• IVOR NOVELLO, Best Song musically/lyrically 1998 "Believe"
• IVOR NOVELLO, Best Selling UK single 1998 "Believe"
• IVOR NOVELLO, International Hit of the year 1998 "Believe"
• Nominated – IVOR NOVELLO, International Hit of year 2001 "Hero"
• Nominated – IVOR NOVELLO, Best Selling UK single 2002 "Hero"
• Grammy Awards, Best Dance Recording 2000 "Believe"
• Nominated, Best Dance Recording 2001 "Be with You"
• Nominated, Best Dance Recording 2002 "Angel"

References[]

External links[]

• Paul Barry at IMDb
• http://swisscharts.com/showperson.asp?name=Paul+Barry
• http://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/awards/prs/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20110718214457/http://www.umusicpub.com/news_readmore.aspx?ID=1406