Barry Harris has been a music junkie all his life, in one way or another. He plays guitar, bass, and piano…even sings. He is an artist, songwriter, producer, remixer, and currently one of the fastest-rising DJs in clubland. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Barry now resides in both Los Angeles and Brooklyn, New York.
In the last eleven years, Barry has been involved with fifteen charting tracks on Billboard’s ” Dance Music Club Play/Singles Sales” chart under his own name and various other guises. Since 1998 Barry and his partner Chris Cox, as the hitmaking production/remix team of Thunderpuss, have had another 34 charting tracks – 17 of which have gone to #1. Most notable, however, is Barry’s own track, Dive Inthe Pool with vocals by Pepper Mashay, which capped the chart at #2 in 2000, only to be topped by Madonna’s Music. Dive not only became one of the biggest club anthems of the year, but it was also the second biggest selling dance track next to Music, and it became the theme song for Showtime’s Queer As Folk. Barry has worked with such distinguished artists as Whitney Houston, Jennifer Holliday, Pet Shop Boys, Eurythmics, Celine Dion, Amber, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Backstreet Boys, Gloria Estefan, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Donna Summer, Deborah Cox, Lara Fabian, and the list continues… Barry and Chris’s remix of Madonna’s “Don’t Tell Me” reached #1 in January 2001, only to be surpassed by their own production Papa’s Got a Brand New Pig Bag, which in turn was succeeded by their remix of Tamia’s Stranger In the House.
Barry’s first success as a producer/songwriter/artist came in 1988 with his very first effort, I Beg Your Pardon, by Kon Kan. This track became an international smash, charting top 5 around the world, #3 in the UK, and #15 on Billboard Top 100. In 1989, he went on to win Canada’s version of the Grammy, the Juno Award, for “Best Dance Recording of the Year”.
His DJ career actually began in 1983 in Toronto, playing in trendy gay bars and straight clubs. Although he had reached celebrity status as a DJ in Canada, he was virtually unknown in America. When he moved to LA in 1998 his Djing was put on hold while he collaborated with Cox and began producing Thunderpuss hits. Missing the rush of performing in front of crowds, Barry had hopes of breaking into the Circuit scene… It wasn’t long before Barry was getting booked at some of the most prestigious clubs in America and some of the biggest Circuit Parties in the world. He even went on a successful tour of Japan in September 2000. He plays regularly at NYC’s Twilo, San Francisco’s Universe, Factory in Los Angeles, Axis in Columbus, and Detroit’s Temple. When not in the studio or at any of the above clubs, Barry can be heard anywhere from Dallas, to Vancouver, to Miami, to Chicago, to Denver. He has played at such impressive parties as Sydney’s Sleaze Ball (before 16,000), Chicago’s Fireball Recovery, Aspen’s Gay Ski Week, and Decadance in New Orleans.
