BARRY COFFING

Biography

Barry Coffing, founder of UPRISING ENTERTAINMENT, is a versatile producer, songwriter, composer, singer and film/TV music professional. His songs have charted around the world, and include the #1 hit “How Do You Talk to an Angel.” Artists recording his songs include: Randy Travis, Michael McDonald,

Cyndi Lauper, Tiffany, The Neville Brothers, Randy Crawford and Jamie Walters, among others. Barry has produced tracks for Lee Greenwood, Michael McDonald, Thelma Houston, Tiffany, Irene Cara, Gary Pucket, Maureen McCormick and many others.

For the recent critically acclaimed film Moulin Rouge starring Nicole Kidman, he sang “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” For the award-winning HBO series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, he co-wrote a song specifically penned for and recorded by Cyndi Lauper. Barry also worked on VH1’s original movie, When the Music Stops (The Way She Moves), writing & co-producing the opening, end title & love themes. Barry also sang duets with Vonda Shephard (Ally McBeal) for Catwalk and Winnie the Pooh’s Grand Adventure.

Barry’s music has appeared numerous film and TV projects including: 20 Dates, The Brady Bunch Movie, The Heights, California Dreams, Richie Rich, Mystic Pizza, The Newlywed Game, Extremities and The Thin Pink Line, to name only a few.

Barry began singing in clubs at the age of fourteen. Shortly after his first job he auditioned for, and was accepted into the High School for the Performing Arts. After graduation he was offered several scholarships to sing opera. He accepted one, but continued to perform popular music at night. Professors finally asked him to choose between his opera scholarship and the pop world. Needless to say, he left school and continued playing in clubs. During this time he became a top jingle singer and his bands packed the clubs.

Barry also tried his hand at acting and was doing quite well when his name came to the attention of superstar songwriter Barry Mann. Tyrell/Mann was looking for new artists, writers, and producers to sign to the their company. Barry Coffing was all three combined, and they flew him to Los Angeles for a meeting. On that trip Barry placed a song he wrote, sang and produced in the Farah Fawcett film Extremities. It took four more trips and three more movie songs to convince him to move to L.A.

Working with Barry Mann and Steve Tyrell, Barry continued to flourish—writing and producing hit songs for films, TV shows and other artists. In 1992, a song he wrote, “How Do You Talk to an Angel,” became a #1 hit in the U.S., and was the only TV theme in history to stay #1 for more than one week on the U.S. charts. The record was certified gold and the song was nominated for an Emmy ® Award.

Barry also worked as a musical director on concert tours for artists such as Randy Crawford, Ruth McCartney and Rosalynd Kind. Naturally, this close contact resulted in his writing numerous songs for those artists. The songs include the Randy Crawford hits “All It Takes Is Love,” “If I Were In Your Shoes” and “Cigarette In the Rain” as well as Ruth McCartney’s most recent single, “Russian Nights.”

Barry not only co-produced the record, but sang background vocals on the original soundtrack of The Heights. For Catwalk Barry sang both the lead and most of the background vocals on both the show and album for Atlantic Records. Barry is also the voice of Jake on NBC’s California Dreams. Barry co-wrote the theme and most of the songs (along with playing keyboards), and did all of the vocal arrangements as well. If that wasn’t enough, he’s also the voice of Peter Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie for Paramount Pictures and co-wrote three, and sang two of the songs for the film’s soundtrack. Barry produced albums for both Maureen McCormick and the star of the Disney film, Gordy, Kristy Young. In addition to touring with Maureen, he worked on her second solo record.

Barry has lectured on the music business at USC, Vanderbilt and The University of Houston.