| Code | DS/UK/23345 |
| Name | Booth; Barry (15 August 1937-20 February 2021); British composer, conductor and pianist |
| Dates | 15 August 1937-20 February 2021 |
| Gender | Male (cisgender) |
| Place of Birth/Origin | West Riding, Yorkshire, England (born) |
| Relationships | Son of Ernest Booth (coal miner) |
| Biography | Barry Booth was a versatile musician. He was he first chorister to be awarded the Sir Edward Bairstow scholarship which enabled him to receive tuition in organ and general musicianship from Dr Melville Cook.
In 1955 Booth won a County Music Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. He studied piano and composition for three years, while flouting the Academys rules by playing in the citys jazz clubs by night. National Service followed, in the band of the Life Guards, before in the early 1960s he began working on national pop tours, as a bandleader and piano player for various musicians including Roy Orbison.
As a pianist, he was a sensitive accompanist, with the improvisational ability of a jazz musician and the strong left hand required for bar-room boogie-woogie. He was at home as a guest keyboardist with the BBC Concert Orchestra and equally so playing gypsy swing or regaling a packed pub with bawdy comic songs. |