MC Richard Silverberg opens
the 23rd October meeting.
It was an entertaining morning for the Pattaya City
Expats Club at their Sunday, October 23rd meeting at
the Amari’s Tavern by the Sea Restaurant. Master of Ceremonies Richard
Silverberg introduced Barry Upton and noted that his many talents include
being a musician, music producer, music arranger, songwriter, performer,
nightclub DJ, and radio/TV presenter.
Barry didn’t waste any time demonstrating his musical
talent as he started off playing a ukulele and singing The Lazy Song.
Barry said he sang this song using the ukulele because if it is a good song,
you can play it on a simple instrument. He then switched to the guitar and
sang two more songs, You’re Sixteen and Oh Carol.
Barry plays some of his
songs.
After that introduction, Barry gave some of his
background including that his parents wanted him to have a proper job; which
lasted for about 5 years with his playing in a band during his off hours. At
the age of 21, he went to Denmark and set out on his musical career full
time. He started his recording career in 1978 when he joined a resident
‘Mecca’ band in a South Wales nightclub resulting in his first UK single
release as a writer/performer.
After a chance meeting in a London studio, Barry was
approached by another band that was looking for a replacement for one of
their members. Barry said at the time, that particular band was not one of
his favorites, but after telling his mother, he found out that was one of
her favorite bands which raised his standing as a musician in her eyes. So,
from 1980 to 1984, he was a musician and frontline member with
Brotherhood Of Man. Touring with the band put him around studios and
famous musicians and earned him his first UK chart hit. In 1985 he took a
job as a nightclub DJ and during this part of his career was a celebrity DJ
in London’s Hammersmith Palais. In the 90’s, he said dance music took
a bad turn so he decided to try country music. He went to Nashville where
songwriting was like a science. He returned to the UK where line dancing was
becoming popular and started performing country music.
At this point, Barry again took up the guitar and sang “Save
Your Kisses for Me.” He then showed a video of another song entitled “5,
6, 7, 8,” and described how he came to write the song as part of the
then popular line dancing fad. He also mentioned how he got into having his
own music production studio. During this time, Barry said that he made a 5
record deal with Simon Cowell, well known for his role on the US TV show
American Idol. The deal was for kid’s music aimed at 5 to 8 year olds. Barry
said in doing the albums, he realized that he didn’t need to be in the UK -
he could do them anywhere. Having visited Thailand, he uprooted and moved
here.
‘Frugal Freddy’ special
interest group coordinator, ‘Hawaii Bob’ Sutterfield advises the activity
for the week & restaurants to be visited, followed by the lucky draw for
members. Member Len Levine followed by conducting the Open Forum, your
source for information on all aspects of living in Thailand.
He brought everyone up to date on his activities in
Pattaya where he has his morning show on Pattaya station FM9600 and
mentioned his latest endeavor is to produce some television shows. He then
sang his theme song for his radio show, Come On, Get Up, which he
said has not been released yet. He also noted that he has played at a few
venues around Pattaya including the Blues Factory, which has a different
style of music - Barry then demonstrated how he changed the style for
Save Your Kisses for Me to fit in.
Barry said that Pattaya’s reputation is not really
deserved as it has so much more to offer than the bar scene. Currently, he
is working on getting a new song that has been put on a music video to extol
the virtues of Pattaya to be adopted for the promotion of Pattaya tourism.
He then showed the music video for Pattaya Wonderland, which in
addition to many others also features our own Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome.
Barry concluded by saying that he loved songwriting as it
is the creative part of music. He said that lots of people can write songs,
it is just that most don’t know how to get started. He then gave some tips
for those that might want to include songwriting in their future.
After Barry answered many questions, Master of Ceremonies
Richard Silverberg called on Len Levine to conduct the always interesting an
sometimes humorous Open Forum.
