Barry Sea
Barry was born in The Bronx and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey. His epiphany about music occurred at an Alan Freed Rock and Roll show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, when he was 14 years old. At this show, many future hall of famers performed including Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, The Drifters, The Coasters, etc. But it was tenor sax players King Curtis, Sam “The Man” Taylor and Little Richard's bandleader, who he later learned was Houston's own Grady Gaines, who served as his inspiration.
Barry convinced his family to buy him a tenor sax, and within three months, he came in second in a talent show with his first group. A few years later he cut an instrumental record on the "Jeff" Label called "Swerv," Shortly thereafter, thanks to a new dance sensation called "The Twist," rock musicians were in demand and Barry joined "The Royal Teens." This group was famous for a huge hit called "Short Shorts," recorded a few years before Barry joined the group. So, Barry went to college by day, and played Alan Freed's Camelot Club in Manhattan at night. But his dream was to write and produce hits for a record company. He recorded his second song "The Rooster" with the “Golden Tones,” and then began writing and serving as an independent music producer while still playing a wide variety of clubs in New York and New Jersey. He often served as a back-up musician for rock stars such as Gary U.S. Bonds and the Coasters. As leader of “The Wannabe Herd,” Barry wrote, produced, sang and played sax on "Everybody's on Strike.” This song was released originally on Cobblestone and then again on Buddah Records with moderate success. What should have been his big break occurred when he wrote the smash hit "Moonflight." Royalty checks proved much smaller than he hoped, and Barry made the difficult decision to switch careers.
Barry entered the advertising field thinking he could use his talents to write jingles for television commercials, which did not occur until much later in his career. He became an account executive with a small New York City ad agency that specialized in the niche area of recruitment. It was there that he met the person who would indirectly introduce him to Bobbie, his future wife, who was a drummer at the time. When his employer went out of business, Barry landed with Bernard Hodes Advertising (now Bernard Hodes Group). Eventually, after what Barry calls the toughest sale he ever made, he did marry Bobbie. After the birth of Debbie, their first child, the couple gave up the music business for a more traditional lifestyle. They moved to Houston where Barry started a branch office for Bernard Hodes. Shortly thereafter they had another daughter, Niki.
Barry's career prospered and he eventually rose up the executive ranks to the position of President. He wrote the book “The Keys to Successful Recruiting and Staffing, and the publication "Human Resources Outsourcing Today" named Barry the founder of Recruitment Process Outsourcing, and one of the superstars of Human Resources Outsourcing.
Barry’s re-entry into the music field can be traced to 1991, when he was asked to help to recruit young people from minority communities to become police officers. A tough task, yet Barry convinced Houston's mayor, Police chief and City Council that a rap song would get the job done. Barry hadn't picked up his sax for quite a few years, and he knew nothing about rap music, so he set out to hire a group to put the music together. Coincidentally, he happened to turn on MTV to see an interview with M.C. Hammer, a rap superstar at the time. To Barry's amazement, M.C. Hammer explained that all his background music was taken from James Brown—an artist who's music Barry and, his wife, Bobbie knew well. So, they opted to write and produce the music video for the Houston Police Department themselves. It was a huge success due in part to having George Foreman as the spokesperson. But Barry and Bobbie put their instruments back in the closet until their oldest daughter, Debbie asked them to sit in with the band at her wedding.
As a total coincidence, Debbie booked Grady Gaines and his band to play at her wedding. When Barry met Grady, he couldn’t believe that this was the very same sax player from Little Richard’s Band that had inspired him to take up the tenor sax decades previously. Barry and Bobbie ended up “sitting in” with the band to the delight of many a wedding guest. In fact, two members of the band, Yvette Busby and Luke Wayne Richards (a.k.a. Kool Hand Luke), encouraged them to keep playing. They did not, due to demanding schedules, until three years later at the wedding of their second daughter, Niki.
The same scenario played out again for Barry and Bobbie. Guests were astonished at their talent, asking where they could go and hear them play. This time, Barry and Bobbie decided to keep practicing……and practicing…..and practicing.
To Barry’s shock and amazement he thinks he’s been able to re-capture virtually everything he could do on the sax decades previously. But he’s been able to blend his old style with the smooth jazz sounds of today. As a result, his sound is quite unique.
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