Barbara Harris (singer)

:For other people with this name, please see the disambiguation page.

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Barbara Harris was the lead singer of the R&B group The Toys. She was born on August 18, 1945 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. She moved to New York City at age 11.

Related Topics:
R&B - The Toys - August 18 - 1945 - Elizabeth City, North Carolina - New York City

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In high school, Barbara was asked to be part of a group with four other young singers, Barbara Parritt Toomer, June Montiero, Betty Stokes and Betty Blocker. They would sing on street corners coming home from school. Eventually Ms. Stokes and Ms. Blocker left the group, while the two Barbaras and June formed a trio. Bobby Uri, a manager friend, named the group "The Charlettes" and took them to the famous Brill Building at 1650 Broadway in Manhattan, where they began doing background vocal work for several recording artists.

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At a talent show in Brooklyn, NY, they met Eddy Chase, who introduced them to people who would be very instrumental in launching their career, notably, Mr. Bob Crew of DynaVoice Records. Their manager, Mr. Vince Mark, renamed the group "The Toys" and landed their first recording contract.

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"The Toys" were then teamed up with writers Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell who took a classical finger exercise from Bach and put a Motown bassline to it. "A Lovers Concerto" was born. The song soon rose to number one. They followed that up with another hit, "Attack", also written by Ms. Linzer and Mr. Randell, which climbed to the Top 10. The flip-side "See How They Run" was a local favorite. The Toys had another hit in 1968 when they covered Brian Hyland's "Sealed With a Kiss".

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Barbara Harris continues to perform at "Oldie Shows" as "The Toys" featuring Barbara Harris. She also sang with Mr. Joe Rivers, known the world over for Johnnie and Joe's classic hit, "Over The Mountain" and has produced and released her own CD, entitled "Barbara Now", for which she wrote all but two of the songs.

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