Official announcement!; Netflix has officially announced the upcoming release of a new documentary centered on the life, legacy, and unmistakable voice of the late Barry White, one of the most iconic figures in soul and R\&B music history. The streaming giant revealed that the yet-to-be-titled documentary will premiere globally in…..
Often scorned by critics, the great soul singer was a musical prodigy whose romantic songs helped to create a new mode of modern masculinity
1975. PHOTO: DAVID REDFERN/GETTY IMAGES
By the time he died in 2003, at the age of 58, Barry White had been reduced to a caricature. A 6 foot 3, heavyset soul singer with a basso profondo voice, White dressed flamboyantly on stage and sang effusively about love and making love. Along the way, his name became a disco-era punch line; critics mockingly called him “Fat Barry” and “The Walrus of Love.” He was a performer who visually summed up the period’s excesses and rococo gaudiness.
But listening to White’s 1970s recordings today, it’s clear he was unfairly characterized and artistically shortchanged. The essence of his appeal can be found on “Barry White: 20th Century Records Albums 1973-1979” (Mercury/UMe), a 9-CD box of his remastered solo recordings due out Oct. 26. His caressing, intimate vocal style pioneered romantic soul—an R&B genre that flowered between 1972 and rap’s arrival in 1980. White’s music also helped shape disco in the early 1970s, giving the emerging genre a more luxurious and symphonic feel.
