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| What the hell? His life, man. |
Raise your hand if you know the song, “1-2-3,” the 1965 break-out hit for Len Barry, aka, Leonard Borisoff. Unlike a lot of the one-hit artists I've reviewed, the West Philadelphia raised Barry didn’t grow up with stars in his eyes; his voice impressed his Coast Guard buddies enough for them to talk him into trying. The fame-bug took and, for good or ill, it hasn’t let go.
Len Barry makes for a complicated case. For one, I can’t (easily) find interviews, a fan page, or any worthwhile biography, never mind a useful one. The richest source I found was a classicbands.com interview with his bandmate from The Dovells, Mark Stevens. Unfortunately, Stevens is a better talker than storyteller, so, when it comes to The Dovells and Barry, he passes on list of names he/they have performed with (I have more on the Dovells below) and has an understandable, but still odd fixation on name-dropping certain venues. On the plus side, Stevens gets you through the reasons Barry and The Dovells went their separate ways in less than two tweets’ worth of characters (way less, actually):
“Len Barry left in 1963. When he left, it was really because he wanted to be a Rhythm and Blues singer. I had even left for a couple of years because I wasn't happy anymore. I came back in the mid-60s, forever. Jerry and I decided if we're going to be in this business for the rest of our lives, we gotta go to Reno and Tahoe. We have to be the comedic rock 'n roll act that we knew we were years ago, when we were kids.”
That interview doesn’t unlock any big secrets – the salacious stuff tops out with Stevens slagging off on Barry’s management team (“small time stuff”) – but The Dovells did keep living a version of the life, performing 180 days of the year in their prime, and doing what they (except Barry) liked doing. Stevens does, however, deliver one vivid line on Barry:
“He was a real character and the character I'm talking about, I'm saying from a personal standpoint. He was a real Damon Runyan character. Truly, one of the true Damon Runyan characters of the world. But, as a business person? Forget about it!”
(Raise your hand if you know who Damon Runyan is.)
