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.
MC Richard Silverberg opens the 23rd October meeting.
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.
Barry plays some of his songs.
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
