BARRY CORR

Barry was born in 1974 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and came to singing later in life. In his early years, he would have sang at family gatherings, such as Christmas and birthday parties, but this was only in the background, as he was too shy!! The first singers that made an impression on him were Shakin’ Stevens and Crystal Gayle. This was because his Dad used to play them when in the car!! During teenage years, mixing with friends at school led to a liking of rock/metal bands. This was a time to grow your hair long and look like one of them. He also attended concerts when favourite bands such as AC/DC and Aerosmith came to town. During school years some friends were learning guitar and Barry also learned a few chords. Barry sang on cover songs with a friend on guitar outside of school hours. These tapes have however been lost in the mists of time!! Barry also developed a liking for music played at discos and nightclubs through to university years, where he trained as an accountant. 

After qualifying as an accountant in his 20’s, he decided to travel the world. It was on a back-packing holiday to Australia in 2002 that he summoned the courage to sing. Of course, this was after a few drinks and encouragement at a karaoke bar!! He was joined on stage by an Australian friend for AC/DC’s  “Long way to the Top”, which went down very well with the locals and completely settled Barry’s nerves on the issue.  This Sydney joint thus became a regular for him during his time there. A lot of AC/DC songs were sung  and this managed to attract some members of the band who were based there.  George Young and Stevie Young were there, and ended up watching  and chatting with Barry. 

Other holiday spots were karaoke was sang were Hawaii, Spain and Greece. As Belfast has a troubled past, the opportunity for regular karaoke did not develop until the mid-2010’s. Barry then started singing at these bars and recording the songs on his phone. These included songs by David Bowie, Elvis, Toto, Bay City Rollers, Rolling Stones and Neil Diamond. These recordings were put on Soundcloud, and were noticed by Camelot Records, who offered Barry the opportunity to produce his own song. The idea was that instead of being  just a karaoke singer, he would be a singer with his own songs. Thus, “Roll the Dice” and “Birthday Song” were released with the help of Camelot Records in 2019 and 2020. Barry wrote the lyrics for both of these.  He then continued composing music and writing songs that are currently on Spotify.

While still managing an accounting practice, Barry has also appeared as an extra in a number of productions such as Game of Thrones, Line of Duty and Fair City.