Friedrich --

The Telegraph's Emily Bearn once visited Barry White at his black-and-gold San Diego mansion. The legend, it's pleasing to learn, knew how to make the lady feel good:

He plied me with sweet, Lebanese cakes (brought in on a gold plate by his son, Kevin); he invited me to touch his Steinway piano ("Feel it, sweetheart. It feels good"); and he frequently interrupted me to announce in a deep, syrupy baritone: "I like your questions, baby."

Some of us can say, "Feel it, sweetheart. It feels good" persuasively, and some of us, alas, just can't.

Bearn recalls the visit here.

Best,

Michael

Barry White seems to fit neatly into one category of artist, the man- or woman- of deep feelings who distrusts passion in their relations with other people and so invests in his or her art. A personality not unlike Michelangelo.

And he had another attribute essential for the artist--a belief in his own genius, and in his responsibility for his own genius. Really, without that, you might as hang it up artistically.

Posted by: Friedrich von Blowhard on July 6, 2003 6:17 PM

He also had a voice that could make any girl go all oozy inside.

Posted by: Deb on July 6, 2003 6:32 PM

Plus he's become a landmark. In the same way you can say, "Wow, what a Van Gogh scene!" and everyone knows what you're talking about, you can say, "Hey, sweetie, we're having a real Barry White moment here," and there's no need to explain. A cultural icon. Barry White makes me proud to be an American. What other country would kick up such a phenom?

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on July 6, 2003 7:51 PM

There's a hilarious blooper reel of Barry White circulating on the Net, outtakes of him trying and failing to do a radio ad in the 1970s or 1980s. You know Barry White had a remarkable voice when even the words "This asshole fucked these words up, man" sound good when spoken by him...

Posted by: James Russell on July 6, 2003 11:08 PM






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