Introduction
Kenneth Valentine "Ken" Barnes (14 February 1933 – 4 August 2015) was a British writer, record producer, broadcaster, musicologist, film historian, film maker, songwriter and music publisher.
Born in Middlesbrough, he trained as a draughtsman after leaving the army, and moved to London where he worked in marketing for Polydor and Decca Records before becoming a record producer. In the 1970s he worked with Bing Crosby, Peter Sellers, Frankie Laine, Peggy Lee and Fred Astaire. In 1974, he convinced Johnny Mercer to record a two-disk collection of Mercer singing Mercer - with Johnny selecting his own favorites. These were the last recordings made by Mercer before his death in 1976.
Barnes also published several books, wrote liner notes for reissue albums, and wrote comedy scripts for BBC TV. He was the founder and CEO of The Laureate Company, a music and movie restoration Company. He wrote and delivered the DVD audio commentary on Citizen Kane (1941) and Holiday Inn (1942), starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. The DVD also contains a supplementary documentary A Couple of Song and Dance Men in which he appears with Fred Astaire's daughter, Ava Astaire-MacKenzie.
He died aged 82, after a long illness with diabetes.
Works
- Sinatra and the great song stylists (Ian Allan: 1972) ISBN 0-7110-0400-5
- 20 Years of Pop (Kenneth Mason: 1974) ISBN 0-85937-024-0
- The Crosby Years, by Ken Barnes (New York: St. Martins, 1980 ) ( London:Elm Tree Books,1980) ISBN 0-312-17663-5
- Anatomy of a Classic written,produced & directed by Ken Barnes(Film:Universal Home Video)
- A Couple of Song and Dance Men written,produced & directed by Ken Barnes (Film: Universal Home Video)
- Johnny Mercer -The Dream's On Me written by Ken Barnes,executive producer:Clint Eastwood, director:Bruce Ricker (TCM/Warner Home Video. Emmy Nomination 2010 "Best Non Fiction Special"
- "The Sea Dogs" A novel by Ken Barnes (SBPRA:2014) ISBN 978-1-62857-589-7