Barry Mann
Mann in 1974
Background information
Born	Barry Imberman (1939-02-09)February 9, 1939 (age 86) Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Genres	Pop country pop rock
Occupations	Musician songwriter
Instrument	Piano
Years active	1958–present
Spouse	Cynthia Weil ​ ​ (m. 1961; died 2023)​

Barry Mann (bornBarry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and was part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife,Cynthia Weil.

He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US.^[1]

Mann was born Barry Imberman^[2] on February 9, 1939,^[3] to a Jewish family^[4] inBrooklyn, New York City, United States.^[5] He was born two days before fellow songwriterGerry Goffin.

His first successful song as a writer was "She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)", a Top 20 chart-scoring song composed for the bandThe Diamonds in 1959. Mann co-wrote the song with Mike Anthony (Michael Logiudice). In 1961, Mann had his greatest success to that point with "I Love How You Love Me", written with Larry Kolber and a No. 5 scoring single for the bandThe Paris Sisters (seven years later, Bobby Vinton's version would reach the Top 10). The same year, Mann himself reached the Top 40 as a performer with anovelty song co-written withGerry Goffin, "Who Put the Bomp",^[5] whichparodied the nonsense words of the then-populardoo-wop genre.^[3][6]

Despite his success as a singer, Mann chose to channel his creativity into songwriting, forming a prolific partnership with Weil,^[5] a lyricist he met while both were staff songwriters at Don Kirshner and Al Nevin's companyAldon Music, whose offices were located in Manhattan, near the composing-and-publishing factory theBrill Building. Mann and Weil, who married in 1961,^[5] developed some songs intended to be socially conscious, with successes such as "Uptown" byThe Crystals, "We Gotta Get out of This Place" bythe Animals, "Magic Town" byThe Vogues, and "Kicks" by Paul Revere & the Raiders.^[5] Mann and Weil were disturbed when "Only In America", a song they had written with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and conceived originally for and recorded by the Drifters as a protest against racial prejudice, was re-worked by Leiber and Stoller into an uncontroversial success for Jay & The Americans.

As of May 2009^[update], Mann's song catalog lists 635 songs.^[7] He has received 56 popular music, country, and Rhythm & Blues awards fromBroadcast Music Inc., and 46 Millionaire Awards for radio performances numbering more than one million plays.^[8] The song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", co-written with Weil andPhil Spector,^[5] was the most played song of the 20th century, with more than 14 million plays.

Mann has composed songs for movies, most notably "Somewhere Out There", co-written with Weil andJames Horner, for the 1986 animated movieAn American Tail.Linda Ronstadt andJames Ingram performed the song as a duet during the movie's closing credits; their version was released as a single, which scored No. 2 on theBillboard chart and became a "gold"-scoring record. "Somewhere Out There" would win two 1987Grammy Awards, asSong of the Year andBest Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television. "Somewhere Out There" was also nominated for a 1986 Oscar as best song, but lost to "Take My Breath Away" fromTop Gun (a film that featured the Weil-penned "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" in a key scene). Mann's other movie work includes thescores forI Never Sang for My Father andMuppet Treasure Island, and songs forNational Lampoon's Christmas Vacation andOliver & Company.

Mann co-wrote, withDan Hill, the song "Sometimes When We Touch", which scored No. 3 on theBillboard Hot 100.^[5]

In 1987, Mann and Weil were inducted into theSongwriters Hall of Fame.^[3] In 2011, they received the Johnny Mercer Award, the greatest honor from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[9]

Mann and Weil were named among the 2010 recipients ofAhmet Ertegun Award from theRock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[10] Mann and Weil operated a publishing company named Dyad Music.^[11]

Mann was married to Cynthia Weil from 1961 until her death in 2023.^[12] They had one daughter,Jenn. They resided inBeverly Hills, California.^[13]

• Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil Official website
• Barry Mann atIMDb
• Barry Mann discography atDiscogs

• 1939 births
• 20th-century American Jews
• 21st-century American Jews
• Grammy Award winners
• Jewish American songwriters
• Living people
• Musicians from Brooklyn
• Musicians from Beverly Hills, California
• Songwriters from California
• Songwriters from New York (state)

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from May 2009
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• Use mdy dates from June 2023