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Claudja Barry was born in Jamaica. The family relocated to Scarborough in Toronto, Ontario, Canada when Claudja was in pre-school age.
Discoguy; I'm really happy to get this chance to talk to you, I've been looking forward to it. You were born in Jamaica and then moved to Canada at an early age - how was that move for you? I mean coming from the sunny Jamaica to the cold Canada, that must be quite a difference.
"Well it was OK, you know. Because I wasn't very grounded in my birth country. So, it wasn't like I was missing the sun and the sea and the sand, it was just part of living in Jamaica. I didn't really miss anything. I really still do love Canada and I love the life that I was able to achieve and be a part of in Canada."
As I understand you're in Jamaica right now, right?
"Yes I am. I'm in Jamaica and it's really hot as hell. I should be downstairs by the sea talking to you, but it wouldn't be the best thing to be doing because it's like 98° outside right now, and I think I have as much color as I really need to look out good."
"So, I'm now experiencing what I missed as a kid by coming back to Jamaica for a little while. Just being in Jamaica to enjoy the heat, the 'Yah man!' and the all the other things Jamaica has. It's wonderful because it really is a fabulous place to be."
I've actually been to Jamaica once, we loved the island and the people. Everything was really really nice.
"Oh great! As you know the sun is shining and we're still alive so that's already a good thing, right!"
Right. Next up, when did you start singing and was that something you always wanted to do or did it more less just happen, or was someone discovering your voice resources?
"Well, it was a combination of all of that. I really enjoyed singing because I grew up with music at home. There was always music in the house. I was brought up in a very sort of religious home, there was always the hymns and there was always religious music. But my mother also loved operettas. She loved things like and , all of those Mozart sort of happy lively beautiful music. She also liked people like; Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, all that music was being played. She loved the evergreens.
My dad wasn't really a music fan, he rather enjoyed having his friends around playing Domino's and things like that.
But music was always a part of my upbringing and I could always depend on my mom in any case to let me know what was good and what wasn't good. And of course when I started to sing she was always like; . So it was it was a bit I took it on myself, because I felt a calling... I wanted to understand music, I wanted to be a part of something that was healing, that made me feel good. But I really didn't know I wanted to be a singer until I went to Europe to study music and then I started to do it seriously. So, yeah, it sort of fell into my lap so to speak."
What did your parents think of your success when your Disco career took off?
"My parents were very happy with the success that I achieved with singing."
From what I read you went to New York and landing a role in in the musical Hair.
"Well, that was a very short lived sort of thing, but I didn't do it in New York - I did it in Europe. Because I'm sure that if my mother came to see me in something like she would have had a heart attack and perhaps passed away in her seat. I did Hair for about 5 weeks in Germany and Austria but that wasn't something for me, it was more like something for my resume so to speak. Let's put it that way."
Claudja later also performed in the European productions of and the rock musical , which was loosely based on Shakespeare's Othello.
Let's get into your recording career. From what I can see your first record was a song called "We Got A Lovin' To Do" which was released as a single on the Yorkville label in Canada in 1972. Was that the first recording you did, or had you recorded something else before?
"I don't think it was ever released?"
Yes, it was a single released of that one.
"Really? I don't know, there's so many things that I have no concept where they came from, but if there was something then I am certain I didn't sign any any sort of contract to get it out so you know that's probably collectors item now. I used to record, or experiment, but I thought there was never any kind of release until... I think it was like '75.
My very first release I recall was a song called . I think it was done in '74 and in '75 there was . But these were on a couple of very small labels that I'm not certain who they were. It was somebody saying let's go and sing in the studio and I just said , which is what I did."
The single "Hallelujah, Oh Yeah", with "Hey, Hey It's Christmas Time" as the B-side, was released on Rex Records in Germany way back in 1973.
In 1975 the song "Reggae Bump" was released as a 7" single in both Germany and Canada. The flip side track "How Could You Do It Again" seems to have caught more attention most people, as it's more of a Disco song.
You mentioned 'Reggae Bump'. This was released on the short-lived Hot-Foot label. Based on the title it sounds like it would be kind of a reggae song - but it's really not.
"No, it's not."
So, how come the title? Because I would have expected a reggae kind of vibe to it.
"I suppose that was the influence of wherever they got the idea from. I have no idea. I got to tell you, early on in my career, I would think - because singing was what I wanted to do - the fact is that I took every opportunity I got. I don't even think I signed a contract for any of those songs; or .
I found copies of them on the Internet and it's so weird I can't even remember the songs, so obviously they were not hits. I think I really focused on getting my career starting.
When I actually started I did a song called , which is the first thing I did with Jürgen Korduletsch."
That single was released in 1976 on the Philips label, with releases in Germany, France, Italy and Japan.
Before getting further into Claudja's recording career, we should mention that besides performing in musicals she has also been acting in a couple of movies.
First she was an actress in the movie from 1974, which is about an African-American GI who goes to Berlin and faces prejudice. The movie was written and directed by Lothar Lambert and Wolfram Zobus.
In 1976 we could see her on the big screen again, acting as a singer in the German movie .
She returned working with writer and director Lothar Lambert again, in his short movie which was released in 1977.
In the 1985 movie - , actor Mario Van Peebles is an ex-con and break-dancer who helps save a neighborhood from a greedy developer while trying to win a rap contest. Claudia is seen as a performer in the movie singing "Born To Love", which was also included in the soundtrack.
Besides these acting performances she have had other songs on different soundtracks; "A Whisper To A Scream" (together with Bobby "O") was on the soundtrack in 1985 and "Get It On Tonight" was on the soundtrack for the 2001 movie - .
What most people might not know about Claudja is that she was one of the original members of Boney M.
German writer and producer Frank Farian created Boney M as a studio project in 1974. In February 1975 he released the first single "Baby, Do You Wanna Bump" under the group name, even if it was him performing the vocals. Due to demand from TV stations and promotors, Frank needed to create an actual group to perform the song and Claudja became one if its original members.
"I was a founding member of Boney M and I gave a little bit of ideas to give the name for the group. I also did the first set of choreography and the first set of costumes for the group. That was a fun time for me, but I got other offers and I decided that I have a very distinct voice - you're not going to hear me sounding like anybody else - why I decided that I really need to have a solo career. I felt I can depend on myself. I'll always be ready for work when it comes. You can count on me.
I was offered to join a couple of other big groups and I turned them down because the fact is, you can't control what happens with when you're in a group. You're not able to really control what other members do, how do they cooperate, how you blend together as a team and I didn't feel like that was happening in any of the groups that I knew and I definitely knew it wasn't happening when I was with Boney M.
The experience of trying to be with a group wasn't very good - they were wonderful people, kind and generous and all of that, but you gotta have that vibe if you're gonna spend a long lot of time with people. As a performer you're very in tuned emotionally with what's happening around you and if you're in tune with your own emotions and you don't feel joyful or happy about being there, then you just gonna waste your time and your your talent and your energy trying to build something if you don't feel the right vibe. After about a year and a half I just said; . I was very upfront and I gave them the number of someone who could replace me and that person is still with the group today.
So, I'm joyful for them and they all have a certain amount of success and and joy in their talent, but I needed to showcase my own talent in a way where it wasn't it put under a bushel and somebody else was doing the work and we were just puppets on the stage - which wasn't me!"
When Claudja left Boney M she was replaced by Liz Mitchell, who has been with the group ever since.
You signed with Jürgen's Lollipop Records and it appears like you and Ronnie Jones were the main artists of the label. How did Ronnie get onto the label?
"Ronnie was, or is an R&B singer who lives in Milan. I don't know how they met, but Ronnie came along and he did - which was very successful. He is a great singer and he's still performing today. But there were other people on the label. He had Amon Duul which was a heavy metal sort of German, not punk rock, but a heavy metal band that was really quite quite good, and he had a number of other people as well."
Yes, I'm aware there were a couple of others signed to the label, but it seems like you and Ronnie were the big stars and you also did some duets together.
"Well, we did a couple of things and it's so funny, I was just today looking through some items - then I came across when we open Festivalbar [an annual Italian singing competition held between 1964-2007] in 1977 in Verona, in the Verona arena. [Umberto Tozzi won that year with ]
You gotta realize that I had never sung in front of, I don't know, possibly 75,000 people before, and doing it in this mediaeval arena where all kinds of fantastic things have been put on in this arena. So we got very lucky and we did a lot of shows together in Italy, and we were able to use those songs that we recorded in Munich to get into the mainstream of America. Which was very exciting for me, because gave me my entree into SalSoul Records, which was an amazing independent label in America and I was able to get started that way into a successful solo career."
Going back to the duets you and Ronnie did together - "It Takes Two" in 1977 and "the Two Of Us" in 1981, how come neither of those ended up on either of yours or Ronnies albums?
"I have no idea. I think this is weird too. I've never thought about it, because I always thought those those were the ownership of Lollipop but nobody's ever said why don't you put them out on albums, and I never thought of it."
It is a bit strange that none of your albums have them as they were hits. They are both available now, but they never were on the original albums.
"You know, I have to bring that up because I'm sure we're gonna do a 'Best of...' and really was a very cool song. I was very proud of the end result of that one."
Let's get into your solo career. You mentioned you recorded "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do Do" with Jürgen Korduletsch, whom you eventually married. Can you tell me a little more about how you two met and your cooperation throughout the years?
"I was in a show called - . It was a big show that was very successful in London and it was done in Berlin for about two years. While I was doing this show various people came to see the show. It was quite fun, it was a Rock version of , the love story between the moor and the English beauty.
I got various kinds of work offers from the show, but the two of the most interesting ones was that I was asked by the group Silver Convention to replace one of their members who was leaving, and the second offer that was very interesting came from Jürgen Korduletsch who had just started Lollipop Records. He had a song by Kim Weston called and he needed somebody with with a different kind of accent, not a German accent, to sing it. He said; and I said; and I went to the studio and we knocked it out. They were happy and that's how we got started."
The song "Take Me In Your Arms..." was her first for Lollipop Records and it would appear on Claudja's second album; The Girl Most Likely from 1977. This LP was known as Claudja when released by SalSoul Records for the US market in 1978. Tom Moulton was brought in to remix a few of the songs for the US release.
The first single off the album was the above-mentioned song which was written by Holland-Dozier-Holland and it had the track as the B-side, a song which was never included in any of Claudja's LP's.
The second German single was the hit , it included as the flip side.
was actually released as a single in several other countries, and did for example it hit the #6 spot in the US Dance Charts.
Another song - , was released as a 7" single in the US, Canada, France and Italy.
But let's take a step back...
After meeting Jürgen, things really started happening for Claudja. Together they recorded and released her first album, entitled - Sweet Dynamite in 1976. Little did they know that this would be the start of a very successful partnership, both musically and personally.
Besides the initial single , which was flipped with a song with the fitting title , the album also spawned the singles;
, which had as its B-side, the latter which later would come to live its own life.
The LP's title track - peaked at #6 in the US Dance Charts, and the song was - surprisingly - never released as a single in Germany.
Just like Claudja's second album, her first album - Sweet Dynamite was picked up and completely remixed for the US market by Tom Moulton, and the record was released on the SalSoul label in 1977. With Tom's remixes, the original 9 tracks album was stripped down to a 5 tracks remix album in the US.
Following up around sweet dynamites and the SalSoul deal in the US... Tom Moulton was brought into to remix your stuff. As I've been talking to, and met Tom a couple of times, I wanted to know how was it when he took on your songs and worked on them and everything that came with it?
"Oh my goodness, I mean this is the man... You wanna know something, I've never met Tom Moulton because the fact is, I was never sitting long enough in any one place to carve out time. I was always working.
Everybody wanted Tom Moulton to remix, or they wanted Shep Pettibone or somebody like that who was on top of their game and remember that was the very beginning of things like remixing in those years. Remixing was never a thing before that. I don't think anybody ever remix anything from Nat King Cole or Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett. People like Tom Moulton was one of the pioneers of that kind of work. So it was innovative and everybody wanted him, so Jürgen was very lucky that he was able to have Tom. Oh, Tom Savarese was also a big shot on that level.
You know, coming from Europe with the music, it was groundbreaking because it was Donna Summer and the Munich Machine, all those folks who started the Munich sound, including myself and Jürgen. You know, we were able to bring a whole different kind of vibe to disco music at that time, so folks were interested in working with us because we had a different kind of sound as compared to Van McCoy or the guy who did . [Jimmy "Bo" Horne] All of those those musicians who were amazing, but we did bring a different kind of vibe to the music, including , and .
So we should be getting the kudos, because we were part of starting a movement. Of course that guy in Chicago who burned all the records didn't like the fact that we were recognized, that we were given a platform to change it up a little bit. It wasn't all just vanilla music, I shouldn't really say that because it sounds really bad but... many things stood out.
People like Sylvester got up and did , and others. When you got that whole coming from a guy who was just so amazing. Oh, and [Dan Hartman] you got all those great songs and it was a whole different set of sounds that you were getting, and the remixing, the colored vinyl, the whole way the music was presented - it was fun, it was interesting, it was wonderful - and the time was wonderful!
We created a whole different kind of way to enjoy going out. We loved the kind of way to dress, to make people feel special, to give a uniqueness to the music, as well as your look, as well as how you entertain yourself and as well as how you you enjoy yourself in a crowd. Studio 54, the Fun House, the Flamingo, the Paradise Garage, the Tunnel, Arena - all those places brought a whole vibe to the population and every city had its own 'Studio 54'. It wasn't called 'Studio 54', but if you went to Kansas City there was a place you would go, if you went to Atlanta you'd go to Backstreet, if you went to Fort Lauderdale you go to... where the hell would I go – to Uncle Charlie's.
You know, it was such a time which was filled with love, there was no songs about killing the police or there was no negativity, there was no way to be angry. The music was fun, it was happy, it made you feel good! I have so many friends who said; , you know, things like that. The movement began, people started coming out of the closet because they felt it was their time and everybody has a time of their own. Then, of course, along came AIDS and it's sort of decimated a lot of the population so the journey was so emotional, but it was emotional in an optimistic and positive way - not like today."
Yes, Disco music was uplifting, it was happy music. It wasn't about all these bad things in life, more like get out and party, have a good time, enjoy yourself and so on. I think that's why it's still powerful even 'till this day, because people sill love all these Disco songs rather than possibly other styles which kind of fades out.
"Right, all that music is still alive today, and the production value of a lot of that music is still so clean and strong - it doesn't sound as if you recorded it in your in your bathroom or in your bedroom. When I recorded I had live strings in the studio, half of the musicians on my records are all from the Munich Philharmonics so I'm really very proud of all the albums that I did. Every single album has production values that still hold up today."
You just mentioned "Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes" and that song was kind of your big break all across the world and it became such a major hit. What did it do for your career and what do you think of the song today?
"Well, it was the breakthrough, unfortunately it came at a time when I was just leaving one company to go to another company. Because when the A&R person doesn't really push the record, at least back in the day, If they didn't do the work to get the record into the Top 40, then you know if you have a good person or not.
was a Dance and Pop record that grandmas with their grandchildren, parents, men, women, young, old, everybody could find an appeal - something uplifting in that song, because it just lifted you up when you heard it. It was just really a great tune and I was with a label who was going in a different direction. They wanted to be a Hard Rock label and I sort of fell through the cracks, but it made my career, it put me on the map. I was the first black artist to reach top three of the Billboard Pop charts, not the dance charts - it had never been done before.
So, that's how the movement began in my career, and I'm very grateful for it today because, it's not that I'm still looking for attention, but it certainly gave me the right to continue working, to continue making music, to go to places like the Tokyo Music Festival, to be part of the Juno awards, to open a big production for the Canadian Broadcasting Company and to have the opportunity to meet people such as the Prime Minister of Canada, to meet Royalty Europeans, to be able to know that you represented - weather is Jamaica, weather is Canada, weather is Germany. Wherever I went, I represented with dignity, I did it with style and I was able to make people aware of a talented group of people who were considered considered 'Disco artists' but they were just fun happy people who were talented and who wanted to make a different kind of music."
Wonderful. We're so happy you made that record and I still play it today and I still love it.
"Thanks. Great. Thank you!"
was the main single off the 1978 I Wanna Be Loved By You album, with the title track being a cover of the song immortalized by legendary actress Marilyn Monroe.
Chrysalis Records bought the US rights for the album, but decided to completely remove the original title track and retitled the album - Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes, to match the current hit single. The cover art was changed as well.
Besides this they also removed the songs and which were included in the European version of the LP, while was added as their replacement.
Three singles were released off the album;
- was a top hit in many countries, peaking at #7 in both the US Dance Charts and in the Canadian charts. The single had as the second side, except for in the US - where Chrysalis decided to put on the flip.
- was a single release in Canada and Japan. The Japanese single holds the song as the B-side, whilst the Canadian 7" had and the 12" was issued with a song which was never released in any album - .
- The third single was , it was only released in the UK, Germany and Jamaica. It featured on the back side, which was yet another song that's not to be found on any of Mrs. Barry's albums.
Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has been giving out since 1970.
The Juno Award is the Canadian equivalent of the US Grammy.
Claudja Barry was nominated six times between 1978 and 1981...
In 1978 she was nominated in two categories; Female Vocalist of the Year and Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year, but the respectively awards went to Patsy Gallant and Lisa Dalbello.
Next year it was Claudja's time to walk home with the statuette for .
In 1980 she was again nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year and for Single of the Year for “Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes". Sadly she went home empty handed. Anne Murray won both with her single "I Just Fall In Love Again".
She was once again nominated for the Female Vocalist of the Year award in 1981, once again beaten by Anne Murray.
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In 1979, the album Feel The Fire was produced, but due to the lasting success of "(Boogie Woogie) Dancin' Shoes" there was only one 7" inch released that year - , while the other side held .
The second single off the album was the 1980 release - backed with , another track which is not included in any albums.
The LP tracks and was issued on an Italian only 7" single.
Another single also saw the light of day in 1980, it was the cover , which never got featured on any LP, and having from Claudja's forthcoming album as the B-side.
There was no new album released in 1980, but in 1981 the duet (with Ronnie Jones) became a big hit for Lollipop Records and the two artists.
The song was never included in Claudja's Made In Hongkong LP that was out the same year, nor was it available on any other of Claudja or Ronnie's individual albums.
There was only one single released off the album, that was which was backed with the track , a song from Claudja's upcoming album.
Actually there was another single, but that was only released in France, that was the album track where was put as the B-side.
Getting into 1982, you release two singles, none of them were included in any subsequent album; "If I Do It To You" flipped with "Up All Night".
The other single was the top 5 US Dance Charts hit "I Will Follow Him", on the B-side we find the track "Work Me Over" which was co-written by no other than Bobby Orlando. Was this the first time you worked with him?
"Oh! Bobby O - the man. Well Bobby was a good friend, well he's not a good friend of mine today, but he was a wonderful human being. I've known him for a long long time and it was the first time he'd written anything specifically for me. I've sung a couple of his songs. was the first thing I did for him. Later we did , which was used in the movie Rappin' with Mario Van Peebles and even later .
Those were the songs that I did with Bobby and you know, he is so so talented, he can do so many things. He's a great songwriter, he plays all the instruments himself, he can sing. You know, when you lose people like that, when you lose their friendships, it does sort of make you a little less joyful. But he's a good guy.
He's no longer really in the music industry as he doesn't enjoy the way music is today and I can understand it because it has lost its joy. Music today is just very sad and angry and that has a lot to do with how we are as human beings today. You can really feel the anger through the music, the music says a lot of the darkness that many people feel these days."
Following up on Bobby O and the 1984 "Born To Love" single, on the flip side there was a song called "Your Sweet Touch" - this one was written and produced by some of my favorite writers and producers Patrick Adams and Greg Carmichael. Were you in the studio with them when recording that track?
"I was not. My process was that I could not, and I did not, like being in the studio with anybody else when I had to put down vocals. It was so Jürgen and I worked in the studio, it was always this this. You know, sometimes you could knock him out in one take, two or three takes, but sometimes you repeated one line or one word 25 times and that would make me so nuts.
I can remember one day saying I need to go out and get a machete or something and put back in the studio, because one day it's gonna happen. But I just got so frustrated, when you think you're doing it right and you just cannot understand. Like; and it would just turn into a disaster.
I always enjoyed going in and doing it the way it should be interpreted - now my interpretation could be totally different from Patrick Adams' or from Jürgen's or from Jörg Evers' or Bobby Orlando's. So it always makes me feel happier when it's just me, the producer, the engineer in the studio and you work through the music instead.
Because I'm very focused, and when something isn't going right and you look into the booth and you see people sort of doing a little head down or shaking their heads, ooohh you just get crazy. Like; . That's why I didn't work with Greg Carmichael or Patrick in the studio. I met them, but not in the studio."
In 1983 you had another single out called "For Your Love", a remake of The Yardbirds classic. It was kind of special, but I really liked it.
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Yeah, it was released on this No La De Da Part 2 mini-album.
"Oh my God, you know, I don't even have that. I don't have that many of my records. Well, let me write that down I gotta listen to that now again - ."
As this US only album is called 'No La De Da Part 2', can you explain the title? Because Part 2 seems to indicate that there was a Part 1 as well...
"I think it was called that precisely for that reason. There was no Part 1 you know. I think people were saying 'Where is Part 1?', but we never did Part 1 of 'No La De Da' - it was just kind of a cool thing to do."
Still on Personal Records in the US Claudja also did a cover of French Disco writer and producer Cerrone's in 1984.
Next year she added her vocals to the Bobby O hit single - for Bobby's Meno Vision imprint.
All these mid-80's songs gave you status of a Hi-NRG Diva. As High Energy was the successor of disco, I guess the step wasn't that far as this genre was also based on uplifting and happy music. Being labeled a Hi-NRG Diva - how did it make you feel?
"Well, I always thought High Energy is really above 131-132 and Disco was just below that, so there wasn't really a big jump into into having that label put on the music. Around that time I did , the remix I think was a little bit higher up than what it was originally recorded in. But as long as I can get out of the word, then I'm fine with whatever tempo it is."
came out in 1986 and became a Number 1 US Dance Chart hit single. It was followed by the singles , and . All of these are to be found on the I, Claudja album.
The album track was released as a UK only 12" single.
"Oh, my God - There were some really great productions. I mean all those songs - and - they were so different from, let's say; or , so different from anything I've done before.
I wasn't into doing a lot of slow or slowish songs, but [from the Made In HongKong album] was a really cool song. It was really unusual, a new kind of sound from me as well as the feel of high energy. We didn't want to just stick to one sort of way to do the music and I commend Jürgen for using his writing skills and production values to make sure we weren't making the same kind of song every time. We weren't making 'Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes' over and over...
We did we did do , we did do , we did do , we did a song called [from the 1977 The Girl Most Likely LP] which was... let's put it this way - if it was out ten years later it would have been a great hit. Because it had a little bit of jazz, a little R&B and a lot of Dance. Everything was rolled into that one, so it was a fantastic production.
Keith Forsey was the drummer, he was also the writer - together with Mats Björklund - of . He went on to do some productions and he discovered the guy who did ... Billy Idol.
If looking back on my career and on the level of musicianship that was there, I couldn't have asked for anything better. They fit every single one - Kristian Schultze, Mats Björklund, Keith Forsey, Jörg Evers and Jürgen Korduletsch, the string section from the Munich Philharmonics, the horn section from the Philharmonics, we had great great backup singers - all these guys they were the best. Everything just came together and we made great music. Some of it was not capable of being monetized because it really was that much better than what was being used as great music at the time.
So, I will always be thankful for these guys who helped me to move into a different kind of area in my life and you got to just say - THANK YOU!"
"I'm not out of the picture, because I'm still recording, I'm still doing dates, but I'm not going touring. I've done music, but it's important to me that wherever it goes it goes. When getting older a lot of people say; .
But the fact is - it's not the person who should be new - it's the music that should be new! It's the music that should be always be reinvented and being recognized as good and not necessarily just because the artist isn't in the moment on top of the world.
You can't discount great music and I've done some wonderful things in the last 10 years. I've done some really great music and including a cover of one of my favorite songs ever - .
If you wanted to sort of say what disco music was, or define a certain amount of years, I think defined the performance years of Sylvester and that time was an amazing time.
Whether being at Backstreet in Fort Lauderdale, Backstreet in Atlanta, Studio 54 in New York, the Phoenix or the Probe in Los Angeles or all the other hotspots in America. You could go to any of those clubs and you would hear , you would hear from Sylvester, you would hear from from the Bee Gees - those are songs that definitely define an era. from Donna Summer. You know, those songs will tell you...
Oh, my God, we were dancing. All music we heard - or and and you know ... you just say to yourself; exactly and that song... from Chic.
So, if you gonna define the 90s or the 2000s, which song are you gonna say defined it for you? Which group was is it that made your heart sing, which group made you feel alive again and not worried about your S.A.T.'s or worried about your parents getting divorced or whatever.
I can remember going through very tough times and the minute I would hear I would say; - it brought me right back to joy. Probably right back to the moment that the lights were on in the club and I just got on the floor and I was just dancing because it made me free feel good and that's what our music did for a certain period of time, and it's still revered and still thought of as being a defining moment in our lifetime."
Talking about "Good Times" it proves that music really has no age, and good artists are always good artists. I saw Nile Rodgers & Chic performing here a couple of months ago and he did great job performing "Good Times" and every of the old Chic hits along with other tunes he had been involved in. The crowd were everything from retired people to youngsters like 18 years old, but everyone was enjoying this music. So, it's nice to see how Disco music kind of bridges over the ages.
"Yes, and you're right. When it's good music, it's timeless!"
Talking about timeless music, what do you think of the music creation today?
"I mean people put together music now from Pro Tools.
There's no soul, there's nobody sitting in the studio waiting, having a drink, waiting to do their part, there's no interacting. If you're gonna play song it's almost like you can play it with a different soul every time, but when you're using Pro Tools, when you using the machine, there's no variation, there's no way that you can accent that note or you can color that phrase differently because it's already in something and you can't change it. So I think that's why we've lost the soul.
I was listening to an interview and this young girl said she writes her music with the Garage Band app on her phone. So where do you come in, where is your soul, you have to write music lyrics to fit whatever the music is telling you. I can't see that it's telling you anything, you have to get into your mind or put something in your body to help you to feel something.
The music today doesn't make me feel anything. in fact, I feel irritated. I'm not irritated about the fact that I'm I'm not doing it or I'm not having the great success that some of these kids, I'm saying; it doesn't touch my spirit, it doesn't make me wanna cry or make me wanna laugh, it doesn't make me wanna love somebody - there's nothing in it that appeals to me.
When you think about Aretha Franklin or Donny Hathaway, or when you listen to Joe Cocker - come on, those songs, you can't say you don't feel anything - it makes you feel everything!
It makes you feel every emotion; , or by Donny Hathaway.
You listen to some of these songs and it's like when you're done you could say; , because you can go into those songs and they just brings out everything in your spirit.
Today if you listen to... I don't even want to say any names because then the haters will hate me for it, but you just listen to it and you say;
Anyway I'm blabbering, I'm so sorry. You're allowing me to tell you really what I feel and I find that a lot of lot of today's artists are so completely schooled about how to do an interview and how to answer questions. If you have to have somebody tell you how to answer a question - it's not authentic, it's not organic!"
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Make sure to allow Pup-up's to listen to the below sings...
CLICK to hear some Claudja Barry songs...
Reggae Bump & How Could You Do It Again
Nobody Loves Me Like You Do Do
Take Me In Your Arms
Johnny, Johnny Please Come Home
Dancin' Fever
Take It Easy (A Tom Moulton Mix)
Why Must A Girl Like Me
Love For The Sake Of Love (A Tom Moulton Mix)
Sweet Dynamite
(Boogie Woogie) Dancin' Shoes
(Boogie Woogie) Dancin' Shoes (US Mix)
Boogie Tonight
Love Of The Hurtin' Kind
Give It Up
The Way You Are Dancing
Down By The Water
I Wanna Be Loved By You
You Make Me Feel The Fire
Everybody Needs Love
Stop He's A Lover
Get Your Mind Made Up
Wake Up And Make Love To Me
Feel The Fire (at Tokyo Music Festival)
Banana Boat (Day-O)
Made In HongKong
Girl Crazy
Radio Action
Take Me Back
Take Me To The River
If I Do It To You
Up All Night
I Will Follow Him (Glenn Rivera ReStructure Mix)
Work Me Over
Born To Love
For Your Love
Trippin' On The Moon
Down And Counting
Can't You Feel My Heartbeat
Secret Affair
Hot To The Touch
(I Don't Know If You Are) Dead Or Alive
Love Is An Island
Summer Of Love
Ain't Gonna Miss You
Reach Out Fo Me
I Will Stand
Down And Counting (2008 Remix)
Good Time Girl (Joint Forces Remix)
Good Time Girl (Suite 306 Remix)
Come On Stand Up (2023 Vocal Pop Mix)
You Make Me Feel
It Takes Two
with Ronnie Jones
Two Of Us
with Ronnie Jones
A Whisper To A Scream
with Bobby "O"
Good Time
S.I.N. feat. Claudja Barry
Poison
General Base feat. Claudja Barry
CLICK to hear some related songs...
Baby, Do You Wanna Bump
Boney M
Soul Sister
Ronnie Jones
Ti Amo
Umberto Tozzi
Take Me In Your Arms
Kim Weston
The Hustle
Van McCoy
Spank
Jimmy "Bo" Horne
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
Sylvester
Do You Wanna Funk
Sylvester
Instant Replay
Dan Hartman
Relight My Fire
Dan Hartman
For Your Love
Yardbirds
Trippin' On The Moon
Cerrone
White Wedding
Billy Idol
How Deep Is Your Love
Bee Gees
Love To Love You Baby
Donna Summer
She Works Hard For The Money
Donna Summer
Good Times
Chic
With A Little Help From My Friends
Joe Cocker
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Aretha Franklin
Giving Up
Donny Hathaway
Show Me Love
Robin S.
Born To Be Alive
Patrick Hernandez
I Hope You Dance
Gladys Knight
Up Where We Belong
Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
Get It On Tonight
Montell Jordan
What'chu Like
Da Brat feat. Tyrese
Love Sensation
Loleatta Holloway
Runaway
Loleatta Holloway
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1991 saw the 12" release of a song called on RCA Records. The song was written by Claudja, Jürgen, Nicolai Vorkapich and Ray Castoldi, the song was also produced and remixed by Jürgen.
The next year she added her vocals to the song by S.I.N. [Strength In Numbers] featuring Claudja Barry. This was out in the US on Radikal Records, a label owned and run by her husband - Jürgen Korduletsch.
The same year was released as Claudja B. on the label. There was a double 12" single with 12 remixes out which included several remixes from Swedish remixer team - SweMix. Stonebridge [of Robin S. fame] was the producer for those remixes provided by J.J. [Johan Järpsten] and Hysteria [aka Emil Hellman].
In 1993 by German techno DJ Thomas Kukula could be heard under his alias General Base feat. Claudja Barry.
Subsequently the same year we got under Claudja's own name. Could that have been the Part one to the 'No La De Da Part 2' mini-album from 1983?
You did some work together with Jürgen in the beginning of the 90's. There were a couple of releases out on his Radikal Records during this period, were you still married then?
"Yes we were still married, I don't talk much about that, but we did work together in the 90's - yes! I think after we did the Disco Christmas album we sort of started to fade out at that time."
I'm sorry to hear that.
"We're still very good friends, believe me."
As you mentioned, together you recorded this Christmas album called Disco 'Round The Christmas Tree, since it was released 1995 it was kind of brave just using the term 'Disco' in in the the title I think.
"I think from the outfit that I had on and they are all songs that are 'open', you don't have to pay for those songs and we redid it in our own version of a Disco Christmas - so that's really the reason. I said;
So, we did it and hopefully it will be fun too for somebody to enjoy at Christmas time."
This Christmas album was later re-released in Canada as Christmas Disco Party in 1997.
You actually recorded together with Bobby O again, roughly some 10 years later, in 1996 you did "Ain't Gonna Miss You". How was it to work with him again?
"Oh, I don't remember that one. Jeez, you really pulled my tails now about all these songs that I had no idea that I did. The fact is, if they were not an album then they weren't in the frontal lobe so to speak."
You have recorded a large number of songs so I can understand that.
"Yeah, I did record a lot of stuff, some of them didn't make it to the albums. Normally I would get a whole bunch of songs which I would go through and see how does this music feel to me and I will write the lyrics, or I would get a song that was already done - lyrics were there and they said;
Maybe I did 8 to 10 songs, I wouldn't know, because Jürgen was in charge of the music, so that could have been one of those."
One of those songs was possibly , a song only released in Canada on the double CD compilation - 30 Dance Divas - which was out on Jürgen's Popular Records in 1997.
In 1998, Claudja and Jürgen got divorced, the year after Claudja released her Gospel album - Love Him Forever (in 1999).
It would be some 7 years until we got something new from Claudja. In 2006 the single was out on the short-lived DonnaJean Records, still the track was peaking at #4 in the US Dance Charts.
This was followed by new remixes of her 1986 hit - in 2008.
Then "Good Time Girl" was released in 2010.
After five more years we got the MP3 file single out on Paradax Records in 2015. Both these two latest singles were included on a 10 tracks MP3 album called by the same name as the later single - Come On Stand Up. The album also included Claudja's versions of some of her own favorite songs like; and , amongst others. The album's title track would later be remixed in 2023.
You have been changing labels a little bit in the US. Your first two albums - and [aka ] were released by SalSoul Records, while and came out on Chrysalis Records. never saw a US issue, but Polydor did a Canadian pressing. Handshake released the "Two Of Us" 7" and 12" singles. Personal Records released the mini-album, which was only released in the US. In 1987 the seventh album - was out on Epic Records. was out on Radikal Records and on Inside Music. The 2015 download album saw its release on Paradax Records.
In between there have been sporadical single releases on various labels. Was that deliberate, or was it as you mentioned earlier with A&R people not pushing your releases properly?
"Well, I can't recall. It was Jürgen dealing with the different labels.
But around the A&R's I was told, I wasn't there, because they wouldn't dare tell it to me to my face... But I do recall hearing that when I signed with Epic the A&R person at the time says;
At that time everybody was put in a box. If you're black, you're either an R&B singer or a Jazz singer.
So, when the guy got the record and heard it was a Pop record and from a black figure who was coming from Europe, he just fell apart. He had no idea what to do with me. That made me very sort of down, because I think that was the first time I was feeling so uncertain about about being in the industry.
You know, unless you have somebody who's your cheerleader in the entertainment, not just in the music industry, but if you don't have an agent or a manager who is out there every day stomping the grounds, keeping your name alive and finding opportunities for you - you can just forget about it!
I did have a great manager at the time but his big act was Rod Stewart, so I sort of made opportunities for myself. I felt that;
I mean, it's easier said than done, because it really is difficult to sort of always be sheering yourself on, when you don't really see the the light at the end of the tunnel.
But Jürgen was very optimistic, he was always out pushing and making sure that whatever there was to be done that he could do - he did it!
I will always be grateful because he gave me great music. He allowed me to yell and scream sometimes, when I didn't see it going the way it should go.
Without judging he was a very cool guy and I'm thankful that I didn't have to stand up to record industry people, because he was always there in front of me. I never had to go to any of those meetings and I didn't ever have to raise my voice, because I don't have that kind of control... If you're telling me something that I know is not correct I can't smile and say; I'll call you out on it and that's not how you do business. You know, you're supposed to be very polite, kind, loving, generous and happy, then afterwards go out and have a martini and scream at people. It is very hard.
I will always be grateful for his work, because without his input and his direction I would not be the person that I am today and I wouldn't still be standing in my right mind, completely able to hit the high notes that I used to just because he gave me the opportunities you know... and I thank him!"
I think that's great to hear and still great love there between you guys...
"Nah, I don't think so!"
No, maybe not in that sense!
You mentioned earlier that you don't have copies of everything you have been working on, but have you got any of them?
"I think I have two copies out of my 7 or 8 vinyl albums that I've done. But you know they're no longer on vinyl and they are hard to find and if you do find them they're usually at a great cost and collectors items, So I might just stream them off the iTunes or Spotify and put them together myself."
You also mentioned that you're still recording from time to time, are there any plans for something new from you?
"First of all, one of the things that I've done in last few years was a song about dancehall music. I thought, let me just really listen to what this kind of music is saying and I was so amazed at how dark some of it is. It's very ugly and I did a documentary, sort of comparing the positivity of the music of our great iconic Bob Marley and the music of what's being put out there in the world today as reggae dancehall. It was quite eye opening.
So, I thought; ' But I think people don't really want to hear too much positivity and I was very disappointed in the reactions when I would play it here and there. I was looking for someone to put this music out and it was quite disheartening.
So I thought; I did , I did , , , and a couple of other songs that I can't recall right now. They're found on the 'Come On Stand Up' album and it's really great.
But I didn't realize how much work goes into doing an actual good production. Everything from finding good musicians to be able to sing them properly without a producer. Because you cannot be in the vocal booth and not have somebody in the sound booth listening to you. So consequently I don't think I'll ever get this thing done.
But on a very optimistic note, I have almost finished a new piece called . That's a song written because of the way the world is today... There's so many things that are working against women, working against children, working against the defenseless people who are unable to defend themselves and look after themselves.
I bring a song called which is really focused on the marginalized people who are unable to look after what their needs, having to depend on someone and maybe someone who is not kind to them. So that's one thing I'm very involved in and the main thrust of it is for domestic violence against women and against children and again people who are different whether you're gay, straight, bi or whatever. If you have some kind of infirmity, if you are not like everybody else... Then this song is for you!
Just let me be. So it's a song that is putting together all those of us who sometimes feel like we don't belong or we we don't have the same rights as those who are perfect, so to speak. And I'm hoping to finish it up and send it out in the next few weeks."
Wonderful!
"And if I can't put out I'm just gonna put it up for free and have people stream it."
I'm looking forward to hear that song...
"It will be my production. I've sung it, change it up, done it and mixed it. It's not mixed yet, but I'm gonna get it mixed and remixed. So there will be a couple of different choices. I just don't know who to give it to to remix it, who isn't gonna charge me an absolute fortune. Because it seems it's no longer just about doing a good job, it's about it's about how much you can make from whatever.
But I'm gonna see how I'm gonna do this, but that's what I'm focused on in the moment."
Great news, I'm really looking forward to it.
Since you have released so many songs, have you got some favorite song of your own tracks?
"You know, I'm asked all the time what is my favorite song. To me a favorite song is the one I enjoyed singing the most on stage recently, and since I haven't been on stage for a while... well, I have done a couple of things, but I haven't done a lot in the past. But people just want to hear the songs that they actually know.
So, I would say that my favorite song to sing on stage would be .
Well, I'm gonna give you four. I gotta say; , , and my version of Sylvester's .
Those are the four songs that I really love and if I gonna take out the Sylvester song, I'm going to say as it's a song that is so powerful. It's such a repetitive song, but if you listen to the words it really should mean to you that there shouldn't be anything in any kind of relationship except just loving for the sake of love. Not that we're gonna have a pre-nup, and if it falls apart in a year I'm gonna get $2,000,000 or whatever. There shouldn't be any underlying red flags when you're in love.
A lot of time you already know it, but we still fall into it anyway. I'm trying to be optimistic and realize that there is love for everybody and there's enough love to go around. It's just that a lot of folks just can't love for the sake of love. It has to be a lot of stuff attached to love and that's what it's not good.
So we just have to just keep going, just keep doing what we love! You love this what you're doing, and I love what I'm doing.
It's nice that you don't have the kind of questions that I hear often. I love the fact that you just you say something and it brings me into something and it takes me somewhere else and I remember that. I've gotta thank you for not censoring me or making me have to stop my thought pattern just because you want to ask me something else. Thank you!"
Thank you, but I love to hear everything you have to share, so that's why I just keep you going.
Onto a related topic to this with your favorite songs and everything... Have you got some song which means more to you personally? It doesn't have to be one of your favorite songs, just some some song that really means something special to you.
"Of the other songs that I recorded?"
Yes!
"OK! I gotta tell you - the one song that really sort of sticks with me all the time, because I was doubting myself when I was doing it, is - .
We sort of wrote it in the studio in, I think, 25-30 minutes. We had people there in the studio waiting, we were trying to fill out the whole album and after we wrote it, I was doubting myself. I thought; I was not accustomed to just bam it in, and what caught me that day was that I just opened my mouth and went 'aaaaaahh' []
I just like got it out and I said; And it just happened...
Whatever the lyrics were, it just flowed and it taught me not to doubt myself. Because if you really want something, and I wasn't sure where I was going with this song, and it just worked.
Ever since then I always go into the studio now really not 'angry angry' but like ready for battle so to speak.
Because I didn't really drink, I didn't really smoke, so I wouldn't have had any vocal problems, so it's just to have that security that you know what you doing. On that day when I did I wasn't sure if I knew what I was doing and it just happened and it just made me be realize; '"
Another thing... you have been writing songs as well, so is there a difference singing one of the songs you have written yourself compared to something that someone else has written for you?
"Yes it does. There is a difference.
When you write for yourself you always think;
But what happens to me is that I don't labour over a song. So if it's not coming to me, I leave it and I go to something else and this set me free.
It's easier to sing when it's coming really from the heart, like; , and you just say it.
So, yeah, there is a difference. You still know the challenges are there, but you know what you want so you go for it!"
It seems like music has been your whole life, have you ever done some other kind of work? I mean working in a store or something?
"I had a summer job working in an office once, but I've never worked in a in a store or something.
I had a boutique at one time, but only for about a year.
I was a model at one time. I was a very successful fashion model and I think that's probably one of the ways that I was able meet so many different kinds of people. I was able to get into the music industry.
Modeling was hard work, acting is hard work, but the music industry is terribly hard work.
But no, I haven't had a real nine to five job permanently.
I had the summer job - but that was it.
Nobody will hire me, come on! []
You've had a career you could live on. Being able to live on your profession, I think that's wonderful because that's probably what we all want to do if we could. But most of us cannot unfortunately, but still I'm happy to hear that you have been able to do what you love.
You have met so many great people over the years, anyones you wanna mention specifically? Any musician, producers or singers who are special to you and who you want to mention?
"God, there's so many... but the fact is I that when you meet people you have to spend enough time with them to know whether they're good people or bad people. Or if it's bad people who put on a good face and tell you what you want to hear.
So, I never really spend a lot of time with people long enough and especially people who are wellknown or successful. I would meet them, maybe for dinner or drinks, but people who helped me along the way yes definitely - Jörg Evers, Jürgen Korduletsch, Bobby Orlando. You know, people who have been kind to me who wanted no sort of compensation in return and who just tried to be decent and kind to me.
Yeah there've been some; Rochelle Fields, who was the head of PR at at Epic Records, was a very kind lady who helped me to sort of maneuver a little bit in the short time that I knew her.
A good friend was Gloria Reynolds who helped me stay focused and grounded.
Lots of nice friends.
I didn't really spend enough time with the famous people that I knew or the famous professionals who were successful. I didn't spend enough time to say that they were this or they were that."
Musically I would say you have transitioned from Soul and Disco, via High Energy and a little bit of Trans and then you have sung Gospel as well. So, what kind of music genres do you personally prefer if you could choose freely?
"I would choose Disco music that has a message, that has a meaning. It has to be fun, but it has to have something to say that will enhance my night or my day or my spirit or give me a good feeling about my soul.
I enjoy gospel music because you're dealing with people's spirit, you're dealing with their core, what makes them real in a way that I think Pop music, Dance music, Disco music, Trance music or R'n'B doesn't do. So I like the Gospel also, as it gives me a good feeling in my own spirit, in my own soul, in my own heart.
I think a combination of danceable gospel music would be great, if that could happen."
Great answer.
We were briefly talking about covers and also sampling, the fact that some people might use your voice or music and putting it onto their own agenda and their own music. So how do you feel about that? Especially the sampling I would say.
"Sampling can be profitable when it's done legally, but what I don't like is when people use my vocals to do things that I didn't agree to, or they didn't ask.
A prime example of sampling is when Montell Jordan did his song in which he built his song around my version of bass line; du-du-du-du-du [] He paid for that and he was absolutely magnificent. He sold millions of records with it, so I have no problem with that.
It's when it's done in a way where it shouldn't be done and there's no compensation and or even an ask or a thank you to me - that's not good behavior and and it's not legal.
But as I said before, I don't worry about stuff like that - what can I do? It would mean a legal battle about this or about that, and life really is too short and already so stressful and I don't need to put any more stress on my head. So, that's what I think about sampling."
Besides Montell's sample, Da Brat feat. Tyrese used the same sample in the song "What'chu like". Those two are probably the most successful samples of any of Claudja's songs.
I think the answer is clear, but still for the record - did you like Disco music during the era?
"I loved it and I loved being a part of the movement. I'm a classic Disco artist. I'm a pioneer and I will take those labels because I was there and I was able to be a voice to help form the genre which wasn't there before"
I think it's wonderful. As you know, my pages are mainly Disco and Funk oriented, have you got some other favorite Disco songs except for your own work? I know of "Mighty Real" but any others?
"Anything from Loleatta Holloway was great. When she opened her mouth to sing, it was just a magnificent sound that came out.
I love Donna's records; .
I love some of Bobby O's things, and as you said Nile Rodgers' , anything from the Bee Gees of that era.
It was great and wonderful stuff, we should be proud about how we made the time great and how we offered hope to a lot of people. Nobody's doing that today and I think we should maybe try to look back on those days and capture a little bit of those kind of sounds too give a good up kick to what's happening today."
Yes, bring back a happy vibe to everything!
We're getting towards the end of my questions, we have discussed most of everything but have you got one kind of favourite memory from your time in the business? I mean it's so many decades, but is there a best memory?
"There's a lot of good memories!
I can tell you about one that was uplifting... Of course meeting these people and those persons, but one of the best things was when I was at the Tokyo Music Festival. Dionne Warwick won the Grand prize, I got the Silver prize and it was the very first time I sang in front of 40,000 people in an indoor arena with a 70 piece orchestra.
I got the award for the Best Dressed artists and I got the Silver price.
I think that will always be the most fabulous memory, because it's such a blur that I can only remember just wowing these people and I was singing live with a 70 piece orchestra and of course I was terrified before I went out, but as I hit the stage it just sort of melted and everything started happening.
Afterwards having Dionne Warwick tell me; . She didn't know me, I didn't know her. I met her there and it was wonderful to hear her say; . So. that will be always the standard that I will judge myself with by, having somebody who knows and being able to confront a performance that was so hard because there were like, I don't know, 40 different artists, and to come out of it with a richer and a more profound sense of the artistry in myself - the person who didn't know that she was able to do it until she did it.
The doubts will always be there, but I'm always grateful for the moments that I had to man up and put my big boy pants on and get out there and make it happen. That's what we're supposed to be doing - "
So which song did you perform?
". You... [] That's the one!
I'm not warmed up but that's the song I sang. I was able to do it and it goes above C and it goes to the D. I was; I wasn't sure I was gonna get there, but I got there!
So, I'm very excited, I'm very thrilled and I'm joyful about the career that I've had and all the help that I got to get to where I got to. I'm happy with where I stand. I'm grateful that I've kept myself in a way that there's no negativity in there and I'm happy that I'm still standing"
I can see in the background that it seems like you have some kind of award and a photo of yourself as well on the wall there.
"Let me see... Oh, this is my Juno and the fact is that the Juno is like the Grammy.
I was nominated 9 times before I got my Juno, so you know, it's just keep going and doing. If you give up you'll never know and that's what I feel about life and that's what I feel about the music.
You've got to change up when it's necessary, this is what I'm doing and I'm grateful to be able to speak with guys who understand and they're keeping the music alive.
You're keeping our music alive Claes [yours truly] and I appreciate it and I thank you for the talk and I know that you understand the music."
Thank YOU! I'm really happy that we have been able to have this chat. I loved it, so I just wanted to thank you a lot for taking your time all this time with me.
"You're a great guy and you've been doing this for quite a while now, that means you're invested in this particular kind of music and I thank you for keeping it alive."
Thank you very much for keeping it alive too, and again thank you for taking your time with me. I have really appreciated speaking to you so I hope to speak to you again at some time.
"Alright Claes, thanks very much have a good day."
Thank you and Bye!
Claudja is a fun and lovely lady.
She has been in the music business for over 50 years,
and has no plans on retiring yet.
She will forever be the reigning Disco Queen
of the three countries she has called home;
Canada, Germany and Jamaica.
Her own music reflects what she states;
"When it's good music, it's timeless!"
Claudja Barry
Visit Claudja Barry on the web:
The Claudja Barry.com
Claudja's YouTube Channel
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