The first time I saw Len Barry was on either Shindig or Hullabaloo and I remember the Dovells (Len was the lead singer) made an appearance on the Rock n’ Roll Movie … “Don’t Knock the Twist”. It wasn’t until I actually worked with Len Barry at the Emerald Room Theater that I realized his talent of being a Soul Man! Len grew up in West Philadelphia and sang on the street corner with a group called the “Cashmeres” but didn’t take singing seriously. His dream was to be a professional Basketball player that didn’t work out for him, and he soon entered the military service and again began singing. After his discharge, Len returned to Philadelphia and formed the Dovells and had several hit records like the “Bristol Stomp”, “You Can’t Sit Down”, “Hully Gully Baby” and my favorite “Bristol Twistin’ Annie”. As a Dovell, he/they toured with James Brown. Len soon broke away from the Dovells to pursue a solo career and racked up some hit records on his own like “Lip Sync”, “1-2-3” and “Like A Baby”. He was making a bit of a splash on the Soul Music Circuit performing at the Apollo in New York, the Howard Theater in D.C., the Regal in Chi-town, the Fox in Detroit and the Uptown in his hometown of Philadelphia. Len toured with Sam Cooke, The Motown Revue and the United Kingdom where he became a major singing star. After singing background for Len at the Emerald Room I began digging into his past as a singer and lifestyle as a young man. Len sent me a copy of a book he wrote called … “Black Like Me” … if you ever have the chance to pick up a copy, it is a good read. I later did an interview with Len for my radio show (Johnny Angel’s Heavenly Soul Show on WJAS in Pittsburgh) and recently shared some personal insight to the Soul Man on my internet radio show on Jukinoldies.com. One of the records Len recorded was the remake of the Soul Classic … “Girl You’re Too Young” … check it out if you want to hear the Soul Side of Len. Over the years I have worked with a lot of entertainers from Philly the likes of Dee Dee Sharp, the Tymes, Stephen Caldwell of the Orlons, Chubby Checker and Eddie Holman and I gathered even more tidbits about the Soul Man. I miss Len and would love to have worked more with him but the memories and the experience of being on stage with Len is why he will always be … Len Barry … “The Soul Man”!