The "Maestro" and the "Man with the Velvet Voice" is without a doubt one of the greatest legends of soul and disco of all time. Famed singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer Barry White was born on September 12, 1944, and died on July 4, 2003, on Independence Day at the age of fifty-eight.

Barry White is remembered for his deep, suave bass voice and his thirty years in the music industry, during which he released many wildly popular albums and penned a plethora of hit songs. He is also know for the fact that many of his songs create a romantic and sensual atmosphere. In addition, White created the Love Unlimited Orchestra, which comprised only live musicians of the classical nature, including strings.

As a testament to his greatness and success, even beyond the grave, White’s record sales are now in excess of 100 million worldwide.

Although White was born in Galveston, Texas, he grew up in southern L.A. in a high-crime neighborhood, which led to his joining a gang at the age of ten, and then led to his four-month imprisonment when he was seventeen for theft. After prison, White decided to leave his past behind and pursue music as a career in the early 1960s. He joined a few singing groups but his only minor success was in songwriting for singers and groups such as Bobby Fuller, The Banana Splits, and Bob & Earl.

Finally, in 1969, White landed his first real gig as a back-up singer for Love Unlimited, a girl group following in the tracks of Motown’s Diana Ross and The Supremes. White later married Glodean James, Love Unlimited’s frontwoman. He stuck with them for two years until they all got contracts with 20th Century, A&M, and Mercury Records. He went on to release many more singles and albums as a soloist and also as part of the Love Unlimited Orchestra, the latter of which lasted until the late 1970s. Some of his most popular hits include "Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," "You’re the First, the Last, My Everything," "Let the Music Play," and "Your Sweetness is My Weakness."

While White enjoyed most of his success in the 1970s, during the disco era, he did maintain a fan following all through his career, and also pulled off a successful comeback in 1994 with the release of the album Practice What You Preach, which garnered him two Grammy Awards.

White also enjoyed a side voice acting career, lending his voice talent to the 1975 film Coonskin, as well as to several episodes of the Simpsons, and on commercials. He turned down an offer to voice Chef on South Park; the part went instead to Isaac Hayes.

On May 29, 2001, two years before his death, White performed a famous duet with Luciano Pavarotti at a fundraising concert in Modena, Italy.

White died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in West Hollywood on Independence Day, 2003, after having suffered high blood pressure which eventually led to renal failure and a stroke in May of that year.

The famous soul musician was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame on September 20, 2004.

White’s music continues to be played and enjoyed on the radio, on movies, and in TV shows. His songs were regularly featured on the hit show Ally McBeal, starring Calista Flockhart.

YUDDY