By Karyl (206.134.249.170) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 04:44 pm:

I just heard on the radio that Barry passed away this afternoon!!!!

R.I.P. Barry

By Jim Feliciano in Detroit. (205.188.209.109) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 04:54 pm:

An Associated Press wire just came across AOL's news alert stating a one liner-- and I quote:

"Barry White dies at the age of 58, his manager says."

--Unquote.
No other information was provided as to when Barry White had died, and where he had passed away.

Very sad news indeed, if true, that Barry White has died, presumably on this day, July 4, 2003.

By Funkyone D J Dollar BILL (216.221.81.96) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 04:55 pm:

I hope they have made a mistake.
I'll be playing even more Mr.White than usual at the club tonight.

By Karyl (206.134.249.170) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 04:58 pm:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=529&ncid=529&e=1&u=/ap/20030704/ap_en_mu/obit_white

By RD (63.188.32.214) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 05:02 pm:

Barry White was a class act. R.I.P.

By Bubbles (209.240.198.62) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 05:03 pm:

This is devastating news, I just read about it on the AP. As sad as I am about Barry White's passing today, I'm thankful we were blessed with him for fifty eight all too short years. God Bless and Rest in Peace.

By STUBASS (205.188.209.109) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 05:04 pm:

THIS IS DEPRESSING NEWS INDEED!!!...IT WAS COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT BARRY WHITE WAS STRUGGLING WITH HIS HEALTH...BUT THAT FACT DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY EASIER TO ACCEPT!!!...WHAT A GREAT ARTIST AND WRITER!!!...BARRY...RIP!!!...STUBASS

By SB (205.187.255.122) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 05:12 pm:

Did we all hear this sad news at the same time?

May God ease Barry's journey thru His tunnel and to His House, where surely Love & Peace reside. Many sympathies to his family.

We'll miss you Barry.

By Uptight (24.55.6.144) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 05:30 pm:

I had never met Mr. White, but his beautiful music speaks volumes about his personality. He must have been a class act all the way.

My email notification uses his voice to tell me I've got mail. I'll be thinking of him every day that I receive email!

By medusa9e2003 (66.73.3.148) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 06:48 pm:

He has a great site, he's even greeting U N his own voice..he will B greatly missed...

By JoB (204.42.12.2) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 06:57 pm:

...this is a little hard for me to accept right now, I'll wait 'til I hear it on the news...

Jo(still hanging on to a shread of hope that this is a rumor)B

By Derrick (63.187.129.110) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 06:58 pm:

The music world has lost another legend . Barry White 's music will remain with us forever . Des
pite his personal hardships he was a good person who loved not only his fans , but people in general . May he rest in peace .

By JoB (204.42.12.2) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 07:04 pm:

Ok...I just read the article...

R.I.P., big guy.


BTW, fav BW song--Your the First, the Last, my Everything.

By LUCY (205.188.209.109) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 07:16 pm:

YES WE HAVE LOST ANOTHER GREAT ONE.
MY DEEPEST SYMPATHIES TO HIS FAMILY.
MAY GOD BE WAITING WITH OPEN ARMS.

By Soul Sister (65.43.167.42) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 07:28 pm:

No Way!!!??? God be with the impressable man with the deep sexy voice, he was one of a kind, now he'll be singing with the other angels in soul heaven.

By Wonder B (80.15.154.112) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 08:21 pm:

Just read the full news bulletin..... so sad...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Velvet-voiced R&B crooner Barry White, renowned for his lush baritone and carnal lyrics that oozed sex appeal on songs such as "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," died Friday morning, his manager said.

White, who had suffered kidney failure from years of high blood pressure, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center around 9:30 a.m., said manager Ned Shankman. He was 58.

White had been undergoing dialysis treatment and had been hospitalized since last September.

His work epitomized seductive disco music, also known as "make out" music. The heavyset musician enjoyed three decades of fame for songs like "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" and "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me."

White's canyon-deep, butter-smooth vocals and throbbing musical tempos emphasized his songs' sexually charged verbal foreplay. His 1975 song "Love Serenade" began with the purring, first-person lyrics: "I want you the way you came into the world/ I don't want to feel no clothes ..."

Although his popularity peaked in the 1970s, White received belated recognition for his work in 2000 when he won his first two Grammys for best male and traditional R&B vocal performance for the song "Staying Power."

Born Sept. 12, 1944, in Galveston, Texas, to a single mother, White and his younger brother, Darryl, spent most of their childhood in South Central Los Angeles. He said he had a lifelong love for music. During his early teenage years, he began singing in a Baptist church choir and was quickly promoted to director.

In 1990, White told Ebony magazine that his voice changed overnight from the squeaky tones of a preadolescent to the rumbling bass that made him famous.

"It scared me and my mother when I spoke that morning," he said. "It was totally unexpected. My chest rattled. I mean vibrations. My mother was staring at me, and I was staring at her. The next thing I new, her straight face broke into a beautiful smile. Tears came down her face and she said, 'My son's a man now."'

He was jailed at age 16 for stealing tires, a punishment he credited with helping him straighten out his life and dedicate his efforts to music.

Inspired by the Elvis Presley song "It's Now or Never," White joined the Upfronts soul group as bass singer and cut six singles. For several years, he stayed away from performing and focused on work behind the scenes as a songwriter and producer.

He married a childhood sweetheart, identified only as Mary in his autobiography, and fathered four children with her before they separated in 1969 and later divorced.

White discovered the female trio Love Unlimited -- which included his future second wife, Glodean James -- and produced their million-selling 1972 single "Walkin' in the Rain With the One I Love."

The next year, White returned to performing with the song "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby," which topped the R&B chart and hit No. 3 on the pop chart.

He is credited by some for helping launch the disco phenomenon with his orchestral "Love's Theme" in 1973, which he conducted with his group, The Love Unlimited Orchestra.

In 1974, his album "Can't Get Enough" climbed to the top of the pop charts on the strength of the signature hits "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" and "You're the First, the Last, My Everything."

That year he also married James. The couple had four children together and collaborated on the 1981 album "Barry & Glodean," which featured the songs "I Want You" and "You're the Only One for Me." They divorced in 1988, but he said they always remained good friends.

White suffered a family tragedy in 1983 when his brother, Darryl, was shot and killed in a dispute with a neighbor over change from a $20 bill. In his 1999 autobiography, "Love Unlimited: Insights on Life and Love," Barry White said music likely spared him a similar fate.

After working on more than a dozen albums in the 1970s, his career waned over the next decade as he attempted small comebacks with the albums "The Right Night & Barry White" (1987) and "The Man is Back!" (1989.)

He enjoyed a larger resurgence with 1994 album "The Icon Is Love," and his ballad "Practice What You Preach" became his first No. 1 hit in 17 years. Toward the end of the 1990s, his songs were regularly featured on the Fox comedy series "Ally McBeal" and he made an appearance on the show as himself.

His single "Staying Power," off a 1999 album of the same name, won White two Grammys and proved he hadn't tamed his libidinous lyrics. "Put on my favorite dress, the one that oozes sexiness," he cooed in the title track's opening lines.

That year White's chronic blood pressure problem forced him to cancel several live performances with the group Earth, Wind & Fire and he was briefly hospitalized.

White's survivors include eight children, grandchildren, and his companion Catherine Denton

Wonder B

By Vonnie (152.163.252.68) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 09:28 pm:

I'm truly sorry to hear the news of Barry's death. Barry White has been a favorite of mine for many years. I probably have every album that he recorded.

I knew he was in poor health when I saw him at Jones Beach a couple of years ago, it showed in his demeanor.

Another great singer is gone and he will be sadly missed.

RIP BARRY WHITE AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR WONDERFUL MUSIC LEGACY.

Vonnie

By Eli (152.163.252.68) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 09:36 pm:

Barry, you were and will always be an original and you played a major part in al of our lives.
Now God has made room for you in his heavenly choir with all of the legends who have gone on before you.
Right on, right on, right on....sho nuff!!!!

By Soul Sister (65.43.167.42) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 09:36 pm:

Hi Vonnie!
Happy 4th.*******Check your e-mail.
S.S.J.

By dvdmike (68.72.107.1) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 10:08 pm:

Rest in peace, BW

By Carl Dixon London (195.153.219.170) on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 02:39 am:

A terrible loss. I am deeply saddened. He will be missed.

By MEL&THEN SOME9 (217.14.178.93) on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 03:14 am:

R.I.P. Barry White
am currently spinning
Tracy(all I have is you)
by Barry and The Atlantics on the Faro Label.
mel.

By John Barry Sheffield (195.92.168.165) on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 03:28 am:

Woke up at 5.30am this Saturday morninng in the UK to hear the sad news on TV- BARRY was a True influence on all our lives in some way with His own real brand of Music.

As Eli says he has joined one big choir and no more pain fourever!

RIP BARRY

John

By Jim Feliciano in Detroit. (205.188.209.109) on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 06:51 am:

No more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow.
God's hand touched him, and he slept.

Home away, gone to his eternal rest.

Barry White
September 12, 1944
July 4, 2003

By Don (68.75.163.175) on Tuesday, July 08, 2003 - 02:24 am:

There aren't enough words to express the passing of a legend and a musical giant. I won't forget his songs and the love he expressed. Right now it is hard for me to listen to any Berry White Lp's and CD's that I have, but I will rotate his Love Unlimmited Orchestra for a while now. R.I.P. Barry-We'll all miss you so.