February 9: He Put the Bomp in the Bomp Ba Bomp Ba Bomp

Barry Mann (Imberman), whose catalog includes more than 600 songs, was born in Brooklyn on this date in 1939. Mann sang lead on “Who Put the Bomp?” — cowritten with Gerry Goffen, who eventually became Carole King’s songwriting and marital partner. Mann then teamed up with lyricist Cynthia Weil (they, too, got married) and began decades of a remarkably productive partnership. They introduced a strain of class-conscious and socially conscious songs to the Brill Building’s output with “Uptown” (for the Crystals), “We Gotta Get out of This Place” (the Animals), “Magic Town” (the Vogues), “On Broadway” (the Drifters), and “Kicks” (Paul Revere and the Raiders). They also wrote the Righteous Brothers’ “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration,” and (with Phil Spector) “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the most-played radio hit in history. Mann has worked as producer, arranger, and instrumentalist with John Lennon, The Pointer Sisters, Michael Bolton, Mavis Staples, Gladys Knight, and many other monster musicians, and has scored music for stage and screen. He is, of course, an inductee to the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “We lived, ate, and breathed pop songs.” —Barry Mann