Barb Morrison


Barb Morrison is an American recording artist, Top 5 Billboard dance chart songwriter, and Platinum record producer, best known as producer for numerous artists such as Blondie, Rufus Wainwright, Franz Ferdinand, LP, Asia Kate Dillon and as an ASCAP-featured film score composer.

Early life and music

Barb Morrison, the child of James and Helen Morrison, was born May 22, 1967 in Schenectady, New York and has two brothers, James Jr. and Shawn. After beginning piano at age 7 and saxophone at age 9, Barb joined their first punk band as a drummer at age 14. They bought their first guitar for $15.00 at the age of 17 and moved to New York City later that year to pursue a career in music.

Career

In 1985, they played their first NYC show at CBGB and became a regular onstage at many East Village venues of the era such as Danceteria, The Ritz, Pyramid Club, and Limelight. While still a teenager Morrison was already playing sax with punk legends Sylvain Sylvain, Johnny Thunders and Cherry Vanilla.
In 1987, they joined the band 'Gutterboy' as a saxophone player, guitarist and back up singer. 'Gutterboy', fronted by writer/director Dito Montiel, toured with Bryan Adams, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Stray Cats and Ramones. They were signed to Mercury Records in 1989, released "St. Stanislaus of E. 7th St." and modeled for photographer Bruce Weber's Gianni Versace catalog.
In 1992, they left Gutterboy to start the band "Itchy Trigger Finger" with longtime friend . In Itchy Trigger Finger they toured on Lollapalooza along with Sonic Youth, Hole, Sinéad O'Connor, Cypress Hill, Moby, Beck, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Coolio, yo la tengo, The Roots and Patti Smith. From 1995–1998, they were also the sax player and guitarist for the Squeeze box house band at Don Hill's, sharing that stage with Green Day, Deborah Harry, Joey Arias, Lady Bunny, John Cameron Mitchell, Nina Hagen, The Runaways, Justin Bond and Jayne County.
In 2000, Morrison scored their first film, The Safety of Objects starring Glenn Close. They also wrote a song titled "Kiss It All Goodbye" for the movie with LP, and later that year co-wrote and produced three songs, including the title track, for L.P.'s debut album Heart-Shaped Scar. That same year, Morrison also joined Antony and the Johnsons as a clarinet player and saxophonist. In 2001 Morrison began producing a number of bands who had contributed to the film's soundtrack. Morrison spent 2000–2006 co-producing and scoring films with teams such as , and . For a detailed film score discography see the [|Film Scores] discography section.
From 2000–2012 Morrison made up half of the record production duo . In 2005, Morrison received their first Gold Record for producing the song 'In the Flesh' for Blondie's album Sight & Sound, and also collaborated with Grammy Award winner Pink on the video for the song . In 2006, Barb co-wrote the Top 5 Billboard dance chart remix 'Two Times Blue: Debbie Harry vs. Soul Seekerz' and the song If I Had You, which was featured regularly on VH-1. In 2011, Morrison co-wrote three songs on Blondie's Panic of Girls album as well as contributing production to releases by Franz Ferdinand and Lily Allen.
In 2012, Morrison left Super Buddha to pursue a solo career. Their first endeavor was writing and producing 3 songs for Blondie: ', ' and . That same year they composed the film score for the movie , starring Robin Weigert and Maggie Siff, an official selection of the and winner of the Berlin Film Festival's Teddy Award Jury Prize. Also that year, Barb mixed the album 'Black Tie Elevator' for The Cliks.

2013-present

Music that Morrison produced for Rayya Elias' book was presented by author Elizabeth Gilbert at the Detroit Institute of Arts, following the release of the book and accompanying soundtrack by Viking Press. 'Harley Loco' and Blue Microphones also released a mini-documentary about Barb's work as a music producer called .
In 2014, Morrison produced records for various artists including , , , and composed scores for the films , and . They also spoke on the panel at Barnard College, and they were a featured film score composer on ASCAP's 2014
In 2015, Morrison produced records and film scores for various projects such as and as well as performed at . They were also featured in in an article about producing transgender artists.
In 2016, Morrison produced the album "Shine" by Ryan Cassata as well as by and Laura Jane Grace.
In 2017, Morrison received their first Platinum Records for producing the song 'In the Flesh' for Blondie's album Sight & Sound''. They also produced Gina Volpe's solo album "Different Animal".
In 2018, Morrison composed the score for the documentary "Cherry Grove Stories"
In 2019, Morrison produced the second solo record by which Rolling Stone Magazine called "modern angst via detuned metal guitars and rattling 808 beats" .

Currently

Morrison is currently producing records and film scores in their NYC studio. Recent projects include upcoming collaborations with Grammy-nominated mixers Tony Maserati and Dylan Dresdow as well as the debut EP by Asia Kate Dillon 'Handsome Hands'
Morrison is endorsed by , , , , , , D'Angelico Guitars and .

Personal life

Morrison identifies as non binary and lives in Frenchtown, New Jersey with their fiancé Jaime Karpovich and their two cats "Baby" and "Rocky".

Discography

Albums