The Early Years:
Barry Blue aka Silent Partner began his musical career in the late 1980s, setting up a now defunct sound system; ‘B.A.D’ with two others, playing Hip-Hop, Reggae and Soul Music at events across London. It was as a direct result of this association with music that he found himself playing the Hip-Hop sessions on a London Radio station known as Friends FM in 1990.
It was also in 1990 that he and a group a friends formed the infamous rap group ‘Gunshot,’ one of the most successful UK Hip-Hop stories of the early 1990s.
Barry Blue – The Gunshot Years:
The Blue’s most fondly remembered incarnation was as Gunshot’s Barry Blue. Ask any UK Hip-Hop fan who the defining rap group of the early 1990s was and Gunshot will undoubtedly get a mention. Their style was hardcore and fast and quickly came to be considered – along with other groups such as Hijack – the defining style of the genre.
Gunshot’s recording career spanned 10 years, releasing four Albums following the success of a succession of singles released in the early 1990s, including ‘Cancel ‘em all out’ by the Blue himself.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and the group retired in the year 2000 after releasing the album ‘International Rescue,’ which was billed as Gunshot's final album even before it was released.
Silent Partner:
Being a member of Gunshot afforded Barry Blue the chance to tour all over the UK and Europe, guesting on some tracks, and DJing at venues from Mar X in Hamburg to the Astoria in Central London. When Gunshot came to and end, The Blue continued collecting music on a regular basis and his tastes matured, swaying away from playing only Hip-Hop to playing a much more diverse range of music including Nu-Jazz, Afrobeat, Soulful House, Funk, and Latin.
It was around this time that he started to DJ under the name Silent Partner, and continued to DJ on local radio stations, including his own ‘Silk room,’ where he played not only Hip-Hop but also ‘The Open Mind Sessions’ – a series of sets which included Soulful House, Broken Beats, Nu-Soul and New Jazz.
Now:
Silent Partner is no longer actively DJing on local radio, but still plays the occasional night in London, the most recent being a Save The Children gig in 2005.
In answer to the often asked question ‘Will there ever be a Gunshot Reunion?’, Barry Blue’s response is:
“Who knows? If the others are up for it, maybe, but given today’s climate, it may have to be under a different name!”
|
