Barry McGuire

Barry McGuire (born October 15, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter primarily known for his 1965 hit "Eve of Destruction". He was later a singer and songwriter of contemporary Christian music.

McGuire was born in Oklahoma City; his family moved to California when he was two years old. After working as a commercial fisherman and a journeyman pipefitter, McGuire began singing in a bar. In 1961 he released his first single, "The Tree", which was not a hit.

McGuire formed a duo with Barry Kane (d. 2013) called Barry & Barry. They performed original folk songs at The Ice House, a small folk club in Pasadena, California, before moving to The Troubadour in Hollywood in the spring of 1962. There they joined the folk group the New Christy Minstrels, and McGuire sang lead vocals on the novelty single "Three Wheels on My Wagon".

McGuire and Kane continued to perform their duo act as well as playing with the New Christy Minstrels. With Horizon Records, they cut their first and only album as Barry & Barry, titled Here and Now, which contained songs such as "Gold Wedding Ring", "Land of Odin", "Another Man" (released as a single), "Summer's Over", "You Know My Name", "Bull 'Gine Run", and "Far Side of the Hill". It also included a cover of "If I Had a Hammer", three months after the release of the hit version by folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary.

In 1963 McGuire, with Randy Sparks (founder of the New Christy Minstrels), co-wrote and sang lead vocal on the band's first and biggest hit single, "Green, Green". McGuire left the Christys in January 1965 after recording the album Cowboys and Indians, although on the 1965 album Chim Chim Cher-ee he sang on the title cut.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.