Rank: 638

Views: 1808

Profile

  Contact

  Forward

  Print

Blog

Actor in Northvale, New Jersey, United States

Barry Hirschberg began his career in the entertainment industry in 1964. Upon graduating from Belleville High School in Belleville, NJ, he began performing as a singer/guitarist - traveling and working with several recording artists and bands including, Gary U.S. Bonds, Little Eva, The Toys, Wilbert Harrison, and Len Barry among others. He toured with the Critters in 1965 when the band had 2 top 40 hits “Younger Girl” and “Mr. Diengly Sad”. He was the guitarist for... More Screamin’ Jay Hawkins for a year, until his induction into the armed forces in 1968. Sgt. Hirschberg saw combat as an infantryman in South Vietnam with the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division. Honorably discharged in 1969, Barry worked for Braniff International Airlines as a Communications, Operations, and Ticketing Agent while continuing to write music and perform part time.

Leaving the Airlines to get back to show business full time in 1975, Barry began writing and performing music for commercials and records, as well as performing nightly in the New York tri-state area with his band Memorabilia. He began producing records in 1976 when he co-produced “I Love You Mary Hartman” (a single based on the hit TV show) which made a little noise on the national charts. That year he opened BBP Productions with 2 partners, and signed a record deal with Buddah Records with the disco single “Foxy Trot” performed by the group Life USA. He signed music publishing deals with Capitol, and MCA. In 1978, Barry bought out his partners, changed the company to Hirschberg Music Productions, and continued to produce records while expanding into Radio & TV commercials as well as corporate productions. Among the record projects; an album with Barbara Joyce (From BT Express), a comedy single with funny man London Lee “Roots of Glory”, an album with Montego Joe (the 5th Dimension’s percussionist), and several sides with Bobby Valli (Frankie’s brother). In 1980 his production “Stand Up For The Flag Of America” (a wonderful patriotic song) was picked up by Texaco and used in a huge national radio & TV campaign when the hostages were released from Iran. In 1984 Hirschberg Productions incorporated and produced their first home videos “Total Body Workout” and “Trouble Spot Trimmer” the first exercise videos ever to retail under $20.00. Released on the Congress Home Video label, they sold over 20,000,000 copies! In 1986, HP produced 3 instructional programs with NY Mets coaches Bill Robinson, Mel Stottlemyre, and Buddy Harrilson “Baseball The Right Way” Hitting, Pitching, and Fielding instructional programs for kids. HP continued to produce several more home videos in the 80’s and 90’s, many sports related, including: “Let’s Bowl” with Dick Weber and “Stompin’ the States” with Freestyle creator R.L. Osborne, among others.

Barry has also worked as a performer since 1964 as a singer/musician. From 1982 to 86, he was lead singer of Replay, a 7 piece show group which gained a lot of popularity playing venues from Maryland to New England. The group was featured on two episodes of Arts America, an international television show produced by the USIA, and broadcast worldwide. During that time he also worked as one of the lead singers of the Duprees.

Barry joined SAG and AFTRA in 1980, and began doing voice over work for radio and television commercials, and as a background vocalist on several record dates. He has also appeared on camera in corporate videos, and home videos. Some major credits include background singer on Barry Manilow’s LP “Manilow”, and a featured singer on the Sesame Street Christmas Album. He was lead singer on many commercials including Texaco, Post Honeycomb, and (currently airing) Hasbro’s Perfection.

In 1992 and 93, Barry made regular appearances on the Scott and Todd Morning Radio Show on WPLJ-FM in New York City, writing, producing and performing parody songs as a part of the team “LOBOZZO & HIRSCHBERG”. He continues to perform regularly on parody songs for several radio syndicators

Since 1976 Barry has worked as a producer, director, audio engineer, and video editor on hundreds of projects ranging from children’s sing-a-long albums and videos to Vietnam documentaries. He received the Ampex Golden Reel Award for audio engineering over 300 albums for schools nationwide. He has also received 2 Cindy Awards, a Telly Award, and a Communicator Award for video editing. In 1999, Barry was nominated for an EMMY for his participation in the children’s TV program “Let’s Have Fun”.
Currently, Barry and his wife and business partner Liz, own and operate Hirschberg Productions, Inc. a full service audio/video production company and post production facility. They maintain a 24 track digital audio studio and state of the art video post production facility. They have produced dozens of home videos, corporate and industrial shows, as well as radio and television commercials and PSA’s for Bide-A-Wee featuring Jerry Orbach, and The United Way featuring Lorraine Bracco.

Barry just completed editing/producing the second season of “TV Land Confidential” an original series for TV Land (Produced by Brainstorm Productions, Inc.) a weekly series which premiered last year. In addition, Hirschberg Productions has been retained by several companies to produce and edit program content for pod-cast downloads.
Less