Barry Mann & Brian Hyland Who Put The Bomp - Sealed With A Kiss (7inch, 45rpm)

Barry Mann

was born on Feb. 9, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York. A would-be architect, he became a songwriter when Paul Case, the general manager of the Aberbach family-owned Hill and Range Music, put one of Mann's first songs on the flip of Bobby Pedrick's 'White Bucks and Saddle Shoes' on Big Top - which was affiliated to Hill and Range -in 1958. In 1961, Mann married Cynthia Weil, with whom he was to write most of his hits, and turned briefly to recording when his own 'Who Put The Bomp' - with the bomp sup-plied by New York session singer, Ronald Bright - became a Top Ten hit on ABC in the summer of that year. Further records failed, as did his return to recording when, in the wake of the success of his fellow Brill Building songwriter, Carole King, he attempted a comeback as a singer/song-writer with solo albums in 1971 and 1975. However, if Mann's recording career was unspectacular, he and Cynthia Weil were one of the most successful non-performing American songwriting teams of the Sixties. In the years 1959-70 - on his own, with Cynthia Weil and with others - Mann wrote nearly 50 Hot Hundred records - only failing to score in 1967.

Moreover, as a list of these songs makes clear, Mann and Weil wrote in a variety of styles, though they were most successful with their urban protest songs. 1959: Mann's first hit, 'She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)' (the Diamonds, No. 18). 1960: 'Footsteps' (Steve Lawrence, No. 7) and 'The Way Of A Clown' (Teddy Randazzo, No. 44). 1961: among others two Top Twenty records, 'Bless You' (Tony Orlando) and (with Larry Kobler) 'I Love How You Love Me' (the Paris Sisters). 1962: six Top Twenty records, including 'Come Back Silly Girl' (the Lettermen), `He's Sure The Boy I Love' and 'Uptown' (the Crystals), `I'll Never Dance Again' (Bobby Rydell), 'My Dad' (Ray Peterson) and 'Patches' (Dicky Lee). 1963: ten Hot Hun-dred entries, including four Top Twenty records, 'Blame It On The Bossa Nova' (Eydie Gorme), 'I'll Take You Home' and 'On Broadway' (the Drifters) and 'The Grass Is Greener' (Brenda Lee). 1964: three Top Ten records, 'I'm Gonna Be Strong' (Gene Pitney), 'Saturday Night At The Movies' (the Drifters) and (with Phil Spector) the chart-topping 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling' (the Righteous Brothers). 1965: seven Hot Hundred entries, including 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place' (the Animals) and 'Home Of The Brave' (Bon-nie and the Treasures and Jody Miller).

1966: another No. 1, `(You're My) Soul And Inspiration' (the Righteous Brothers) and a Top Ten, 'Kicks' (Paul Revere and the Raiders). 1968: eight Hot Hundred entries, including a Top Ten revival of 'I Love How You Love Me' (Bobby Vinton) and possibly Mann's strangest song 'The Shape Of Things To Come' (Max Frost and the Troopers). 1969: two Hot Hundred entries, including a Top Twenty revival of the Ronettes"Walking In The Rain' (Jay and the Americans). 1970: four Hot Hundred entries, including 'New World Coming' (Mama Cass) and 'I Just Can't Help Believing' (B. J. Thomas).