Chris Barber

Chris Barber OBE
Barber in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Donald Christopher Barber
Born	(1930-04-17)17 April 1930 Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England
Died	2 March 2021(2021-03-02) (aged 90)
Genres	Skiffle ragtime swing blues trad jazz folk
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter bandleader
Instrument(s)	Trombone, double bass
Years active	1950-2019
Labels	Decca Tempo Columbia (EMI) Pye Lake
Website	chrisbarber.net

Donald Christopher Barber OBE (17 April 1930 – 2 March 2021) was an English jazz musician, best known as a bandleader and trombonist. He helped many musicians with their careers and had a UK top twenty trad jazz hit with "Petite Fleur" in 1959. These musicians included the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with Barber triggered the skiffle craze of the mid-1950s and who had his first transatlantic hit, "Rock Island Line", while with Barber's band. He provided an audience for Donegan and, later, Alexis Korner, and sponsored African-American blues musicians to visit Britain, making Barber a significant figure in launching the British rhythm and blues and "beat boom" of the 1960s.