Barb Morrison

Early life and music

Barb Morrison, the daughter of James and Helen Morrison, was born May 22, 1967 in Schenectady, New York and has two brothers, James Jr. and Shawn. After beginning piano at age 7 and saxophone at age 9, Barb joined her first punk band as a drummer at age 14. She bought her first guitar for $15.00 at the age of 17 and moved to New York City later that year to pursue a career in music.

Career

In 1985, she played her first NYC show at CBGB and became a regular onstage at many East Village venues of the era such as Danceteria, The Ritz, Pyramid Club, and Limelight. While still a teenager Morrison was already playing sax with punk legends Sylvain Sylvain, Johnny Thunders and Cherry Vanilla.

In 1987, she joined the band 'Gutterboy' as a saxophone player, guitarist and back up singer. 'Gutterboy', fronted by writer/director Dito Montiel, toured with Bryan Adams, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Stray Cats and Ramones. They were signed to Mercury Records in 1989, released "St. Stanislaus of E. 7th St." and modeled for photographer Bruce Weber's Gianni Versace catalog.

In 1992, she left Gutterboy to start the band "Itchy Trigger Finger" with longtime friend Harry Nagle. In Itchy Trigger Finger she toured on Lollapalooza along with Sonic Youth, Hole, Sinéad O'Connor, Cypress Hill, Moby, Beck, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Coolio, yo la tengo, The Roots and Patti Smith. From 1995–1998, she was also the sax player and guitarist for the Squeeze box house band at Don Hill's, sharing that stage with Green Day, Deborah Harry, Joey Arias, Lady Bunny, John Cameron Mitchell, Nina Hagen, The Runaways, Justin Bond and Jayne County.

In 2000, Morrison scored her first film, The Safety of Objects starring Glenn Close. She also wrote a song titled "Kiss It All Goodbye" for the movie with LP, and later that year co-wrote and produced three songs, including the title track, for L.P.'s debut album Heart-Shaped Scar. That same year, Morrison also joined Antony and the Johnsons as a clarinet player and saxophonist. In 2001 Morrison began producing a number of bands who had contributed to the film's soundtrack. Morrison spent 2000–2006 co-producing and scoring films with teams such as Emboznik, 'Sonic & Buzz' and Blizzard Twins. For a detailed film score discography see the Film Scores discography section.

Most notably, from 2000–2012 Morrison made up half of the record production duo Super Buddha. In 2005, Morrison received her first Gold Record for producing the song 'In the Flesh' for Blondie's album Sight & Sound, and also collaborated with Grammy Award winner Pink on the video for the song Hello Bonjour. In 2006, Barb co-wrote the Top 5 Billboard dance chart remix 'Two Times Blue: Debbie Harry vs. Soul Seekerz' and the song If I Had You, which was featured regularly on VH-1. In 2011, Morrison co-wrote three songs on Blondie's Panic of Girls album as well as contributing production to releases by Franz Ferdinand and Lily Allen.

In 2012, Morrison left Super Buddha to pursue a solo career. Her first endeavor was writing and producing 3 songs for Blondie: Dead Air, Bride of Infinity and Practice Makes Perfect. That same year she composed the film score for the movie Concussion, starring Robin Weigert and Maggie Siff, an official selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and winner of the Berlin Film Festival's Teddy Award Jury Prize. Also that year, Barb mixed the album 'Black Tie Elevator' for The Cliks.

2013-Present

Music that Morrison produced for Rayya Elias' book Harley Loco was presented by author Elizabeth Gilbert at the Detroit Institute of Arts, following the release of the book and accompanying soundtrack by Viking Press. 'Harley Loco' and Blue Microphones also released a mini-documentary about Barb's work as a music producer called 'Harley Loco and Blue Microphones present Barb Morrison'.

In 2014, Morrison produced records for various artists including Rachael Sage, Miranda Di Perno, Princess Superstar, Carrie Ashley Hill and composed scores for the films Sidewalk Traffic, 'FAST' and Ma/ddy. She also spoke on the Gender Amplified panel at Barnard College, and was a featured film score composer on ASCAP's 2014 "Spotlight"

In 2015, Morrison produced records and film scores for various projects such as Sugar on PBS and Paper Mills as well as performed at the Carlyle with Debbie Harry. She was also featured in The NY Times in an article about producing transgender artists.

In 2016, Morrison produced the album "Shine" by Ryan Cassata as well as "Take My Shoulder" by Venus DeMars and Laura Jane Grace.

In 2017, Morrison received her first Platinum Record record for producing the song 'In the Flesh' for Blondie's album Sight & Sound.

Currently

Morrison is currently producing records and film scores in her NYC studio. Recent projects include upcoming collaborations with Grammy-nominated mixers Tony Maserati and Dylan Dresdow

Morrison is endorsed by TubeTech, Sugar Bytes, Blue Microphones, Namba Gear, DrumCore, Earthquaker Devices, D'Angelico Guitars and Gibson Guitars.

Personal life

Morrison lives in Frenchtown, New Jersey with her wife Clayre.

Albums

Film scores