Barry Mason was one of the finest and most popular songwriters in the UK. Principally a lyricist, Barry co- wrote with many of our best known composers, but it was his long partnership with Les Reed which produced some of his best known works including Delilah for Tom Jones, I Pretend for Des O’Connor, The Last Waltz for Engelbert Humperdinck, Here It Comes Again for the Fortunes, and many more.
He was seldom out of the top 10 during the 60s and his last number one was Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes in January 1970, co- written with Tony Macaulay. He was also a five-times Ivor Novello Award winner.
Those of us who were fortunate enough to know Barry well loved and admired him for his geniality and his generosity of spirit. The wider public got to know Barry when, later in life, he developed an extremely popular one man show in which he related many marvellous ‘stories behind the songs,’ always ending with his own inimitable performance of Delilah.
The songwriting community has lost one of the greats of the ‘old school’.
