Claudja Barry is one diva that has never left the dancefloor. Her first 12" single was "Sweet Dynamite" (Salsoul). Her most recent was the 1994 Top 30 German Pop hit "Poison" (Radikal) (as the featured vocalist for techno/trance group General Base). Between the two it's been club hits like* the 1979 multimillion selling Gold/Platinum disco anthem "Boogie Woogie Dancin'Shoes" (Chrysalis), "Trippin'On The Moon" & personal), "Work Me Over/l Will Follow" (TSR), "Down And Counting" (Epic), and 'Good Time" (Radikal) that have maintained Claudja's presence on the international club Music scene. Her success there has not been lost on the world of pop music: In Canada alone she's been nominated for nine Juno Awards (the Canadian Grammy) and has won for Best Female Artist.
Glamorous, multilingual, and highly traveled Claudja Barry has sung in some of the world's best venuesamong them Studio 54, The Saint, (NYC), The Palace (Paris), Budokan Hall (where she won the Silver Prize at the Tokyo Music Festival), The Verona Arena (Italy), and Backstreet (Atlanta). She is an artist whose stage presence, longevity, and performances have been noted and appreciated not only in the arena of pop/club music but also in theatreClaudja Barry is also an accomplished actress.
Born in Jamaica, raised in Canada, Claudja Barry headed to New York City as a teenager to study acting at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. She then moved to London where she landed the lead role in the Royal Court Theatre production of "AC/DC" which won the Evening Standard Critic's Award for Best Play. While living in England Claudja also starred in productions at the Travers Theatre in Edinburgh and The Cambridge Theatre in Cambridge. Her appearance in "AC/DC" led to a starring role in the German production of "Catch My Soul" (a musical adaptation of Shakespeare's "Othello") at Theater des Westens in West Berlin. (In Germany Claudia also appeared in musicals at The Friedrichsstadtpalast in East Berlin and the Frankfurter Opera. She studied Classical Opera in earnest under the tutelage of the noted Professor Gareis.) A European tour with "Catch My Soul" took her to Munich where she met music producer Jijrgen Korduletsch.
Together they formed a creative partnershipJurgen producing and Claudia co-writingand performingwhich continues today. At the time based in Germany, Cladja's initial success was in Europe and Canada, where she earned her Juno nominations and became the first inductee to The Canadian Black Music Hall Of Fame
together with Oscar Peterson. In the U.S. she was nominated for an American Music Award for Best Female Artist and appeared on NBC's Seventh Annual Rhythm & Blues Awards. Recently Claudja has been seen on an almost nightly basis as cohost of Radikal Records tremendously successful Dance Mix USA infomercial.
Claudia now lives with her husband and daughter just outside New York City. She is currently signed to Radikal Records (for whom she is presently in the studio) and maintains a busy international schedule of live and TV appearances. As an actress she appears in the upcoming independent film Murderland (Radikal Pictures) and is a longstanding member of The Michael Moriarty Acting Studio.
|