Mike Barson

Mike Barson
Birth name	Michael Barson
Born	21 April 1958 (1958-04-21) (age 53) Edinburgh, Scotland
Genres	2 Tone, Ska, Pop, New Wave
Occupations	Songwriter, musician
Instruments	Keyboard, piano, organ, harmonica, vibraphone, guitar, saxophone
Years active	1976–1984, 1992–present
Labels	2 Tone, Stiff, Virgin, V2, Go Discs!, Lucky 7 Records
Associated acts	Madness, Suggs
Website	Madness.co.uk

Michael "Mike" Barson (born 21 April 1958) is a British musician, best known as a founding member and keyboardist of the second wave ska band, Madness.

Biography

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Barson grew up in North London with his 2 brothers Dan and Ben. He is often known by the nicknames 'Monsieur Barso or Barzo'.

Barson co-founded a band called "The Invaders" in 1976.^[1] Soon, they changed their name to Madness after the song by Prince Buster ^[2] and became one of the popular bands in Two Tone, and of the 1980s. In 1984 after the recording of the album Keep Moving and appearing in the promo clips for the two singles from that album - "Michael Caine" and "One Better Day", Barson, who was one of the main songwriters and effectively the musical director, left the band to spend more time with his now ex wife Sandra in Amsterdam. Two years later Madness disbanded, but Barson did join them for the recording of their final single - "Waiting For The Ghost Train".

They reunited in their original line-up in 1992,^[1] and he still plays with them. In 1995, he co-wrote and produced a number of songs for Suggs' first solo album The Lone Ranger. When No Doubt were recording songs for their fifth studio album Rock Steady, Barson was asked to play piano on the London version of the song "Everything in Time". Barson obliged and the track was produced by Madness producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. The track never made it on to the album, but was released a year later in 2003 on the compilation album B-sides, Remixes and Rarities.

Both Barson and his bandmate, Suggs, have contributed to the Audio Bully's album, Higher Than The Eiffel. They both appear on the tracks Twist Me Up and Goodbye.

He has three sons. Jamie, Timothy and Joey. Timothy is the only one to follow his Dad's lead into music and like his father is a keyboard player, but of the electronica style.

Mike Barson is currently recording a new album with Madness.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} BBC Top of the Pops 2 Top 5, accessed 12 August 2006
2. ^ BBC Top of the Pops 2 Muze Biography, accessed 12 August 2006

External links

• Madness official MadSpace
• Mike Barson's official MySpace
• Mike Barson's Facebook group

Persondata
Name	Barson Mike
Alternative names	Monsieur Barso or Barzo
Short description
Date of birth	21 April 1958
Place of birth
Date of death
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