Mark Barkan obit

 

BMI Mourns the Loss of Hit Songwriter and Record Producer Mark Barkan

He was not on the list.

BMI is saddened by the passing of veteran songwriter and record producer Mark Barkan. Barkan was best known for writing the U.K. #1 “Pretty Flamingo,” which was recorded by Manfred Mann in 1966, and covered by dozens of other artists, including superstars Rod Stewart, The Everly Brothers, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello. He was also responsible for songs recorded by Lesley Gore, Elvis Presley, Connie Francis and Dusty Springfield, among many others, while also co-writing “The Tra La La Song,” which was the theme to the blockbuster children’s show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour. As a producer, Barkan broke ground with The Deep on their Psychedelic Moods album, which is considered to be one of the earliest psychedelic records. Showcasing his incredibly diverse talents even further, Barkan also wrote several songs for The Archies, and later in his career worked with Blue Oyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard, guitarist Joe Bouchard and original Alice Cooper group bassist Dennis Dunaway.

He was a songwriter and record producer. He was also a musical director for the television show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, which aired between September 7, 1968, and September 5, 1970, lasting two seasons, on NBC.

Barkan was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and started his career as a writer in the Brill Building. His first major success as a writer was with "The Writing on the Wall", a 1961 US top 5 hit for Adam Wade which he co-wrote with Sandy Baron and George Paxton (credited as George Eddy). He had further success with "I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter" (co-written with Hank Hunter), which was a hit for Connie Francis in 1963; Lesley Gore's Top 5 hit "She's a Fool" (co-written with Ben Raleigh); the often-covered "Pretty Flamingo", which was a hit single for Manfred Mann in 1966; and "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)" from The Banana Splits (co-written with Ritchie Adams).

In 1966, Barkan was responsible for producing the album Psychedelic Moods, by The Deep, which has been credited as the first album to have the word psychedelic in the title. Barkan also wrote songs for many other artists, and was involved in "cult" bands as well. He and Ritchie Adams co-wrote songs for The Archies, The Monkees, and for many other recording artists in the late 1960s. The team of Barkan and Adams was instrumental on the Banana Splits project, and they also wrote and produced all the songs for Toomorrow, a 1970 sci-fi musical, produced by Don Kirshner, which starred Olivia Newton-John as a band member

Barkan will be missed and remembered fondly by his friends and fans at BMI.