From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Jul 15, 2003  1:18 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : H.B. Barnum

H.B. BARNUM

Born Hidle Brown Barnum, 15 July 1936, Houston, Texas

Arranger / producer / pianist / songwriter.

Mr. Barnum is the eternal "Quincy Jones" of the entertainment industry 
by the fact that he's very respected and well known. He has arranged for 
just about everybody in the business, from the Coasters to Frank Sinatra,
from B.B. King to Puff Daddy. 

With his singing and piano playing, Barnum won a nationwide child star 
contest at the age of four and starred in the motion picture "Valley of the
Sun Marches On". When Barnum was five, he continued his acting career 
appearing on television 's first children's show, the Albert Lang Production
"Broom Stick Buckaroos", and was a regular on the Amos 'n Andy TV and 
Radio Shows, the Jack Benny Show, the CBS Playhouse and numerous
other national programs.

He was a member of the doo-wop group The Dootones (1955-56), then of
The Robins (1956-57, replacing Bobby Nunn) and made his first solo record
for Imperial in 1958 as Pee Wee Barnum. In 1960 he was a member of the
Dyna-Sores, who scored with a cover of "Alley-Oop". The next year he had 
the only hit under his own name, the instrumental "Lost Love " (# 35) on the
Eldo label. As a singer he recorded two albums for RCA and one for Capitol
during the sixties. Also he was a prolific composer of commercials (winning
several international awards) and TV scores.

Not many people know that Barnum recorded the first version of "Nut Rocker",
under the name of Jack B. Nimble. Produced by Kim Fowley, the disc was
first released on the small Del Rio label, then licensed to Dot. There is an
interesting story by Al Hazan (who played piano on the version by B. Bumble
and the Stingers) how he was rushed into the studio, had to learn the
arrangement from the Barnum record, but hardly got the time for this and did "Nut Rocker"
in one take. See: http://www.spectropop.com/NutRocker/
The Jack B. Nimble version is quite rare and has not been reissued to the
best of my knowledge.

More info, with discography: http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/hbbarnum.htm