Family jam sessions would often result in Barb’s dad trying to entice her into joining them to sing, but at her age, her interests and attention span were not as focused on music as the rest of the family.

  Soon the boys started to get booked to play at local establishments, and occasionally Barb would have the opportunity to tag along. Her interest was sparked and she began to learn how everything worked.

  During these gigs, Barb’s dad and some of the other friends would bribe, plea and beg for the cute little girl to get up and sing. Being much smarter than her age, she would wave them away until later in the session. She would wait until someone offered her a dollar (no sense in singing for free!), and she would climb up on stage and sing a few songs. With a good natured smile and a gleam in her eye, Barb would smugly wave a
few dollar bills at her brother Jeff and then run off and hide.

  As what happens to all of us, life comes at you fast. Little sister Barb grew up, got married and had kids. But her musical talent never left her — it just quietly took a back seat for a short while.

  Barb’s second husband was a musician and he would often try out new songs at home with Barb joining him and singing harmony. As before when she was younger, Barb was NOT interested in being part of the band. However, her husband was not ready to accept no for an answer.  One night her husband sweet-talked her into going with him to this new bar where the band was playing.  “You simply have to hear this new singer we have!”   So the baby sitter arrived and off they went! The first set was met with enthusiasm, and it was time to introduce the new singer. Her husband stood in front of the crowd.  “I’d like to introduce to you a very talented, very beautiful singer, my wife, Barb!” Then there was deafening applause ... shock ... horror! ... surprise ... simply dumbfounded ... surreal.  What was going on here? Her husband had to walk over to her table to get her. He bent over and quickly whispered in her ear, “I got us this job because we said we had a female singer. If you don’t sing, the band won’t get paid".

  So began Barb’s singing career!  She sang for Contraband for a while and also joined the Hot To Trot band as well as George Curtis and the Honky Tonk Hearts. Barb played all over Akron and eventually joined some road shows, now experiencing the hard life of a musician.

  In the early 1980’s, Barb and her husband performed as a duo in small lounges and bars. Finally, they packed up and headed west to Fort Hood, Texas. Barb’s husband was selling insurance by day and the two of them were playing gigs as a duo at night at the Officer’s Club and at the local bars. To make ends meet, Barb accepted a position at a local dry cleaners and also tended bar in the evenings. Their lives were busy ... very, very
busy.

  In 1991, Barb’s mother became extremely ill, and her dedicated, loving daughter returned home to care for her. Upon their return home, Barb and her husband brought with them this new-fangled musical fastforwarded-video-tape-box-thing that played background music but no-one was singing. It was the pre-historic humble beginnings of Karaoke.  Barb continued to work with this new piece of electronic equipment, and progressed with it through the 30 inch laser disk to our current CAV System Karaoke machine.

  For 13 years, from 1993 to 2005, Barb was the feature performer at Corky’s Thomastown sometimes playing five nights a week. She was affectionately known around town as the "Blond Karaoke Queen".

  Barb had a way with the customers. With her friendly smile and fun-loving nature, she seemed to always draw a crowd. Barb loved singing, and the crowds loved her!
Barb and Doug started dating in 2004, and now play as a duo at the Suburb Inn on Arlington Street every Wednesday night.

  Barb swears that Suburb Inn owner, Kenny Michael, is truly the best boss she’s ever worked for! In fact, Kenny some times will join in with Barb and Doug and do a song or two (with a little help and encouragement from the crowd of course). Kenny’s somewhat shy, but if anyone can help him get past that, Barb can!

  So until Barb & Doug’s Nashville Nights has it’s big opening celebration, stop by the Suburb Inn on Wednesday evenings to introduce yourself to Barb and Doug, say howdy, listen to some fantastic country music and have some down-home fun!  Be welcomed as a stranger, leave as great friends!