"It gave me such a buzz!": A review of Barry Hendy's debut gig at the George Tavern

Better known on his Instagram as a kid with a gap-tooth trying to get through life with music and a smile, Barry Hendy’s first performance was a 30-second cover of A Great Big World’s ‘Say Something’ when he was 16, to 150 followers.

Now with over 1,000 followers on Instagram, Barry has just performed his first paid gig at the George Tavern, a milestone in his music career he’s not afraid to boast about. “It was amazing! My hands were numb, and my legs were shaking more than anything, but it was such a buzz! It was the first time I’ve been able to perform six of my own songs to people.”

One of the six songs Barry performed was ‘Yellow Roses’, in memory of his late grandmother. “I wrote it in a time of mourning but it was a healing song, it just flowed out within minutes and I think that’s when I knew it was a great song… it wasn’t just about grief, but about knowing the person you love is still there in spirit and I will see them again.”

Despite his loss, Barry says his love of music is hereditary, passed down from his nan, and genres such as Motown and Soul quickly became a product of his environment. “I genuinely can’t remember what exactly got me into singing, but music was always around me, my nan was a massive lover of classic singers like Elvis and Johnny Cash and that was passed down into all of us.”

Barry’s personality shines through everything he did as he sat across from me in the Breadline Café in Muswell Hill, close to the place where his musical talents started to flourish. It was during his secondary school years that he was able to really practice. “I began writing at home and bringing it to life in my music classes and school performances. Performing live has always been one of my favourite things, whether it’s my own music, singing backup for someone else, in a school musical or in a choir, performing live just has this energy about it. That keeps me alive. It’s unbelievable.”

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Barry understands the importance of using his platform to elevate and reach out to others. I asked Barry if he thought the industry was tougher to infiltrate as a gay man: “In terms of my sexuality, it’s definitely going to be harder. If you’re not out, you’re usually told to keep it a secret or just ‘tone it down’ to try and appeal to a wider audience, which isn’t fair, my music is my music. Why should my sexual preference decide whether my music is good or not?”

Moving into the future, Barry plucked from the masses of divas and popstars the ones he dreams of collaborating with next: “Beyoncé, Adele, Sam Smith, Normani, they’re all really inspirational to me, especially the gay icons such as Freddie Mercury and Elton John.”