Dave Barbour

Who was Dave Barbour?

Dave Barbour was an American musician. He was a jazz banjoist and guitarist, a pop songwriter, an actor, and the husband of Peggy Lee for nine years.

Barbour was born in Long Island, New York started off as a banjoist with Adrian Rollini in 1933 and then Wingy Manone in 1934. He switched to guitar in the middle of the decade and played with Red Norvo in 1935-1936. He found much work as a studio musician and played in ensembles with Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday, Artie Shaw, Lennie Hayton, Charlie Barnet, Raymond Scott, Glenn Miller, Lou Holden, and Woody Herman. He also recorded with André Previn in 1945.

He played with Benny Goodman in 1942, and while a member of Goodman's ensemble, he fell in love with lead singer Peggy Lee, and the pair quit the group to marry in 1943. Soon after they moved to Los Angeles, Johnny Mercer put them to work as a songwriting team, and they wrote a number of Lee's hits, such as "Mañana" and "It's a Good Day". The couple had a daughter, Nicki, in 1943. Barbour was an alcoholic and had domestic troubles with Lee; this eventually split apart their marriage, which ended in 1951. Dave Barbour and His Orchestra had the best-selling version of the peppy song "Mambo Jambo."