| Barry Lather | |
| Birth Date: | 16 August 1966 |
| Birth Place: | Albany, New York |
| Occupation: | Choreographer, creative director, producer |
| Years Active: | 1985–present |
| Known For: | "The Pleasure Principle" music video |
Barry Lather (born August 16, 1966) is an American creative director, choreographer, producer, and dancer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Los Angeles, California.[1]
Lather was born on August 16, 1966, in Albany, New York. He grew up in a family of five children in Atlanta, Georgia.[2] [1] His mother Joan was a dance instructor and his father George ran a dancewear business.[3] In 1985, after graduating high school, Lather moved to Los Angeles and trained on scholarship at Joe Tremaine's Dance Center.[1] [2]
Lather's first entertainment industry dancing project was the 1985 Michael Jackson 3-D film Captain EO.[4] He continued performing in TV series like Fame and Dancin' to the Hits, commercials, and music videos such as Janet Jackson's "Nasty" and "When I Think of You."[3] [5] In 1987, Lather choreographed for Janet Jackson for the American Music Awards and Grammy Awards, and later for "The Pleasure Principle" music video, which won a Billboard Music Award and an MTV Award for Best Choreography.[6] [7] Other artists he worked choreography for included Prince, Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, George Michael, Sting, Britney Spears and Sheryl Crow. In 1996, Barry was co-choreographer for the acclaimed Michael Jackson's short film Ghost, directed by Stan Winston, and also choreographed the 68th Academy Awards. In 1998, Barry choreographed the Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring superstar Motown artists. Lather also recorded an album as a solo artist with the label Atlantic Records/WEA in 1990, titled Turn Me Loose[8] ; it was produced by Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers of Rythm Syndicate, and spawned a music video for the single, "Love In The Third Degree", which failed to chart.[9]
In the early 2000s, Lather began directing large productions such as world tours and live television performances for artists including P Diddy, Ashlee Simpson, Seal, Gwen Stefani, Usher, Ciara, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Trey Songz and Miguel. Barry acted as creative director for Usher's The Truth Tour, The OMG Tour and the Showtime special "One Night One Star" live from Puerto Rico.[10] Lather's ice show production choreography includes shows for Paramount Parks and Disney and working with Olympic athletes like Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton, and Katarina Witt.[1] In late 2008, Lather directed and choreographed Donny and Marie Osmond's Las Vegas Show at the Flamingo Hotel.[11] In 2010, he directed Usher's performances on So You Think You Can Dance, Britain's Got Talent, X Factor, and the BET Awards 2010.[10]
In 2011 and 2012, he worked on the Freestyle Motocross show "Nuclear Cowboyz" tour.[12] In 2014, he was creative director for performances by Echosmith, Nick Jonas, The Vamps, and Meghan Trainor at the Nickelodeon Halo Awards. For the 2016 Grammys, Lather directed Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt's live mashup performance of "Heartbeat" and "Take Your Time." In early 2018, Lather directed & choreographed the grand opening event for Qiddiya in Saudi Arabia and in 2019 the ground breaking ceremony of the ancient city of Diriyah outside of Riyadh. In 2019, Barry was the creative producer for American Idol's season finale show.[10] In 2021, he directed a Celebrity Cruise Line classic rock production called Rockumentary that launched in Greece. Barry directed Robbie Williams Las Vegas Residency Show at The Wynn, and Carrie Underwood's Residency Show "Reflection" at ResortsWorld in Vegas. Recently, Barry worked on Hans Zimmer's European Tour in 2022/2023, directed and designed iconic rocker John Fogerty's tour and directed Carrie Underwood's The Denim & Rhinestones Tour.[13]
| Year | Film awards / critics | Award | Work | Result | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Best Choreography | "The Pleasure Principle" music video | ||||
| 1997 | Best Music Video | "Ghosts" - Michael Jackson | [14] [15] | |||
| 2001 | Outstanding Choreography | Miss America 2000 | [16] | |||
| 2016 | Pollstar | Most Creative Stage Production | [17] |