Barry Lather

Barry Lather
Born	(1966-08-16) August 16, 1966 (age 57) Albany, New York
Occupation(s)	Choreographer, Creative Director, Producer
Years active	1985-present
Known for	"The Pleasure Principle" music video

Barry Lather (born August 16, 1966, in Albany, New York) is an American creative director, choreographer, producer, and dancer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Los Angeles, California.^[1]

Early life

Lather was born on August 16, 1966, in Albany, New York.^{[citation needed]} 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]

Career

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."^[5]^[3]^[6] 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.^[5]^[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]

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.^[9] Lather's ice show production choreography includes shows for Paramount Parks^{[citation needed]} 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.^[10] 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.^[9]

In 2011 and 2012, he worked on the Freestyle Motocross show "Nuclear Cowboyz" tour.^[11] 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. ^[9] 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 & designed iconic rocker John Fogerty's Tour and directed Carrie Underwood's The Denim & Rhinestones Tour. ^[12]

Personal life

Awards

Year	Film awards / critics	Award	Work	Result	Ref
1988	MTV Video Music Awards	Best Choreography	"The Pleasure Principle" music video	Won	^[4]
1997	Fosse Awards	Best Music Video	"Ghosts" - Michael Jackson	Won	^[13]^[14]
2001	Emmys	Outstanding Choreography	Miss America 2000	Nominated	^[15]
2016	Pollstar	Most Creative Stage Production	Storyteller Tour: Stories in the Round	Nominated	^[16]

Selected Directing & Choreography

TV and Film

1992: Roundhouse (3 seasons)
1993: Super Mario Bros.
1995: Michael Jackson: One Night Only HBO Special
1996: Michael Jackson's Ghosts
1996: 68th Academy Awards
1997: Vegas Vacation
1997: Melinda: First Lady of Magic
1998: Blues Brothers 2000
2000-2018: Miss America Pageant
2000-2001: Nikki (7 episodes)
2002: Death to Smoochy
2002: Unconditional Love
1998-2002: The Drew Carey Show (2 episodes)
2008: Good Girl Gone Bad Live Rihanna
2009: TV Special Jennifer Hudson
2012: Duets (1 season)
2014: Nickelodeon HALO Awards
2019: American Idol Season Finale (Creative Producer)
2021: Carrie Underwood Live from the Ryman
2022: American Idol (Creative Producer)

Music videos

1987: "The Pleasure Principle" - Janet Jackson
1987: "We'll Be Together" - Sting
1987: "Diamonds" - Herb Alpert
1988: "Kiss" - Tom Jones
1989: "Electric Youth" - Debbie Gibson
1989: "Batdance" - Prince
1992: "Jam" - Michael Jackson
1992: "My Destiny" - Lionel Richie
1995: "Crazy Cool" - Paula Abdul
1996: "If It Makes You Happy" - Sheryl Crow
1996: "The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You" - Bryan Adams
1996: "Let's Make a Night to Remember" - Bryan Adams

Live Performances & Award Shows

1987: 29th Annual Grammy Awards (Janet Jackson)
1987: American Music Awards (Janet Jackson)
1998: Super Bowl Halftime Special / Tribute to Motown
2003: MTV Video Music Awards (P Diddy)
2004: BET Awards (Usher)
2004: MTV Video Music Awards (Usher)
2004: American Music Awards (Usher & Alicia Keys)
2005: Fashion Rocks (Gwen Stefani, Pharrell, P. Diddy)
2007: BET Awards - (Ciara)
2008: BET Awards, American Music Awards, Fashion Rocks (Rihanna)
2008: BET Awards (Usher)
2008: Donny & Marie Osmond Las Vegas Residency Show at the Flamingo
2009: BET Awards (Keri Hilson)
2010: MTV Video Music Awards (Usher "OMG" performance)
2011-2015: Country Music Awards (Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney)
2011: 2011 Latin Grammy Awards (Usher, Romeo Santos)
2011: American Music Awards (Justin Bieber)
2011: American Idol performance (Nicole Scherzinger)
2012: Divas (Ciara)
2012-13: BET Award performances (Miguel)
2013: Grammy Awards (Miguel & Wiz Khalifa)
2013: Dancing with the Stars performance (Demi Lovato)
2013: Billboard Awards (Miguel)
2015: Kid's Choice Awards (Nick Jonas)
2015: CMT Awards (Carrie Underwood)
2016: ACMs, CMA, CMT Award performances (Carrie Underwood)
2017: BET Awards (Trey Songz)
2018: 2018 Radio Disney Music Awards (Carrie Underwood)
2018: "Qiddiya" Live Opening Ceremony in Saudi Arabia
2018: MTV Video Music Awards (Logic)
2018: ACMs, CMT Fest, CMA, American Music Awards - (Carrie Underwood)
2019: Robbie Williams "Live in Las Vegas" Residency show at The Wynn
2019: British Summer Time Hyde Park - Robbie Williams
2019: Nu Skin Corporate Event
2019: "Diriyah" Opening Ceremony Event in Saudi Arabia
2020: "Rockumentary" - Live Show / Celebrity Cruises
2021: American Music Awards - (Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood)
2021: "Reflection" Las Vegas Residency Show at Resortsworld - Carrie Underwood
2021: Gala Live Event Las Vegas / Volo Events
2022: Stagecoach - (Carrie Underwood)
2022: Gala Live Event Los Angeles & Malta / Volo Events