Barry McGuire

The Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter Barry McGuire has enjoyed chart success as a folk singer as well as becoming an actor and an author later on in life. He was the vocalist on the novelty hit Three Wheels On My Wagon during his early days as a performer with The New Christy Minstrels. After leaving The New Christy Minstrels he began a solo career and is best known for his own hit records Eve Of Destruction and Sins Of The Family, both written by P.F. Sloan. Eve Of Destruction reached number one in the Billboard Chart whilst the album of the same name reached number 37. Although he continued to have a successful recording career, none of McGuire's subsequent releases broke into the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the peak of his career he became involved in acting and for a 12-month period starred on Broadway in the musical Hair. In the early 1970s, McGuire became a born-again Christian and his work became well-known in Christian folk and pop circles. In the 1980s he took a hiatus from the music business starting a new life in New Zealand before returning to America in the 1990s and forming the duo Talbot McGuire with Christian recording artist Terry Talbot and releasing four albums. McGuire also became involved with John York from the Byrds performing songs from the 1960s in a live show titled Trippin the '60s.