Barry White's Candlelit Rendezvous

Singer Barry White, shown posing with his trophy after being honored with the Heritage Award for career acheivemnet at the eight annual Soul Train Music Awards in this March 15, 1994 photo in Los Angeles, died Friday morning, July 4, 2003, his manager said. White, who had suffered from kidney failure from years of high blood pressure, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles around 9:30 a.m., said manager Ned Shankman. He was 58. (AP Photo/Rhonda Birndorf)

At the time of White’s death, Legacy.com was just a few years old and had been providing Guest Books with obituaries for a relatively short time. We reviewed each and every entry submitted to make sure it was appropriate for the Guest Book, and we thought we had seen it all. And then with White’s death, a new conundrum: how to handle the many messages from people who wanted to reminisce about, um, what they were doing and which/how many of their children were conceived while listening to White's, er, deeply romantic songs.

These Guest Book entries initially threw us for a loop. Is it OK in a condolence message to share the story of how your child was conceived? In the end, we decided that for Barry White’s Guest Book, this kind of memory was totally appropriate to post (as long as it didn't describe that "special moment" too graphically). After all, back in the ‘70s, White’s songs were the gold standard for setting a romantic mood. We can't help but think of a candlelit, soft-focus rendezvous when we hear a song like this one…

But Barry White did more than help along countless relationships. He also ushered in the disco era with his innovative blend of R&B and classical music, set to a driving and danceable beat. At the helm of The Love Unlimited Orchestra, he became one of the first disco chart-toppers.

Barry White kept the hits coming throughout the '70s – like "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," which dominated both the R&B and pop charts.

Written by Linnea Crowther