Last year we ran into Barbara Besty at our own “Improving Studio Monitoring” seminar. She was bright, cheerful, asked smart questions about near-field speakers, and somehow made a room full of audio nerds stand up a little straighter. At the time we just figured she was another up-and-coming artist doing her homework. Turns out she was. And then she wasn’t. Besty had been quietly building a following with a handful of well-produced tracks. Nice voice, good songs, the kind of face (and, let’s be honest, figure) that made people hit replay for reasons that weren’t entirely musical.
Then, almost overnight, she stopped posting music. No dramatic goodbye, no “taking a break” statement. She just enrolled in a correspondence journalism program through the local community college and told people she wanted to become a newscaster. That’s not the usual career pivot. Most artists who step back still leave a trail of soft launches and “new project soon” hints. Besty wiped the slate clean. One day she’s the girl in the sundress at the beach looking like she walked out of a different decade. The next she’s talking about broadcast ethics.
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| Her hard to find CD |
We’ve seen the pictures that still float around: Barbara in a formal black evening gown standing in the checkout line at Xtra Value like it’s the most normal thing in the world.  |
| Barb as youth in Watts |
Barbara somehow growing up in Watts with a couple of what can only be described as derelict drunken robots in the background. The woman has range. At 28 she’s starting over in a field that doesn’t care how good you look in a sundress or an evening gown. If she actually makes it to a news desk, the control room is going to have a very interesting first week.Until then, Barbara Besty remains one of those low-key internet mysteries. The talented singer who walked away, showed up at a speaker seminar, and decided she’d rather read the news than make it. All of us here at High on Technology wish her the very best in career and life, it's great knowing we were part of helping to launch it.
