Barry Lather

Barry Lather is an American creative director, choreographer, producer, and dancer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Los Angeles, California.

Early life

Lather was born on August 16, 1966, in Albany, New York. He grew up in a family of five children in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother Joan was a dance instructor and his father George ran a dancewear business. In 1985, after graduating high school, Lather moved to Los Angeles and trained on scholarship at Joe Tremaine's Dance Center.

Career

Lather's first entertainment industry dancing project was the 1985 Michael Jackson 3-D film Captain EO. 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." 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. Other artists he worked choreography for included Prince, Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, George Michael, Sting, Britney Spears, Lionel Richie 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 NFL Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring superstar Motown artists. In 2001, Barry received a prestigious Emmy Award nomination for his work on the Miss America Pageant.
Lather also recorded an album as a solo artist with the label Atlantic Records/WEA in 1990, titled Turn Me Loose; 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".
In the early 2000s, Lather began directing large productions such as world tours and live television performances for artists including Usher, Ciara, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, The Pussycat Dolls, Paula Abdul, 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. 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. In late 2008, Lather directed and choreographed Donny and Marie Osmond's Las Vegas Show at the Flamingo Hotel. 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.
In 2011 and 2012, he worked on the hybrid Freestyle Motocross show "Nuclear Cowboyz" tour. In 2014, he was creative director for performances by Echosmith, Nick Jonas, The Vamps, and Meghan Trainor at the Nickelodeon Halo Awards...and later performances for The Kid's Choice 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. Barry directed & choreographed two Celebrity Cruise Line shows, a classic rock production called Rockumentary that launched in Greece, and later "Residency" which opened in 2023. Barry directed international superstar Robbie Williams Las Vegas Residency Show at The Wynn, and Carrie Underwood's Residency Show "Reflection" at ResortsWorld in Vegas, which ran for 4 years consisting of 72 shows. Barry creative directed Carrie Underwood's Stagecoach show production in 2022. Recently, Barry worked on Hans Zimmer's European Tours in 2022-2025, directed and co-designed iconic rocker John Fogerty's tour and directed Carrie Underwood's The Denim & Rhinestones Tour. Barry creative directed & choreographed Gala Games Live Events in Las Vegas, Los Angeles & Malta with Volo Events. In 2025 Barry directed Carrie Underwood's New Year's Rockin' Eve performance in the heart of New York City's Time Square....and John Fogerty's Legacy Tour which kicked off at the iconic Beacon Theater in NYC.

Personal life

Awards

Selected directing and choreography

TV and film

1992: Roundhouse
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
2002: Death to Smoochy
2002: Unconditional Love
1998-2002: The Drew Carey Show
2008: Good Girl Gone Bad Live Rihanna
2009: TV Special Jennifer Hudson
2012: Duets
2014: Nickelodeon HALO Awards
2019: American Idol Season Finale
2021: Carrie Underwood Live from the Ryman
2022: American Idol
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 and award shows
1987: 29th Annual Grammy Awards
1987: American Music Awards
1998: Super Bowl Halftime Special / Tribute to Motown
2003: MTV Video Music Awards
2004: BET Awards
2004: MTV Video Music Awards
2004: American Music Awards
2005: Fashion Rocks
2007: BET Awards -
2008: BET Awards, American Music Awards, Fashion Rocks
2008: BET Awards
2008: Donny & Marie Osmond Las Vegas Residency Show at the Flamingo
2009: BET Awards
2010: MTV Video Music Awards
2011-2015: Country Music Awards
2011: 2011 Latin Grammy Awards
2011: American Music Awards
2011: American Idol performance
2012: Divas
2012-13: BET Award performances
2013: Grammy Awards
2013: Dancing with the Stars performance
2013: Billboard Awards
2015: Kid's Choice Awards
2015: CMT Awards
2016: ACMs, CMA, CMT Award performances
2017: BET Awards
2018: 2018 Radio Disney Music Awards
2018: "Qiddiya" Live Opening Ceremony in Saudi Arabia
2018: MTV Video Music Awards
2018: ACMs, CMT Fest, CMA, American Music Awards -
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 -
2021: "Reflection" Las Vegas Residency Show at Resortsworld - Carrie Underwood
2021: Gala Live Event Las Vegas / Volo Events
2022: Stagecoach -
2022: Gala Live Event Los Angeles "Super Bowl" & Malta / Volo Events
2023: "Residency" - Live Show / Celebrity Cruises
2025: New Year's Rockin' Eve - Carrie Underwood
Tours
1988-1989: The Faith Tour - George Michael
1991: Under My Spell Tour - Paula Abdul
2001-2002: Dream Within a Dream Tour - Britney Spears
2004: The Truth Tour - Usher
2006: PCD World Tour - The Pussycat Dolls
2006: The Emancipation of MiMi Tour - Mariah Carey
2006: L.O.V.E. Tour - Ashlee Simpson
2007: Dancing with the Stars Tour
2007: Girl Gone Bad Tour - Rihanna
2010: OMG Tour - Usher
2012: John Fogerty Tour
2012: Kaleidoscope Dream Tour - Miguel
2014: The Elusive Chanteuse Tour - Mariah Carey
2014: John Fogerty 1969 Tour
2015: Jackie Tour - Ciara
2015: Between the Sheets Tour - Trey Songz
2016: The Storyteller Tour - Carrie Underwood
2017: The Total Package Tour - Paula Abdul
2019: Straight Up Paula Tour - Paula Abdul
2019: The Cry Pretty Tour 360 - Carrie Underwood
2022: Hans Zimmer European Tour
2022: The Denim & Rhinestones Tour - Carrie Underwood
2025: John Fogerty Legacy Tour
2025: Hans Zimmer "The Next Level" Tour