[2] Barbarossa joined Adam and the Ants in 1977[3] and was the drummer for their debut album Dirk Wears White Sox.
[4] Shortly afterward, Adam Ant hired former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren in the hope of gaining more widespread recognition.
", for which Barbarossa shared songwriting credit with McLaren, Ashman and Gorman,[6] holds the distinction of being the world's first-ever cassette single.
Likewise, Barbarossa shared songwriting credit with McLaren, Ashman and Gorman on seven of Your Cassette Pet's eight tracks.
[15] Barbarossa's stay with Chiefs of Relief proved short lived, and he was soon replaced by former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook.
It was while doing session work that he teamed up with former Flowered Up keyboardist Tim Dorney, Andy Todd, guitarist Johnny Male and Nigerian-born lead singer Saffron to form Republica.
[citation needed] He has played for Chicane,[17] Adamski, Gina Birch, Cactus Rain, Driza Bone and is a core member of CHANT, an open source band whose members include Youth and Jon Moss.
[citation needed] He played with Adam Ant on his Dirk Wears White Sox Tour of 2014.
In 2012, Barbarossa released Mud Sharks, a semi-autobiographical novel of a teenager growing up in London's punk scene in the late 1970s.
While he was still with the Ants, Malcolm McLaren gave him music tapes from different parts of the world, and he became fascinated by Burundi tribal drumming.
Having emerged from the underground London punk rock scene, he created a highly unique tribal drumming style.