Barton has a Master's degree in Film and Television Music from the University of Southern California, where he won the annual Harry Warren Award in that field.

On Broadway, Fred Barton was Associate Conductor of the 1987 revival of Cabaret, directed by Hal Prince and starring Joel Grey, Alyson Reed, Regina Resnik, and Werner Klemperer.

Pop singer Michael Cavanaugh tours the country with Fred's symphonic arrangements of Billy Joel and Elton John songs.

Barton subsequently music-supervised productions of "Spamilton" in Chicago, Los Angeles, London, at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and a national tour now in its second year.

From 2011 to 2012 he appeared once a month at New York's Metropolitan Room with his 9-piece Broadway Band, in a show called "Fred Barton Presents – And Thinks You're Gonna Love It!

[14] Fred Barton is currently writing a "politically incorrect" gay off-Broadway revue entitled "Pants On Fire," and a Broadway-bound musical based on the Newport sex scandal.

Fred Barton is a skilled lifelong genealogist, and as a curator at Geni.com, he has added 19,000 Czech, Dutch, English, and Irish ancestors and relatives to the World Tree.

"[17] – Roy Sander, Back Stage Bistro Awards "Clearly a show for the ages…it calls for an actor who can bring nuance to bear, and this Fred Barton does wonderfully well.

The lyrics are so cleverly constructed, the rhyme schemes so elegantly intricate, and the messages so rich and ripe, they make a mockery of most of today's Broadway show scores.