[2] His earliest successes came as part of a writing partnership with Harry Fields and Joe Roncoroni, who collectively used the name John Jerome.
Working with composer Bernard Grun, they wrote "Broken Wings", first recorded by Dickie Valentine and a number one hit in Britain in 1953 for The Stargazers.
Also with Fields and Roncoroni, this time using the collective pseudonym Milton Carson, Barnes wrote "My Love and Devotion", recorded by Doris Day, Perry Como, and Matt Monro, among others.
Other songs written by the team of Barnes, Fields and Roncoroni include "A Blossom Fell", a hit for Nat King Cole, Dickie Valentine and others; and "Tulips and Heather", recorded by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, and by Perry Como.
[4] In the late 1950s and 1960s, Barnes frequently collaborated on songs with composer and vocal group arranger Cliff Adams, who had been a founder member of the Stargazers.