This very talented singer, songwriter was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, which is where he began singing in front of an audience at the age of thirteen. His very first public performance was a talent show held at a local junior high school. He recalls being extremely nervous but "brought the house down" and won the competition with Otis Redding's "My Lovers Prayer". Soon after, he became the lead singer of The Soul Vibrations and the group The Sounds of Time, which played every gig they could get, until Ronnie decided to enlist in the military.

During Ronnie's enlistment in the United States Military, he continued to pursue music and landed a spot as a tenor with the 197th infantry Chorus on Kelly Hill at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Through a military transfer he found himself at Fort Ord in California and at the end of his commitment there decided to move to Santa Cruz, California , a well known tourist city with many nightclubs featuring live entertainment seven nights a week. Here Ronnie's music was put on the back burner for a career as a transit bus driver and college study; however, music and singing was not going quietly into the night. In 1981, he decided along with other local musicians to organize a classic R&B cover band call "Soul What". The band became very popular on the local nightclub circuit, but in 1983 Ronnie departed from the group and joined a more seasoned group of players calling themselves "Rush Hour". After two years as the top R&B band in town, "Rush Hour" called it quits due to internal conflicts. Ronnie then decided to pursue a solo career.

Not long after his decision to go solo Ronnie's course changed when he landed a job singing background vocals for Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers, lending his talents to a Patrick Simmons solo album. A few months later he accepted an offer from Simmons to form a Pop/Rock/R&B band called "Skin Suit". The band quickly became very popular throughout northern California. In 1988, the "Doobies" reunited with Michael McDonald for a reunion tour and a new recording deal with Capitol Records. At that point, Ronnie made up his mind to pursue the solo carrer that he had put on hold while a member of "Skin Suit".

After winning a songwriter's contest Ronnie decided to form his own record label in 1996, Chapter One Records. His first release was a ballad entitled, "I'm Gonna Be In Love With You Forever". His second release was also a ballad entitled, "I Was A Fool To Let You Go", which got much airplay and sales. In June 1997, he took a totally different direction and released an up tempo blues shuffle tune titled, "Jumpin the Gun", which caught on in the southeastern United States and became a dance floor hit in the Beach Music genre.

His latest release on Memphis, Tennessee based Ecko Records is entitled "Wonderful Woman". Ronnie Barnes is a seasoned professional, and a dynamic live performer who enjoys pleasing his audience regardless of how big or small. After over three decades in the music business, one can only deduce that Ronnie Barnes is living proof that hard work and determination is what it takes to endure the hard knock of the music business. His philosophy is "One cannot achieve a life long dream by self destructing during the struggle".