Patricia Barber (born November 8, 1955) is an American jazz and blues singer, pianist, songwriter, and bandleade
Barber's father Floyd was a jazz saxophonist who played with Bud Freeman and Glenn Miller. Patricia Barber learned saxophone and piano in her youth and started singing in high school musicals. She concentrated on piano at the University of Iowa in the early 1970s. After graduating, she performed at bars and clubs in Chicago. Her album Mythologies is based on Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid.
Barber is a lesbian; interviews with her suggest she does not try to hide this fact, but she "tires" of the public interest in her sexuality and that it contributes to her fame. In November 2008, she was interviewed by Gregg Shapiro of Gay & Lesbian Times magazine