June 10, 2025

Second Act: A CEO Turned Singer

Opera singer, club scene regular, or Fortune 25 CEO? 

 George Barrett ’77 is all of the above. 

You don’t often find a corporate heavyweight trading the boardroom for a recording studio—but Barrett, who for nearly a decade served as CEO for Cardinal Health Inc., a multinational corporation that’s currently number 15 on the Fortune 500—has never been easy to pin down. A former varsity athlete, classically trained opera singer, and a regular at Greenwich Village haunts like the Bitter End, Barrett took a long detour through healthcare leadership before returning to his first love: music. Now, at 68, he’s making his official debut with Not Alone, a genre-spanning album produced by Grammy winner Brian Keane.

But this isn’t a CEO’s vanity project—it’s the real deal. The record features a star-studded lineup, including jazz legends like Cyrus Chestnut and Eddie Gomez and backup singers who’ve toured with Bruce Springsteen. It flows effortlessly between gospel, Americana, blues, and funk. His lyrics are warm and searching, full of quiet grief, hope, and connection.

The standout single, You’re Not Alone, is both a personal anthem and a call to community. What begins as a gentle piano ballad grows into a soaring gospel anthem, echoing the emotional crescendos of artists like Marvin Gaye or Carole King. Gentle piano and Barrett’s steady, soulful vocals give way to a full gospel choir, building a sense of collective uplift that never veers into cliché.

 In the accompanying music video, Barrett performs alongside clips of everyday moments—people holding hands, waiting for the bus, crossing the street, moving through the world together. The video also features footage from the Harmony Project, a nonprofit that builds community through music, whose mission echoes Barrett’s own. It’s a reminder that even in life’s loneliest moments, we’re still part of something larger. —Yukti V. Agarwal ’24.5

Listen here