David Michael Barbour (May 28, 1912 – December 11, 1965) was an American jazz guitarist. He was married to singer Peggy Lee and was her co-writer, accompanist, and bandleader.
Barbour was born in Long Island, New York. He was educated at Flushing High School and in private music study. When Barbour was twelve, he played banjo at Carnegie Hall. He came out of an early generation of jazz string players who changed from banjo to guitar as the swing era took off. He began playing professionally with one-armed Dixieland trumpeter Wingy Manone in the early '30s, and at that point he was still on banjo. By 1936 Barbour had picked up guitar and was in the group of vibraphonist Red Norvo, who almost always featured guitars. Through the late '30s and into the early '40s, the guitarist was extremely busy with a variety of studio and performing groups,
![]()
including those of Lennie Hayton, Charlie Barnet, Raymond Scott, Glenn Miller, and Lou Holden. He also recorded with André Previn in 1945.
While a member of Benny Goodman's orchestra in 1942 the guitarist fell in love with the band's singer, Lee naturally, and the pair ran off, leaving Goodman minus two band members. They got married 8 March 1943 and moved to Los Angeles where they bagan a flourishing partnership writing songs whose titles might have suggested elements of their evolving personal relationship: i.e., "It's a Good Day,""Just an Old Love of Mine,""I Don't Know Enough About You,""Confusion Says,""(I'm Not Gonna) Let It Bother Me," and "Blum Blum, I Wonder Who I Am."
Barbour also conducted and arranged for record companies and joined ASCAP in 1947. Lee wrote "Johnny Guitar" with Victor Young, but listeners familiar with Lee's personal life will no doubt hear Barbour in there somewhere, as the singer couldn't have helped but think about him while interpreting this especially sad ballad. They divorced in 1951.
Barbour’s drink problem continued after the relationship with Lee had fallen apart and no doubt accounted for his fallow period. If there was life after Lee for him, it was for the most part sustained by royalty checks, as songs written by the couple were covered by a wide range of performers, from top jazz vocalists to '50s pop icons such as Doris Day and Perry Como. 
Barbour died in 1965 of a haemorrhaged ulcer in Malibu Beach, California, at the age of 53. Late in life, Lee wrote in her autobiography that shortly before his death she and Barbour were considering remarriage. After her death, their daughter had Barbour's ashes interred with those of Miss Peggy Lee.
(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)