Barbe, a University of Georgia drama graduate, started work as a copywriter, but quickly made her way into doing voice overs owing to her "pleasant tone."
In 1963 she began recording prompts for the Electronic Tele-Communications company reading out time, temperature and weather reports.
During the 1970's and 80's she also recorded intercept messages for phone companies leading to, what is probably her most well known prompt, the classic "The number you have dialed is not in service" message.
By 2000 she had recorded thousands of prompts and become somewhat of a national icon, with her voice being heard throughout the USA by over 300 million people every week.
