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Barry Manilow

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Barry Manilow

Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus in Brooklyn, New York on June 17 1943) is an American singer and songwriter best known for his hit recordings "I Write The Songs", " Mandy" and "Copacabana (At The Copa)".

Manilow dominated the soft rock scene in the 1970s with a string of top ten hits and multi-platinum albums. His music is considered by some to be kitsch or camp, even when it was released, owing to its difference in style to the pop or rock mainstream. Despite the frequent barbs from critics and lampooning by comedians, he continues to maintain a large fan base, especially among baby-boomer women in his native United States, as evidenced by the No. 3 debut of his 2002 greatest hits album Ultimate Manilow. A quote from 20 years ago that is still used today in his publicity: "most probably he's the showman of our generation" by Rolling Stone.

Early life

Born to humble origins in Brooklyn, New York, June 17, 1943. Shortly after his birth, his father Harold Pincus (born to a Russian-Jewish father and Irish mother) and his mother Edna Manilow divorced. Barry was then brought up by his mother and grandparents, Russian-Jewish immigrants who had a strong influence on his life. He began singing shortly before his Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13 when he legally changed his surname to his mother's maiden name Manilow. He took up the accordion, but preferring the piano, persevered with it, a decision which would be vital for his career.

Career

Manilow's record label Arista took three years off his announced age when he was really 32 (in 1975) and made him 29 years old so he would appeal to teens; this made him appear to have been born in 1946 instead of his actual birth year, 1943. Manilow reportedly wrote to Playboy in 1965 when he was 22 asking for advice about music.

Early in his career, Manilow was a commercial jingle writer and singer (even writing the theme for State Farm Insurance, "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there"). Then he worked as a pianist, producer and arranger, accompanying Bette Midler among others at the Continental Bathhouse in New York City. Manilow's major solo hits include "Mandy" (1974), "Copacabana (At The Copa)" (1978) and I Write The Songs (1975). Manilow's Copacabana was turned into a stage musical that ran for two years in the West End, and toured the US in 2000 and 2003. His greatest UK hit was "I Wanna Do It With You" (1982) which reached no. 8 in the UK charts, his only top ten hit there.

Manilow's recorded work, spanning from 1971 through 2004, has gone through several distinct phases. He first made a series of demo singles, both under his real name (although born Barry Pincus, he had it legally changed to Manilow), and under a pseudo-group name of Featherbed. His first album was released by Bell (later Arista) records in 1973, and contained an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop, big band remixes and guitar-driven rock. His second album, called Barry Manilow II (Bell/Arista, 1974) contained the hit song "Mandy", and began a string of hit singles and albums that lasted through the rest of the 1970s, and into the early 1980's. While Manilow is known as a songwriter, most of his hits he did not write, (the most notable instance, ironically, being "I Write The Songs", actually written by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys).

After the landmark Concert at Blenheim Palace in August of 1983, Manilow started to venture into a jazz-driven style, starting with the 1984 album 2:00 am Paradise Cafe. The album was recorded with jazz greats Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme and Gerry Mulligan. Manilow would return to the genre in 1987, with the release of Swing Street. The techno-jazz-inspired album contained performances with Dianne Schuur, Phyllis Hyman, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and Tom Scott.

From 1985 to 1986, Manilow was involved with the pop album Manilow (RCA, 1985), and began a phase of international music, as he performed songs and duets in French, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese, among other languages. The 1980s saw a number of singles released such as Bermuda Triangle 1981, Let's Hang On 1981, Stay 1982 and Please Don't Be Scared 1989. The only one of these songs to chart in the U.S. was "Let's Hang On". The greatest UK hit of Manilow's career was I Wanna Do It With You 1982 which reached no. 8, although it has since disappeared from his repertoire.

In the 1990s, Manilow recorded a succession of "event" albums, guided by Arista's President, Clive Davis. From 1991's Showstoppers, a collection of Broadway tunes, to a big band album Singin' With the Big Bands (1994), a 1970s collection Summer of '78 (perhaps the weakest effort of his career), (1996), the decade ended with Manilow recording a tribute to Frank Sinatra Manilow Sings Sinatra (1998), shortly after Sinatra's death.

Manilow's music connected with a new generation when top British boy band Take That reached no. 3 in the UK charts with Could It Be Magic (1992) . Later, Irish boy band Westlife reached no. 1 with Mandy (2003), in a version clearly based on Manilow's hit version (differing only in that they omitted the piano introduction and inserted a different fade-out ending).

After the start of the new millennium, Manilow left Arista records for Concord Records, a jazz-oriented label in California, and started work on the long-anticipated Here at the Mayflower album. The album was another eclectic mix of styles, almost entirely composed and produced by Manilow himself. 2004 saw the release of both a live album 2Nights Live! (BMG Strategic Marketing Group, 2004), and a soundtrack album of his musicals Scores (Songs from Copacabana and Harmony) (Concord, 2004). Two Christmas albums, many live albums and compilations have rounded out a very large body of music.

Manilow appeared as a guest judge and arranged music for American Idol on April 24, 2004, the year in which he also embarked on his "One Night Live! One Last Time!" final tour. Some fans were unhappy that Manilow charged his fans $1,000 to meet him after the show, but ticket sales were robust, landing Manilow's tour into the Top Ten club for box office grosses in 2004.

Manilow co-wrote, with lyricist Bruce Sussman, a musical, Harmony, which was originally scheduled to preview in Philadelphia in 2003. After financial difficulties and a legal battle, Manilow and Sussman won back the rights to the musical. It is currently unknown when the musical is slated to reach Broadway.

On the heels of his Farewell tour, Manilow opened a standing show in Las Vegas in 2005 at the Las Vegas Hilton, where he will reside in the penthouse where Elvis lived for 8 years (Newsweek/MSNBC).

Manilow has appeared in two movies. He portrayed Tony in a 1985 made-for-television film based on Copacabana (Annette O'Toole was Lola and Joseph Bologna was Rico). He also portrayed himself in the 2002 Kathy Bates-Rupert Everett comedy Unconditional Love, in which Manilow's hit "Can't Smile Without You" plays a key role in the plot. He co-wrote the Broadway-style musical scores for the animated films The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) and Thumbelina. Manilow hits have figured prominently in several films such as Foul Play and Serial Mom.

Manilow made an appearance (performing Can't Smile Without You, Mandy, I Write The Songs and songs from his latest album) on the Oprah Winfrey show on April 7, 2005.

Manilow released a new album on January 31, 2006 called The Greatest Songs of the Fifties featuring new recordings of the classic hits from the golden years. The album charted at number 1 in its first week of release, marking the first time a Manilow album debuted at the top of the album chart as well as the first time a Manilow album has reached number 1 in 29 years [1] .

Discography: Albums

Hit Singles

Year SINGLE US Hot 100 US A&C UK
1974 Mandy #1 (1 week) #1 #11
1975 It's A Miracle #12 #1
1975 Could It Be Magic #6 #25 (1978 release)
1975 I Write The Songs #1 (1 week) #1
1976 Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again #10 #1
1976 This One's For You #29 #1
1976 Weekend In New England #10 #1
1977 Looks Like We Made It #1 (1 week) #1
1977 Daybreak (Live) #23
1977 It's Just Another New Year's Eve #33
1978 Can't Smile Without You #3 #1 #43
1978 Even Now #19 # 1 #
1978 Copacabana (At The Copa) #8 # 22 (1993 release)
1978 Ready To Take A Chance Again #11
1978 Somewhere In The Night #9
1979 Ships #9
1979 When I Wanted You #20 #1
1980 I Don't Want To Walk Without You #36
1980 Bermuda Triangle # 15 (1981 release)
1980 I Made It Through The Rain #10 #37 (1981 release)
1981 Lonely Together #45 #7 # 21 (1980 release)
1981 The Old Songs #15 #1 # 48
1981 Somewhere Down The Road #21 #1
1982 Let's Hang On #32 #6 #12 (1981 release)
1982 If I Should Love Again # 66
1982 Stay (live) # 23
1982 Oh Julie #38 #24
1982 I Wanna Do It With You #8
1982 Memory #39 #8
1982 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter #36
1983 Some Kind Of Friend #26 #4 #48
1983 Read 'Em And Weep #18 #1 #17
1984 You're Looking Hot Tonight #25 #47 (1983 release)
1984 When October Goes #6 #85
1985 Paradise Cafe #24
1985 Run To Me (Duet with Dionne Warwick) #12 #86
1985 In Search Of Love #11 # 80
1986 He Doesn't Care (But I Do) #22
1986 I'm Your Man #86 #96
1988 Brooklyn Blues #9
1988 Hey Mambo #90
1989 Keep Each Other Warm #7
1989 Please Don't Be Scared # 35
1989 The One That Got Away #25 #78
1990 If I Can Dream #81
1990 If You Remember Me #41
1990 Some Good Things Never Last (with Debra Byrd & Dana Robbins) #79
1990 Because It's Christmas #38
1992 Another Life #33
1994 Let Me Be Your Wings (with Debra Byrd) # 73
1997 I'd Really Love To See You Tonight #26
1997 I Go Crazy #30
2001 Turn The Radio Up #25
2003 River #17
2006 Unchained Melody #23

See also

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