Barry Manilow's roots are in his native Brooklyn, where music was an integral part of his life. By the age of seven, Barry was taking accordion lessons and playing on a neighbor's piano. He chose a career in music while still in his teens, and attended New York College of Music and the Julliard School of Music while working in the mailroom at CBS. He subsequently became musical director for a CBS show named "Callback" which led to a lucrative sideline on New York's advertising jingle circuit.
In 1971, Barry Manilow met Bette Midler and became her music director, arranger and pianist. The following year, Manilow signed with Bell Records to record his debut solo album. In 1974, Clive Davis founded a new label, Arista, along with Columbia Pictures. Davis had the right to choose any artist on the Columbia Pictures-owned Bell Records to bring to Arista. Davis chose Manilow and the rest is history. He famously brought Barry a recent U.K. hit song entitled "Brandy" (by its writer Scott English). Clive changed the title to "Mandy" so it wouldn't be confused with the Looking Glass U.S. hit "Brandy." When Barry's Arista single reached Number One in early 1975, it ignited one of the most incandes¬cent careers in pop.
Barry Manilow is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records), with no less than 25 consecutive Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1975 and 1983. The list includes all-time favorites that Barry still sings today: "Mandy," "It's A Miracle," "Could It Be Magic," "I Write the Songs," "Tryin' To Get the Feeling Again," "This One's For You," "Weekend In New England," "Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You," "Even Now," and the Grammy Award-winning "Copacabana (At the Copa)." All of these songs (and more) were anthologized on the commemorative 1992 four-CD boxed-set, Barry Manilow: The Complete Collection And Then Some.
To date, twenty-four albums by Barry Manilow have been certified gold. Half of these titles have been certified plati¬num, while Barry Manilow/Live (1977), Even Now (1978), and Greatest Hits (1978) are each certified triple platinum.
Albums produced by Barry Manilow for other artists -- including Bette Midler, Nancy Wilson, and Dionne Warwick -- have been nominated for Grammy Awards. A winner of Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Awards, Manilow's film credits include the Oscar-nominated song "Ready To Take A Chance Again" (from 1978's Foul Play), production of Bette Midler's "Perfect Isn't Easy" (from Walt Disney's Oliver and Company), and the soundtracks for the animated features Thumbelina and The Pebble and the Penguin.
Highlights of Manilow's theater career range from his Tony Award-winning Broadway debut in 1977 (in the same year that ABC-TV presented "The Barry Manilow Special" to an audience of 37 million) to an SRO eight-week run on the Great White Way in 1989. Beginning in 1997, Barry Manilow's Copacabana -- The Musical, an elaborate two-act spectacular, played to packed houses in London's West End for 18 months before touring the U.S., Australia and Asia. June 2001 saw the opening of Could It Be Magic? -- The Barry Manilow Songbook.
The singer has made countless television appearances ranging from Emmy-winning network specials to cable concerts, and released such best-selling long-form home videos as Live On Broadway and Because It's Christmas. His two-hour 1996 A&E special, "Barry Manilow: Live by Request" was the highest rated music show in the network's history. Manilow has also appeared on the highly rated TV series "Murphy Brown," "Ally McBeal," and "Will & Grace." In 2006, Barry received his fifth Emmy nomination and an Emmy win for the PBS special "Manilow: Music and Passion." The broadcast celebrated Barry Manilow's 100th performance at the Las Vegas Hilton, where his gala "Music and Passion" show opened in February 2005. Produced by Stiletto Television, the Rhino DVD of the PBS special was soon certified triple platinum.
In June 2002, Barry Manilow was inducted into the National Academy of Popular Music's Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Ashford & Simpson, Michael Jackson, Randy Newman, and Sting.
Barry Manilow is a member of the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Jazz. His autobiography, Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise, was published by McGraw-Hill in 1987. In addition to his own foundation, the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope, other involvements include The Prince's Trust, United Way, the Starlight Foundation, and several leading organizations for AIDS prevention and research. Barry Manilow is the national spokesperson for the Foundation Fighting Blindness and a member of the Music Center of Los Angeles.
(September 2007)
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