In terms of both record sales and career longevity,
Barry Manilow is one of the most successful adult contemporary singers ever.
That success hasn't necessarily translated
to respect (or even ironic hipster appreciation) in most quarters;
Barry Manilow's music has been much maligned by critics and listeners alike,
particularly the romantic ballads that made his career, which were derided as
maudlin schlock even during his heyday. It's true that
Barry Manilow's taste for swelling choruses and lush arrangements often bordered
on bombastic, but unlike many of his MOR peers,
Barry Manilow wasn't aiming to make smooth, restrained background music -- he
conceived of himself as a pop entertainer and all-around showman in the classic
mold, and his performances and stage shows were accordingly theatrical.
Barry Manilow dominated pop music during the latter half of the '70s like few
other performers, spinning off a long series of hit singles (including 13 number
one hits on the adult contemporary charts) and platinum albums that essentially
made the Arista label. The well began to run dry by the early '80s; no longer a
superstar expected to deliver blockbuster hits,
Barry Manilow was free to explore his long-held taste for swing, pop standards,
and Broadway show tunes, which dominated his albums from the mid-'80s on. He has
continued to record steadily, and his popularity never completely eroded, as
evidenced by the number three chart debut of his 2002 greatest-hits package,
Ultimate Manilow.
Barry Manilow was born
Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1946, in Brooklyn, and grew up in its
low-income Williamsburg section. His father left the family when
Barry was two, and he eventually adopted his mother's maiden name of
Manilow. He began playing piano and accordion at age seven, and following
high school, he was accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, which
he paid for by working in the CBS mail room. From there, he became musical
director of the CBS show Callback, and supported himself for the next few years
by writing, producing, and performing advertising jingles (including
high-profile campaigns for State Farm, Dr. Pepper, McDonald's, Kentucky Fried
Chicken, and more).
In 1971, he met
Bette Midler, who hired him as her pianist, arranger, and musical director;
he served as her accompanist on her legendary pre-fame tour of New York City's
gay bathhouses, masterminded her first two albums (1972's The Divine Miss M and
its self-titled follow-up), and debuted some of his original material at her
Carnegie Hall show in the summer of 1972. Thanks to his gig with
Midler,
Barry Manilow was able to land a record deal of his own with the fledgling Bell
label, and his debut album, Barry Manilow I, was released in 1973. It didn't
sell very well, and when Bell became Arista, label head
Clive Davis asked
Barry Manilow to record a pop tune called "Brandy," which had been a U.K. hit for
its co-writer,
Scott English.
Barry Manilow changed the song into a ballad and changed the title to "Mandy" (to
avoid confusion with the
Looking Glass hit "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"); released on 1974's Barry
Manilow II, "Mandy" became a number one hit early the next year. The Broadway-esque
follow-up, "It's a Miracle," hit the Top 20, and a re-release of the
Chopin-adapted ballad "Could It Be Magic" (from the first album) hit the Top
Ten.
With his career thus established,
Barry Manilow recorded an even stronger follow-up album in 1975's Tryin' to Get
the Feeling. "I Write the Songs" (ironically, written by
Beach Boys sideman
Bruce Johnston) became his second number one pop hit in early 1976, and with
the title track also hitting the Top Ten, the album went triple platinum.
Barry Manilow consolidated his emerging stardom with This One's for You, released
toward the end of the year; it produced hits in the title track, the Top Ten
"Weekend in New England," and the number one "Looks Like We Made It." In 1977,
Barry Manilow released the concert double-LP Live, which became his first and only
number one album, as well as his biggest hit with sales of over four million
copies. The same year, he won an Emmy for his first prime-time special on ABC
(aptly titled The Barry Manilow Special); the network would air
Barry Manilow specials for the next several years. Even Now was another
triple-platinum success in 1978; "Can't Smile Without You," the disco-tinged
"Copacabana," and "Somewhere in the Night" all hit the Top Ten, with the first
two marking a departure from
Barry Manilow's typical reliance on ballads for his hits.
The first signs that
Barry Manilow's run of success was in jeopardy came on 1979's One Voice, which --
although it sold well and produced a Top Ten hit in an unlikely cover of former
Mott the Hoople frontman
Ian Hunter's "Ships" -- didn't have the same consistency of craftsmanship as
its predecessors. Released in 1980, Barry spawned
Barry Manilow's last Top Ten hit, "I Made It Through the Rain"; though he remained
a massively popular international touring act, and continued to place hits on
the adult contemporary charts for a few more years, the prime of his pop success
was over. In 1984,
Barry Manilow officially changed direction, recording an album of swinging, jazzy
originals called 2:00 A.M. Paradise Café; it featured jazz greats like
Mel Tormé,
Sarah Vaughan,
Shelly Manne, and
Gerry Mulligan. Subsequent ventures like 1987's Swing Street, 1991's
Showstoppers, 1994's Singin' with the Big Bands, and 1998's Manilow Sings
Sinatra all explored various facets of swing, vocal jazz, and traditional pop.
In addition,
Barry Manilow's stage musical Barry Manilow's Copacabana: The Musical premiered in
1994, and continued to tour the U.S. and U.K.; another musical, Harmony, was
premiered in 1999.
Barry Manilow's long relationship with Arista ended when he signed to the
jazz-oriented Concord label, for which he debuted in late 2001 with the concept
album Here at the Mayflower, which continued his evolution into a pre-rock pop
stylist.
Barry Manilow began to reenter the wider public eye in 2002, performing "Let
Freedom Ring" at the Super Bowl pre-game show; aided by television advertising,
Ultimate Manilow entered the album charts at a stunning number three position
that March. A DVD release of the collection followed, as well as a two-disc set
of live music called 2 Nights Live that had been culled from a weekend in New
Jersey.
Barry Manilow went back to the studio in 2005 to record a diverse collection of
tracks from the 1950s with producer and music mogul
Clive Davis. The resulting Greatest Songs of the Fifties, a labor of love,
became a surprise hit and topped the charts in early 2006. ~ Steve Huey, All
Music Guide
Contact Grabow for more information or to book Barry Manilow for your next
corporate or private event.
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