Jun 17, 1943

New York, New York, USA

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;
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 Manilow's taste for swelling choruses and
lush arra... ... (read more...) ngements often bordered on bombastic, but unlike many of his MOR peers,
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.

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, 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, and the number one peak of his 2006 covers
album, Greatest Songs of the Fifties.

Barry Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943, 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, 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 Manilow to record a pop tune called
"Brandy," which had been a U.K. hit for its co-writer, Scott English. 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, 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. 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,
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 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 Manilow's typical reliance on
ballads for his hits.

The first signs that 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 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, Manilow officially changed direction, recording an album of swinging,
jazzy originals called 2:00 A.M. Paradise Caf?; it featured jazz greats like Mel
Torm?, 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, 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.

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. 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. 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. A sequel, The
Greatest Songs of the Sixties, arrived at the end of that year and reached number
two, which paved the inevitable way for The Greatest Songs of the Seventies in
September 2007.