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Thursday, July 29, 2021

Barbra Streisand, The #20 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

 

(Continued from Part One)


From 1965 to 1968, Streisand starred in four television specials.  In 1966, Streisand the album Color Me Barbra and Je m'appelle Barbrawhich both went Gold and continued her streaks of seven consecutive Top 10 albums and seven straight Gold albums.  The former was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards.


 In 1967, the album Simply Streisand went Gold but peaked at #12 to end her consecutive Top 10 albums streak.  This song was published in 1929 and introduced in the Broadway musical Great Day.  This is "More Than You Know".





 Later in the year, Barbra released A Christmas Album, which has sold over five million copies to date and continued her streak of consecutive Gold albums at nine.  The album contains three versions that have become among the best of all-time for their respective songs.  "Silent Night" is a standout.





 This standard was part of a poem called The Lady of the Lake, which was written in 1810 by Sir Walter Scott.  Famed composer Franz Shubert put music to the words and "Ave Maria" was born.  Barbra delivered another outstanding performance on the album.





 She also was magnificent on "The Lord's Prayer".

In 1968, she received the Israel Freedom Medal, the highest civilian award of Israel, and Barbra was nominated for Best Contemporary-Pop Vocal Performance for the "Funny Girl" Soundtrack at the Grammy Awards.   Her studio release of What About Today in 1969 ended the streak of consecutive albums to go Gold.  


In 1970, Barbra received an honorary "Star of the Decade" at the Tony Awards and her Greatest Hits package went Double Platinum. 
 In 1971, Streisand released the album Stoney End.  The album has sold over one million copies, while the title song reached #2 on the Adult chart and #6 Popular in the U.S. and #5 in Canada.






Barbra was nominated for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance for "Sweet Inspiration/ Where You Lead".




Streisand starred with Ryan O'Neal in one of the top comedies of all-time, What's Up Doc, in 1972.  Barbra released her album Barbra Joan Streisand later in the year, which was certified Gold.  In 1973, Streisand released the album Barbra Streisand...And Other Musical Instruments.


 The following year Barbra released the album The Way We Were, from the movie in which she starred in opposite Robert Redford.  The title song hit #1 in both the U.S. and Canada and sold over two million copies.  It remains high in the list of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.





"All In Love Is Fair" is one of the gems on the great Stevie Wonder album Innervisions.  We want to feature Streisand's version here.






 The husband and wife team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, who wrote "The Way We Were" among many others, also wrote this song along with Michel Legrand for the 1969 movie The Happy Ending.  It is another of Streisand's great interpretations--"What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?"
Streisand received Favorite Female Singer of the Year at the People's Choice Awards.  Later in the year, she released the album ButterFly.
Much more from Barbra!

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