Barry Manilow, the #44 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

"One of the world's all-time greatest recording artists."

"Barry Manilow is the definition of 1. Class and 2. Pure talent. His orchestrations...? Unbelievable. Thank you Mr. Manilow for all of the years and all of your music."

"He is a gift."

"Beautiful, original, raw, amazing."

"Barry wrote some of the most incredible music."

"A brilliant legend."

"Barry Manilow is solid gold in every way (voice, musical genius, appearance, personality...etc. etc.). He can never be equalled...he has proven his unique brilliant talents time and time again throughout the world. He is a gift to us all, from God!!!"

"What a voice!!! In Cuba, we call him "El Hombre de la Voz Del Ciello"; i.e. The Man With The Voice From Heaven."

"Barry Manilow is one of the best singers I have ever known."


"Great pianist, songwriter, singer, and a fantastic entertainer."

"He is a musical genious with a magical voice."

"This guy is one in a million. Every song is excellent."

A timeless performer throughout the past four decades."

"Simply amazing, one of the legends of our time."

"Such a genius of a songwriter. God-given talent."

Barry Pincus was born June 17, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York.  He adopted his mother's maiden name and graduated from Eastern District High School in 1961.  He briefly went to the City College of New York before going to the New York College of Music.  In order to pay expenses, he worked at CBS-TV.    He honed his skills studying at the famous Julliard performing arts school.

In 1964, CBS director Bro Herrod asked Manilow to arrange some songs for a musical adaptation of The Drunkard.  Barry instead gave Herrod a full original score, which was used in the eight-year run of the show Off Broadway.

Manilow then entered an important and successful stage of his career writing commercial jingles.  He composed some of the best-known themes of the period:  McDonald's "You deserve a break today!"), State Farm ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.", Band-Aid ("I am stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me!", Tab, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper.  Manilow took home Clio Awards for Band-Aid and Tab.

In 1967, Manilow landed a job as musical director for the WCBS-TV show Callback.  He also conducted and arranged for Ed Sullivan's production company, arranging a new theme for The Late Show, and performed with Jeanne Lucas as a duo at Julius Monk's Upstars at the Downstairs club in New York City.

Manilow joined several session musicians and recorded four songs under the name of Featherbed, a group produced by Tony Orlando.  None of the songs did well, so Barry began playing piano for other artists.

Bette Midler heard him play and hired him to arrange her music for her first two albums and play piano on her tours.

Manilow signed a recording contract with Bell Records and released his self-titled debut album in 1973.  The album was produced by Ron Dante, the man behind the Archies' smash "Sugar, Sugar" as well as "Leader Of The Laundromat" for the Detergents and "Tracy" for the Cuff-Links.  Dante sang backup on all of Manilow's songs from 1975-83.  Among the songs on the album was "Could It Be Magic", a song Donna Summer remade into a minor hit.

Music mogul Clive Davis took over Bell Records and renamed it Arista.  Davis dropped many of the artists, but was impressed enough with Manilow that he kept him on the roster.

 

In 1974, Barry released the album Barry Manilow II.  "Mandy", cowritten by Scott English, was originally named as "Brandy" but renamed to avoid confusion with the Looking Glass hit from 1972.  Among other songs, English also wrote "Bend Me Shape Me" for the American Breed.  Davis convinced Manilow to release it as a single and it not only launched his career but became one of his signature songs.  "Mandy" soared to #1 on both the Popular and Adult charts in the United States and also #1 in Canada.  It sold over one million singles.

"Mandy" was nominated for the prestigious Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards and pushed the album to Double Platinum status.  "It's A Miracle" also topped the Adult chart and reached #12 overall and gave Barry a second #1 song in Canada.

 

The success of "Mandy" led Manilow to release "Could It Be Magic" from his debut album.  Barry based it on Frédéric Chopin's "Prelude in C minor, Opus 28, Number 20".  It peaked at #4 on the Easy Listening chart and #6 overall in the U.S. and #4 in Canada.
 
On the strength of "Could It Be Magic" becoming a hit, Manilow's debut, which had been largely ignored before, sold over one million copies.  Barry began a long friendship with Dick Clark, making several appearances on Clark's famous weekly show American Bandstand.

Manilow released the album Tryin' to Get the Feeling in 1975.  "I Write The Songs" again topped both the Adult and Popular charts in the U.S. and reached #3 in Canada and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammys.

 

The single also sold one million copies and the album has today sold over three million copies in the United States alone.  "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" not only gave Manilow his fifth straight Top 5 song on the Adult chart but already his fourth #1 among Adults, who of course dominate the Rock audience.  The song also reached #10 on the Popular chart. 

Manilow's reworking of the American Bandstand theme song showed his versatility and livened up his concerts.

 

Barry was becoming a consistent and dependable artist, and by the 1977 album This One's for You, he was a superstar.  The title song also hit #1 on the Adult chart and was later covered by both Teddy Pendergrass and Shirley Bassey.

 

The single "Weekend In New England" gave him four #1 Adult songs in a row and landed at #10 overall in the U.S. and #9 in Canada.  It remains one of his career best.

"Looks Like We Made It" became another of Barry's biggest career hits, a #1 smash on both the Popular and Adult charts and topped out at #8 in Canada.  The single was certified Gold.   Richard Kerr, who wrote the music for "Mandy", returned to write this song.  Will Jennings, who has written lyrics for artists such as Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bonnie Raitt and many others, explained the basis for the song:

     You walk into a party. Someone you used to love 

     and someone who used to love you is there. You are

     each with someone else. 'Looks like we made it, left 

     each other on the way to another love... looks like we 

     made it, or I thought so until the day, until you were 

     there, everywhere, and all I could taste was love the 

     way we made it'... real life. And if you feel that way, 

     you didn't make it.


 

Once again, Manilow showed there is much more to him than what one hears from his singles. With showtunes like "Jump Shout Boogie", he already was showing signs of the legendary performer he would become.

Manilow received an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, and the album sold over three million copies.

Barry's concerts drew raves, and his performance at the Gershwin Theatre was recorded and released as the album Barry Manilow Live.  "Daybreak" gave him nine straight Top 10 Adult hits.

The album has sold over three million copies in the U.S. alone, to make it one of the top live albums of all-time, and Manilow was nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist at the American Music Awards.

Manilow had become a superstar.  He not only continued to dazzle listeners and audiences, but increased his appeal.  Join us for Part Two!