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

 

(Continued from Part Three)

 The compilation Memories in 1981 has now sold over five million units in the U.S. alone.  Barbra recorded the new song "Comin' In And Out Of Your Life", a #2 AC hit that peaked at #11 on the Popular chart.  





Streisand certainly gave a memorable performance on "Memory", the standout song in the Broadway musical Cats.






Streisand became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major film with the movie Yentl in 1983.  From that movie, Streisand released the single "The Way He Makes Me Feel", another #1 Adult smash.

In 1984, Streisand released the album Emotion, which went Platinum.  She received the Favorite All-Around Female Entertainer at the People's Choice Awards.   

 

In 1985, Barbra released The Broadway Album, which reached #1 for three weeks in the U.S. and #1 in New Zealand and has sold over four million copies.  Streisand won a Grammy for Best Female Vocalist and the album was also nominated for Album of the Year.  "Somewhere" features an incredible vocal performance by Barbra.

Streisand also included a cover of Judy Collins' song "Send In The Clowns".

Life magazine named Barbra as one of "Five Hollywood's Most Powerful Women".

The following year, Barbra released the album One Voice, which earned Grammy nominations for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Music Video Performance, and in 1988 the album Till I Loved You, another Platinum release that reached #10.

Streisand was named as the All-Time Favorite Musical Performer at the People's Choice Awards.  In the next several years, Streisand focused almost exclusively on movie directing.  She did release the compilation A Collection:  Greatest Hits...and More in 1989, which went Double Platinum, and the box set Just for the Record in 1991, which was certified Platinum.

She did benefit concerts for presidential candidate Bill Clinton, but did not record new material.  In 1992, Barbra was given the Grammy Legend Award, the Commitment to Life Award by AIDS Project Los Angeles and the Bill of Rights Award by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.  She released her first studio album in five years in 1993 with Back to Broadway, which debuted at #1 on the Album chart and has now sold over two million copies.

Barbra received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and her second Broadway album received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, while the song "Ordinary Miracles" was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.  In 1994, Barbra went on a multi-city tour for the first time in 27 years, and tickets were sold out in under an hour.  Streisand appeared on the cover of Time magazine, which proclaimed the tour as "the music event of the century".  

The concert series was the top-grossing concert of the year and earned Barbra five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award.  The recorded broadcast on HBO was the highest-rated concert special in HBO's 30-year history and earned Barbra Grammy nominations for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance for the album.

Streisand was honored with the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award from ASCAP in 1994 and the Peabody Award in 1995, the same year Barbra received an Honorary Doctorate in Arts and Humanities from Brandeis University.   

Streisand and actor James Brolin became romantically involved, which led to their marriage in 1998.  In 1996, Barbra teamed up with Bryan Adams for the song "I Finally Found Someone" from Streisand's self-directed film The Mirror Has Two Faces.  It peaked at #2 on the AC chart and #8 overall, won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture and was nominated for an Oscar in the same category.

In 1997, Barbra released the album Higher Ground, which also debuted at #1 and went Triple Platinum.  The great duet "Tell Him" featuring Streisand and Celine Dion reached #5 on the AC chart.

Both duets (with Adams and with Dion) were nominated for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals at the Grammy Awards.

Barbra married actor James Brolin on July 1, 1998.  Streisand was voted as the "Most Popular Singer among Adult Americans of All Ages" in a poll conducted in 1998 by the Harris organization.  Barbra was further honored when her song "People" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Streisand released the album A Love Like Ours in 1999, a #6 album which has also sold over one million copies.  She performed on New Year's Eve, with the two-disc live album entitled Timeless:  Live in Concert released in 2000, which was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards.  Barbra performed two concerts in Los Angeles and two in New York in 2000, which she announced would be her last.

In 2000, President Clinton awarded Streisand the National Medal of Arts, the highest award for achievement in the arts, and the Library of Congress Living Legend Award.  Barbra was also named the century's best female singer in a Reuters/Zogby poll.

In 2001, Streisand released the album Christmas Memories (another Platinum album), the compilations The Essential Barbra Streisand (which went Platinum) and Duets (certified Gold) in 2002, and The Movie Album in 2003, which reached Gold status.  Both Christmas Memories and The Movie Album were nominated at the Grammys for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. 

In 2004, The Barbra Streisand Album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the American Film Institute included four of Streisand's songs in their feature 100 Years...100 Songs, which celebrated "America's Greatest Music in the Movies":  "The Way We Were" at #8, "People" at #13, "Evergreen" at #16 and "Don't Rain On My Parade" at #46.

Barbra received the Humanitarian Award from the Human Rights Campaign in 2004 "for her years of leadership, vision, and activism in the fight for civil liberties, including religion, race, gender equality and freedom of speech, as well as all aspects of gay rights".  

Barbra and Barry Gibb collaborated again in 2005 with their Gold album Guilty Pleasures.  In 2006, Streisand and Tony Bennett recorded "Smile", which was included on Bennett's album Duets, and the pair performed live on the special Tony Bennett:  An American Classic.

Later that year, Streisand decided to tour again to raise money for issues she cared about.  She performed 20 concerts that grossed over $92 million and set house records in 14 of the 16 arenas she sang in.  Barbra released the album Live in Concert 2006, which featured performances from the tour and debuted at #7--it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.  

The following year, Streisand toured Europe for the first time with 10 shows, and her 2006 and 2007 concerts made her the #2-earning female musician according to Forbes magazine, with $60 million in gross earnings.

In 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy awarded Streisand with Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France, while U.S. President  George W. Bush presented her with Kennedy Center Honors, the highest recognition of cultural achievement.

Streisand's song "The Way We Were" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 2009, Barbra appeared on the CBS special Streisand:  Live in Concert, featuring her show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2006.  Later that year, Streisand's show in New York City's Greenwich Village was released on DVD as One Night Only:  Barbra Streisand and Quartet at The Village Vanguard.

Barbra was induced into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2009.  Streisand chose Diana Krall to produce her next album, Love is the Answer, which went Gold and debuted at #1, making Barbra the only artist in history to enjoy #1 albums in five different decades.  Streisand was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards.

In 2010, Streisand joined over eighty other artists to record the song "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", with proceeds benefitting the island nation which had suffered a devastating earthquake earlier in the year. 

In 2011, Streisand was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year and given the Board of Governors Humanitarian Award for "her work on behalf of women's heart health and her many other philanthropic activities" by Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.  She released the album What Matters Most, which gave her another Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.

In 2014, Barbra released the album Partners, which sold over one million copies in the U.S. alone and gave Streisand her 10th #1 album and making Streisand the only recording artist to enjoy a #1 album in each of the last six decades.  The album, which was nominated for the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, featured collaborations with Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Lionel Richie, John Mayer, John Legend, and more.

Barbra received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter's annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast in 2014.  She received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 from President Barack Obama.  Streisand was also featured on the Voices of the Century by BBC, VH1's list of the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons of All-Time", and the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists.

In 2016, Streisand released the album Encore:  Movie Partners Sing Broadway and in 2018, the album Walls.  Both received Grammy nominations for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.

In 2017, Streisand's song "People" was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Recording Registry. 

Barbra has raised over $25 million for organizations through her live performances.  The Streisand Foundation, which she established in 1986, has contributed over $16 million through nearly 1,000 grants to "national organizations working to preserve the environment, voter education, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, women's issues, and nuclear disarmament.

Barbra was the first and remains one of few people to receive an Emmy, a Grammy, and Oscar and a Tony Award.  She has won 10 Grammy Awards among 43 nominations including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grammy Legend Award, two Academy Awards, five Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Streisand has sold over 68 million albums in the U.S. alone and 145 million worldwide. She has achieved 52 Gold, 31 Platinum, and 14 Multi-Platinum albums, more than any other female singer in history in all three categories.  Streisand holds the female record for most #1 albums with 11 and most Top 10 albums with 34.  She has scored #1 albums in each of the last six decades, the only person to achieve that feat.

Barbra has scored 42 career hits, with 11 of those reaching the Top 10 and 5 #1's.  She is another of the world's most popular and successful all-time artists among adults, charting 64 career hits on the AC chart.  An amazing 33 of those have gone to the Top 10 and Streisand has 8 #1 songs among adults.