All about this artist
Biography:
Born Barry Alan Pincus, 17 June 1943, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. An immensely popular singer, pianist and composer from the mid-70s onwards, Manilow studied music at the Juilliard School and worked as an arranger for CBS-TV. During the 60s, he also became a skilled composer of advertising jingles.
In 1972 he served as accompanist to Bette Midler, then a cult performer in New York's gay bath-houses. Manilow subsequently arranged Midler's first two albums and gained his own recording contract with Bell. After an unsuccessful debut album, he took the powerful ballad "Mandy" to number 1 in America at the end of 1974.
The song had previously been a UK hit for its co-writer Scott English, as "Brandy". This was the prelude to 10 years of remarkable hit parade success for Manilow, who signed a new recording contract with Arista Records. With his strong, pleasant tenor, well-constructed love songs and ingratiating manner in live shows, Manilow was sneered at by critics but adored by his fans, who were predominantly female.
Among the biggest transatlantic hits were "Could It Be Magic" (1975), the US number 1 "I Write The Songs" (composed by the Beach Boys' Bruce Johnston) (1976), "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" (1976), the US number 1 "Looks Like We Made It" (1977), "Can't Smile Without You" (1978), the upbeat "Copacabana (At The Copa)" (1978), "Somewhere In The Night" (1979), "Ships" (1979), and "I Made It Through The Rain" (1980).
Two albums, Swing Street (1984) and 2:00 AM Paradise Café (1985) marked a change of direction as Manilow underlined his jazz credentials in collaborations with Gerry Mulligan and Sarah Vaughan.
He also appeared on Broadway in two one-man shows, the second of which, Showstoppers (1991), was a schmaltzy tribute to great songwriters of the past. During the 80s, Manilow was invited by the widow of one of those writers, Johnny Mercer, to set to music lyrics unpublished during Mercer's lifetime.
A selection of these were recorded by Nancy Wilson on her 1991 album With My Lover Beside Me. In June 1994, the stage musical Copacabana, for which Manilow composed the music and co-wrote the book, opened in London starring Gary Wilmot and Nicola Dawn.
In the same year he was the supervising composer, and collaborated on several of the songs, for the animated feature Thumbelina. In October 1997, Harmony, a stage show based on the 30s German vocal group Comedian Harmonists, opened in California.
Manilow co-wrote with lyricist Bruce Sussman 19 songs for the show. An album of songs from Copacabana and Harmony was issued in 2004. Manilow's last album of the 90s was a strongly jazz flavoured recording on which he sang Frank Sinatra classics.
He left Arista to sign to Concord Jazz in the new millennium, making his debut for the label in 2001 with the concept album Here At The Mayflower. The same year a candid and revealing biography written by Patricia Butler was published.
The commercial success of the following year's hits collection Ultimate Manilow prompted a notable upswing in the performer's career, and in 2005 he signed a new major label contract with Arista. His return to the label was marked by an album comprising vocal pop hits from the 50s.
The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties was Manilow's first US chart-topping album since 1997's Live. Further albums covering the 60s and 70s followed in quick succession.
