Journale 14

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CIRCUS MAGAZINE - 1978
Barry Manilow Is Always Live Veteran Star Never Fails to Please His Audience I'ts not too often you read a kind word about Barry Manilow, Rock fans abhor him and the critics are always out gunning for him. A difficult personality until you get to know him (and then he turns into an especially pleasant guy from Brooklyn) his interviews often turn out snide and his album reviews are invariably peppered with jokes about his calculatedly schmaltzy music with warnings for diabetics to stay away. At 31, a lean 6 foot-2 1/2, every time he reads an article about himself, he says, "It's like knives." Critics relentlessly make fun of the television commercial he wrote for a toilet bowl cleaner and the one he sang for McDonalds hamburgers. It's become easy to ask, "Does Barry Manilow deserve a break today?" A lot of people obviously think so. Since 1974, when he suddenly appeared from behind Bette Midler's pedal pushers with a number one tune called "Mandy," Manilow has sold 13 million records. And even if not even one of them was bought by a Led Zeppelin or a Kiss fan, that's quite an amazing sales record. All his singles and albums have hit the top 10, and they have the distinction of evoking the melody just by speaking their names; "It's a Miracle," "Could It Be Magic," "I Write the Songs," "Tryin' to Get the Felling," "This One's for You" and Weekend in New England." Manilow's latest LP, "Even Now" (Arista) will add several more hits to the list, including "Can't Smile Without You" and "Somewhere in the Night," two singles that were chart bound before the album was even released last February. But chances are the sweet, dramatic music on the album will only give Manilow's critical detractors more ammunition. "If you judge my work only by my singles, then I guess I've had some awfully sweet, romantic singles," Manilow said. "But I don't think there's anything wrong with romantic music. It's doing something for somebody, for Christ's sake. I used to love to make out Johnny Mathis' music. If somebody is making out to my music, I think that's terrific." But what if the critics and teenagers weren't making out to his music? "Pul-eeze! Everybody in the country was waiting for a sweet ballad to listen to. I was banging my head against the wall for years before 'Mandy' broke. I remember three years ago I was in a car going to a concert of mine that nobody ever showed up at. We were headed for the Great Southeast Music Hall in Atlanta, Georgia. I was the opening act for Country Joe and the Fish - puleeze - and I turned on the car radio and suddenly 'Mandy' came on. Even to me it felt nice. Everybody in the car said, 'Isn't it nice to hear?' I'm sure the entire country heaved a sigh and said, 'Would you turn that one up?'   "So I don't think I'm saccharine. I put myself and other people down when they get too saccharine. I take it to the limit. I'll admit that. Even I, in the recording studio, fall to my knees on the key change, and I write the songs. And it still sounds like the Bible or something, but it's effective." Manilow's musical training started with accordion lessons in the tough Brooklyn neighborhood where he grew up. His father deserted the family when Manilow was two and he worked his own way through college and later Juilliard School of Music with a job in the mailroom at CBS Television where he was later to return as an arranger for Ed Sullivan and the Sunday Call Back program. His "instant arrangements" made him a popular singer's accompanist and he eventually did a duo act for two years at 'Upstairs at the Downstairs', a New York nightclub. Then one week he was asked to accompany and unknown singer named Bette Midler. "It was hate at first sight," Manilow remembered fondly. "Two Jews in one room not liking each other. But we rehearsed anyway, and Saturday Night came and there I was at the Continental Baths in a roomful of naked men and towels and Bette came on stage looking like my mother with a fox around her neck and a turban on her head. I was rolling under the piano. I cried during the ballads and she totally knocked me for a loop." .
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Manilow stayed with Bette for five years, during which time his first album, 'Barry Manilow I' was released (and sold four copies, according to Manilow). Soon after Bette took a year long vacation, and instead of sitting around and waiting for her to return, Manilow went back into the studios and recorded the next LP, 'Barry Manilow II'. While he was recording, Arista Records president Clive Davis (who at first considered dropping Manilow from the label as too MOR) turned him on to the Scott English/Richard Kerr song "Brandy." "First we changed the name to 'Mandy'," Manilow explained. "I went into the studio to record it and Clive came down and sat next to the piano. He had his eyes closed and he swayed and moaned and sang along. He's moved to tears at the drop of a hat, Clive. He said, 'Oh, it's wonderful, wonderful ! Barry, if you have a hit with this ballad, your career is made.'  And so it was. He recently celebrated the third anniversary of "Mandy" with an ABC television special. His last TV special won him an Emmy award over contenders like Olivia Newton-John and John Denver. But will his new LP, "Even Now," move him out of the ranks of MOR, and into a hipper audience? Probably more than his other albums, "Even Now" relies heavily on Barry's musical trademark of soft strings, strong piano line and heartplucking love songs. Producent by Ron Dante, who has taken a major part in shaping Barry's sound, the LP is full of the same kind of singles that preceeded it. As a musican and arranger, Manilow proves again that he is tops at his job. He has written the music to eight of the 13 songs on the album, with lyrics from Bruce Sussman and Marty Panzer (who wrote lyric for "This One's For You" among others). The album's first single release was "Can't Smile Without You," an unabashedly sentimental tune about lost love written by Chris Arnold, David Martin and Geoff Morrow with Artie Butler orchestrations that filled radio airwaves far before the rest of LP was released. Yet it's no less catchy than the LP's second single, "Copacabana," a three verse short story about a showgirl named Lola whose lover gets shot at the famous club in the forties. Now the Copa is a disco, but Lola still sits at the bar, "drinking herself blind" because she's lost both her boyfriend and her youth. "So what does it mean if I'm middle of the road?" Manilow asks shrugging his shoulders. "I always used to hate that category. Percy Faith. Perry Como. At first I said, 'Wait a minute, would you mind giving me another label, please?' Now, who gives a damn about categories. I choose to make this music and I would do it again. I'd go back in the studios and make 'Could It Be Magic' and 'Mandy' and 'I Write the Songs' just the same way. I'm just a guy whose doing his job." .
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HMV CHOICE 2002
He writes The songs At a time in his career when most people would be churning out the 'best of' albums, Barry Manilow continues to look to the new and has come up with an ambitious concept album Words by Roy Delaney For the average Saturday-night karaoke warrior there's little more to Barry Manilow's musical legend than a certain song about a showgirl and dancer. But for those in the know, Manilow offers a life story so rich and varied that if it were a Hollywood movie script you'd have trouble believing it. Starting life in Brooklyn, New York, he was an avid musican from his earliest days, taking accordion lessons at seven and persistently begging his neighbours to let him have a go on their piano. But this was no youthful fad. Before too long he enrolled as a student at the New York College of Music, and to help pay for his studies he took a part-time job in the mailroom at CBS records. This is where things began to get cinematic. At the age of 18 a director at CBS took a chance on him and suggested he turn some old standard songs into a musical adaptation of the melodrama 'The Drunkard'. Not fancying many of the tunes, he wrote an entirely new score and the musical ran on Broadway for eight years. After a stint writing and producing radio and television jingles, he got his next big break in 1972 when he met Bette Midler, who immediately snapped him up as her musical director. He co-produced and arranged her Grammy Award-winning 'Divine Miss M' album, and was such a success warming up the audience for her live shows that he was signed to Bell Records on a solo deal. And that's when it all went ballistic. There followed an unprecedented string of 25 American top 40 hits, ridiculously successful TV specials, huge world tours and album sales in excess of 50 million. Then Britain took a whiff of his success and he broke all box office records on these shores with his 1983 tour, culminating in a massive show in front of 50,000 candle-waving fans at Blenheim Palace, a date he still looks fondly upon as one of the most significant of his career. Of course the frenzy had to eventually subside, but this didn't mean the end for Barry. Instead he looked back to his roots, releasing hugely successful collections of swing, jazz and Sinatra classics, as well as producing the worldwide smash musical 'Copacabana'. But that's not all he's been up to. Along the way he's written over 30 albums and picked up a hadful of Oscar nominations, Grammys, Tonys, Emmys and pretty much any other musical award that's worth shaking a stick at. And now, with 'Here At The Mayflower', arguably his best work for years, he's proved that his love for a good tune well sung has far from disappeared. After all, he does write the songs... Here At The Mayflower Fresh off the back of his Broadway success with Copacabana and a mere 20 years in the making, Barry Manilow tries his hand at another narrative venture with this ambitious tale of a city apartment block - each song corresponding to the goings-on behind a different apartment door. Now in the wrong hands this could be a schmaltz-addled disaster, but he pulls it off without ever getting too twee. Granted it has its saccarine moments, but there's also much wry humor and gentle humanity. There's a surprising range of musical styles too. Imagine if Stephen Sondheim rewrote 'The Lion King' and had Billy Joel perform it on the set of Sesame Street - only with that intangible Manilow magic running right through it. There's songs of heartbreak and joy, loneliness and nostalgia, the full gamut, and each is tended separately like a little window on a true-life tale. A songwriting craftman back on form and well wrth lending an ear to. .
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Manilow Goes In Like Flynn Superstar singer Barry Manilow is launching his acting career in the CBS TV movie Copacabana, a big-budget extravaganza packed with a hot songs and swinging dance numbers. And the singer will be decked out in a swash-buckling array of out fits, like the ones dashing Errol Flynn wore in his action-packed movies. "There are some pretty exotic costumes," says designer Robert Turturice. "This will be a whole new look for Barry. His fans will love him in this role. "He has 18 costume changes," Turturice told GLOBE. "He wears everything from a white tuxedo to a worn tweed sports jacket. "Barry enjoyed dressing as Tony, the hero. He told me: 'I've always wanted to be like Errol Flynn, a real swashbuckler.'" Copacabana, which airs next season, is based on Barry's hit song about a star- crossed romance at the famed New York City nightclub in the 1940s. He plays Tony Starr, a piano player at the Copa, who falls for Lola, a dancer in the chorus, played by Annette O'Toole. Joseph Bologna is rich and sinister club owner Rico Castelli, who wants Lola for himself. "It's really one big flashback," says Turturice. "It starts in 1985 with Lola, who's about 70, sitting at the Copa bar wearing a tattered 1940s evening gown. She looks out and sees the image of Tony dressed in white sitting at his piano. That triggers her dream."   "In the beginning Tony and Lola are struggling to get their big break so they wear sensible, practical clothes. But as they become successful, they dress a little more flashy. My clothing budget was $ 130,000. There are six numbers and 35 principals I had to dress." Manilow helped write the script and composed 10 new songs for the movie - the first made - for TV musical. Says Turturice: "He has a brand-new career." (by Susan Goldfarb) .
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Barry Manilow: For the last few years Barry Manilow was known primarily as Bette Midler's record producer. That is, until a few months back when he hit the charts with a number one smash of his own! Although "Mandy" marked Barry's first chart appearance, he's not a newcomer to radio. In fact, he probably has one of the most listened-to voices... thanks to his interesting and profitable hobby! Over the last few years Barry's written and recorded jingles for radio and TV, and they've become so popular that he performs them onstage while his audience sings along! His "repertoire" includes "Have a finger-lickin' good time barrel of fun"; "Join the Pepsi generation"; "Give your face something to smile about"; and "You deserve a break today" - just to name a few. But you can rest assured that you'll be hearing lots more, now that Barry's a "commercial" success! .
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South Wales Echo 1998
Manilow magic from Copacabana to Casablanca Barry Manilow at CIA It is easy to see why many people knock Barry Manilow. He is just so good. It is also easy to see why his fans love him. Singer, musican, songwriter, all-round showman and professional par excellence. You pays your money, you takes your choice but I defy anyone - fan or not - to say you don't get full value. For nearly two hours you are treated to top quality performances from the man himself and from his co-musicians, on a musical tour de force taking in the Copacabana and Casablanca. The CIA does not really lend itself to instant intimacy between performer and audience and yet this is what happened as the vast chamber became a small, friendly club featuring resident singer and regular customers. This is the Manilow magic and the man who writes the songs shows you what show business is all about. (by Linda Harries)
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