Journale 35

Vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse!

Thanks for your interest!

Barry Fanclub Magazine 1983

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Barry is one of the most dynamic forces in the entertainment world today. He is a multi-award winning artiste whose career has spanned songwriting and recording (for which he won the Grammy Award), the concert stage (the AGV A Award), Broadway, (Special Tony Award), and television (the Emmy Award). Barry's talents began developing in his native Brooklyn where he was born on June 17, 1946. Music was always in his horne, and by the time he was seven, he began taking accordian lessons. Later, Barry attended New York College of Music and Julliard while paying his rent with a job in the CBS mailroom. At CBS, Barry, 18 years old at the time, met a director who was doing a musical adaption of "The Drunkard" and asked Barry to arrange some public domain songs for the melodrama. Barry wrote him an entire original score, and the musical ran off-braodway for eight years. In 1967, he became the musical director for the Emmy-winning WCBS-TV series, "Callback" followed by a stint conducting and arranging tor Ed Sullivan Productions, arranging a new theme for "The Late Show", as well as writing, producing and/or singing radio and television commercials. A two-season run at New York's 'Upstairs at the Downstairs' followed, with Barry half of a musical duo. Then, in the Spring of 1972, Barry met Bette Midler. It was a meeting that changed the destiny of both of their careers. Barry became Bette's musical director and arranger (as well as pianist). He co-produced and created the arrangements for her first LP, "The Divine Miss M", which won a Grammy. Barry continued with Bette co-producing and creating arrangements for her second best selling album, "Bette Midler". Although Barry had signed with Bell (now Ariola/ Arista) Records, and was about to make his solo album debut, Bette persuaded hirn to remain as her musical director for her first big national tour. Barry opened the second act of Bette's show with three original songs. Unbilled and unannounced, he came on stage and stopped the show. Barry's first solo tour began in the Spring of 1974, and what followed has been an unprecedented line of top forty hits. His second tour began in July 1976 and ended in April 1977. During the nine months on the road, Barry performed to packed theatres in ninety-eight cities throughout the United States. During this tour the first Barry Manilow Special was aired by ABC TV on March 2nd 1977. It drew an estimated 37 million viewers ~ one of the highest ratings ever for a new artiste. The second Barry Manilow Special, co-produced and co-written by Barry, was shown on February 24th 1978, and again the ratings went through the roof. The Third Barry Manilow Special in May 1979, and One Voice which aired in Spring 1980 were both highly successful.

In 1978 five of Barry's albums were on the U.S.A. charts simultaneously - a record achieved by only two other singers, male or female - Frank Sinatra and Johnny Mathis. In October 1978 the United Kingdom was to see the first concert appearance on a European tour. The two original dates booked at the London Palladium were extended to six owing to demand. Barry has said himself that it was one of the biggest surprises of his career as he was not our basic household name. The showing of the T.V. Special recorded that month at the Albert Hall was to change all that! The Royal Albert Hall Concert was originally shown in December 1978, but the response was so great that the BBC repeated the show during the summer of the following year. Manilow Magic had arrived! After the success of the 1978 visit, Barry knew he had an audience in this country, and therefore Britain became a must on his tour plans. His return visit in 1980 proved an even bigger success. When Wembley Arena was first booked it was to be three nights, but again due to overwhelming demand an extra night was added. Two sell-out dates at Bingley Hall, Stafford, followed the Wembley Concerts. Over 50,000 fans were lucky enough to see the concerts live, and an even larger audience were to enjoy Stewart Morris's televised recording of the Wembley Concert. September, 1981 saw Barry's tenth album, "If I Should Love Again". This album is unique in that it was Barry's first totally self-produced album. Known primarily for his musical composing rather than Iyrical writing, he wrote both the words and music for the title track. In concert, Barry recounts the story of how the song originated. "We were playing in Atlantic City, and I was staying in this beautiful home situated right on the ocean. In the living room were these huge floor to ceiling windows overlooking the sea. It was a spectacular view, very moving and inspiring, so I moved the spinnet piano up against the windows and wrote 'If I Should Love Again'." At first Barry considered having this album take a different direction, but after considering all the tunes submitted for the album, the final choices were, with one or two exceptions, romantic ballads. " 'If I Should Love Again' is the most romantic album I've ever done, I'm very proud of it." With the "new wave" and "punk rock" permeating the record industry, Barry calls his work "permanent wave", explaining, "a good love song will never go out of style, don't you agree?" Millions of people throughout the world obviously do. On his 1981-82 "In The Round" world tour, Barry set twelve box office and building attendance records in the U.S., even breaking one that had been set by the Rolling Stones, making Barry's tour one of the year's biggest. In January, 1982, he then "Captured" the British when he toured the United Kingdom beginning with five sold-out nights at the Royal Albert Hall. An estimated 900,000 people applied for the 70,000 tickets for his concerts in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin, Brighton and Edinburgh. When Barry arrived in London at the tour's start, he was met by an estimated 1,500 fans who had, for three hours, braved one of the worst winters in this country, simply to catch a glimpse of him. The police were on the scene at Heathrow to control what the Daily Mail described as "a fervour scarcely matched since the heyday of Presley and the Beatles". The next day, The Sun, Mirror, Daily Mai! and Daily Express all carried the same headlines - "Manilow Mania", equating Barry's descent on London as " .... like the Beatles' commotion 15 years ago".

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While performing at the Royal Albert Hall, Barry recorded a live album, "Barry Live in Britain", which became another milestone in his career when it debuted at the Number One position on the record charts the week after it was released. Barry became the first American performer to achieve this prominent position for the 1980's. "I was on the beach in Hawaii, enjoying the first vacation l've had in about ten years," Barry explains, "when this beautiful Hawaiian lady walked up to me with a piece of paper in her hand asking if I were Mr. Manilow. She handed me a telegram, and I read that l'd just debuted at number one, I was stunned". The 1982 Royal Albert Hall concert was also televised for the BBC, and with the usual demand, was aired twice during 1982. The televising of the concert, and the recording of the live album were to be small compensation to the European fans, because during a few days break after the British concerts, Barry was taken ill, and was forced to cancel the planned concerts in Europe. 1983 promises to be yet another milestone in Barry's career, with his "Around the World in 80 Dates" venture. The tour began in Utah in October 1982, where Barry played to a capacity audience, and this success continued throughout the United States culminating with a two week engagement at Broadway's Uris Theatre, New York, which broke all Broadway Box Office Reeords. New horizons were beckoning, and in April 1983 Barry left the USA for dates in Hawaii, Japan, South Africa, and Australia. Although these were new grounds for Barry the response and reaction from the audiences were exactly what you would expect. Barry's fans were so pleased to have the opportunity to see him live for the first time, and he sang to packed houses in every city and country he visited on this mammoth tour. August 1983 saw Barry's return to the U.K. for what was to prove to be one of the most successful and exciting open air events to take place in Britain the concert at Blenheim Palace. On a brilliant hot summer evening Barry performed to an estimated 40,000 audience, and in his usual unique way created a close intimate atmosphere with every member of the audience. Fortunately, an event like the Blenheim concert was not to be ignored by the T.V. companies, and the concert was recorded by BBC Pebble Mill, as well as a very interesting documentary, showing the preparations and work that went into making this concert so very special. The U.K. tour was to continue in Dublin and Glasgow where the tickets were sold out within hours of the box offices opening. Europe was the next step. More new grounds, new audiences, and new friends to be made. During a period of 27 days Barry performed in no fewer than 14 cities spread throughout Europe, plus numerous T.V. appearances. A gruelling schedule if you were just embarking on a new tour, but in Barry's case this was at the end of a tour that had been continuously on the road for 11 months.... The World Tour had started on 6th October 1982, and was to end on 6th October 1983. A Charity Concert had been organised at The Royal Festival Hall, London, in the presence of their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales. The evening was a complete success in every way. Barry's performance was magnificent, the audience were warm and very responsive, the Royal couple obviously enjoyed the evening, and a huge amount of money was raised for two very worthy charities. It was a perfect way to end a perfeet year. Barry is certainly to be admired. Each time he steps on stage or into the recording studio, he is wearing his heart on his sleeve - his music reflects his sensitivity and vulnerability - very human qualities that he is not afraid to admit to. Romance is not a thing of the past and love is not lost, but alive and well in the music of Barry Manilow. As the man himself says, "I am not just a singer of notes. I am a singer of thoughts." MANILOW MAGIC continues...