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On Here at the Mayflower and the Past Year: Mark: With everything that's been going on in the world and with the POW's coming back this weekend, you just hear "Welcome Home" (from Here at the Mayflower) and it just brings SO much more to it.
Barry: I think so too. I wrote this song as an ending to the concept album, Here at the Mayflower, which was done a year, a year and a half ago, just welcoming somebody home from a long time away, but now when I listen to the lyric, it feels so appropriate and emotional now.
Kim: It really does, and you've had quite a year with the Ultimate Manilow CD out and you did a concert tour. How are you feeling?
Barry: I'm feeling great, as long as I'm not on the road, 'cause that last road, we all hit the wall on that last tour. Because it was like a never ending tour. I mean, who would say No to the kind of things that were being tossed my way ... the Ultimate Manilow thing came out, Here at the Mayflower, a Christmas album, concert specials on TV, and Live Specials. I just said Yes to everything. But there's a point where you hit the wall, and I Hit The Wall!
Mark: Before we get going more with Barry Manilow, who's our honored guest, I cannot encourage you enough if you have never purchased a Barry Manilow CD, go buy Here at the Mayflower! ... The concept of this CD is wonderful as you basically step into a New York City apartment building, and imagine all these different apartments with all there different stories of all these different lives going on, and then as Barry mentioned that you Welcome Home, you come back at the end of the day to that cozy place that you call home. It's really great and I really urge you to go out and pick it up because it's THAT wonderful!
Barry: Thank you.
On Harmony Going to Ft. Lauderdale and Broadway:Kim: Barry, I've heard you are working on musicals.
Barry: I'm working on a project as I've told you before called Harmony, which finally goes up in October in Ft. Lauderdale and then comes into New York in January, one of these 10-11 million dollar shows. They take a little longer to get up on the stage than your typical concert.
Mark: Is that [what] it costs to get something on Broadway?
Barry: Yeah.
Kim: And Harmony has an interesting story too, doesn't it?
Barry: Yeah, Bruce -- my songwriting partner/collaborator -- and I based the story on the true story of a group called the Comedian Harmonists. They were like the Backstreet Boys of Germany. They were like the Marx-Brothers-meets-the-Manhattan-Transfer. Very complicated harmonies and very funny slapstick comedy. They were like any boy group that we know right now. Their work was totally destroyed including their families because a few of them were Jews. And in those days, that was illegal. No one knows of their work. We have decided to tell their story in an original musical. It's really been a very profound experience.
Mark: Well, I think that what we need to do is get some Mark & Kim listeners and we need to plan a trip to New York in January to help kick this off!
Barry: Let's all go!
On Co-producing Diane Schuur's next album, Midnight:Mark: Since your tour got over, I think the last time we talked to you was just around the holidays. What have you been doing for the last four months? You've just been relaxing?
Barry: I've been producing an album -- co-producing an album -- with my friend Eddie Arkin for a girl named Diane Schuur. Have you all heard of Diane Schuur?
Kim: Oh yeah, I LOVE Diane Schuur!
Mark: Her CD where they set up at the A&M recording studios and with the Count Basie Orchestra is still one of the greatest Big Band recordings. Her vocals were incredible.
Barry: I think Diane Schuur is this generation's Ella Fitz-Gerald.
Kim: Absolutely!
Barry: I think that for some reason her career quieted down. She was on the road a lot. So I called her since she's a part of Concord -- the label I'm on -- and I said, how would [you] like to do a record together? And she loved it. We had done a duet on my Swing Street album ("Summertime" along with Stan Getz) and so Eddie Arkin and I spent a year with my lyricists creating a totally original album for her that could've come out of 1955.
Mark: No kidding. Tell us about the instrumentation, the background stuff.
Barry: It's small except for a couple of washy string sessions which are gorgeous. But most of all, it's at midnight. It's called Midnight. It's as if you are going into a club at midnight on 56th Street in Manhattan.
Mark: And this is something you are producing and will be available when?
Barry: July.
On Being Presented the ELLA Award by the Society of Singers:Mark: It's interesting because one of the reasons that we're talking to you is that you are receiving a very, very exciting and wonderful award. It's the ELLA Award named after Ella Fitz-Gerald.
Barry: That's right.
Mark: And I'm looking on the program, Diane Schuur is actually going to be performing!
Barry: Yes, I asked her if she would do one and she said "absolutely" so she's going to do the title cut as the song that she does. Yes, I'm getting a singer's award! It's such an oddball thing for me, because in my heart, as you know, I've known you guys for so long, I don't consider myself a singer. I consider myself a musician. And to get the ultimate singer's award from the Society of Singers is kind of a humbling thing. I don't even know how to say thank you.
Kim: Well, you really started as a musician, and the producer. I know when I hear your music it's Big Production. That's what I love about it. But 'the singer', you kind of came through the back door as a singer.
Barry: I did. The singer thing was the last thing on my mind. Always is, by the way. The first thing on my mind is the production, the composing, then the producing. Then the musicianship. And the last thing on my mind, I always have to remind myself... oh yeah, you've gotta go in and sing this! (laughs)
Mark: However, your voice is internationally recognizable. Your vocal styling is, you know, you can just identify 'Barry Manilow', so you really have stepped out in the front and created a wonderful place that so many millions of people love... your voice, I'm talking about specifically, so it's really not a surprise that you would be getting a Singer award.
Barry: Well, I've tried to get better at it, I mean, I saw that this was not an accident, something was going on here. So I started to work on that part, for the last 20 years, and I'm comfortable with what I sound like now. I still think Luther Vandross is the great singer. I still think Sting is the greatest singer that we've got. I still think there's a handful out there that are the Real Deal. I don't think I'm one of them.
Mark: Well, here's what you do - you say "I got the ELLA Award first!" Before any of those people you're talking about! And of course, we're sure thinking about Luther Vandross, with his getting a stroke.
Barry: Yeah, we are.
Mark: Now, listen, here's some of the other performers that are going to be there a week from tonight (Monday, April 28). Somebody that we have become friends with recently, Linda Eder, is going to be there according to the schedule. Michael Feinstein?! Hello??!!
Kim: Brian McKnight. Your old friend Suzanne Somers is there; she's just delightful.
Mark: It's another award to add to the list. Barry, where do you keep your Grammy and your Tonys and your Emmy?
Barry: There's a little shelf collecting lots of dust, since the last time I got an award was... 1754! This will be my first award in many, many decades. But you know, honestly, I look at them and I smile because it really represents a very confusing time for me. You don't do it for awards. I don't do it for money. I don't do it for awards. It's easy to say it when you have it. But I don't. I never have. Never will. When I think of the music I've made, I think of the stuff that I love and that's about it.
Kim: That's great, Barry, you see, you are so grounded. We appreciate that about you.
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Monday,
April 28, 2003 |
California/
Beverly Hills
(Beverly Hilton Hotel) |
Society of Singers presented Barry Manilow with
the 12th Annual ELLA Award[ Photos of event at WireImage.com ] Barry Manilow has been selected to receive the 12th Annual ELLA Award at a star-studded dinner and show. The event arrival is 6:00 PM, with cocktails at 6:30 PM, and the dinner and show beginning promptly at 7:30 PM. The announcement was made by Society of Singers president and CEO Jerry F. Sharell. Clive Davis, Chairman of RCA Music Group and founder of J Records, and songwriter/singer Carole Bayer Sager will serve as Dinner Co-Chairpersons. Scheduled to perform at this star-studded gala event are Wayne Brady, Debra Byrd, Linda Eder, Michael Feinstein, Dave Koz, Monica Mancini, Brian McKnight, Suzanne Somers, Dianne Schuur, Curtis Stigers and Barry Manilow. Presenters for the event will be Leeza Gibbons, Mary Hart and Ryan Seacrest. The ELLA Award, named after its first recipient Ella Fitzgerald, is given to singers whose contribution to the music world is equaled by his/her dedication to humanitarian causes and community support. "We are thrilled to honor Barry Manilow for his accomplishments as a performer, composer, arranger, producer and musician," stated Jerry F. Sharell. "He has also been actively involved with charities and humanitarian efforts around the world. There is no better person who typifies what the ELLA Award stands for than Barry Manilow." Highlights: I Write The Songs - Society of Singers Choir / Jump Shout Boogie - Wayne Brady / Meet Me, Midnight - Diane Schuur / Even Now - Brian McKnight / Centerpiece - Curtis Stigers / When October Goes - Monica Mancini / Sweet Life/I Am Your Child - Debra Byrd / Daybreak - S.O.S. Choir / I Was A Fool (To Let You Go) Suzanne Somers / Soon - Michael Feinstein / Weekend In New England - Linda Eder / Performance by Barry Manilow (Beautiful Music, Could It Be Magic, Brooklyn Blues (with Curtis Stigers and Dave Koz), Mandy, Copacabana (At The Copa), Let Freedom Ring, It's A Miracle (Reprise)[ Manilow.TV Episode #23 aired August 2011 ] |
