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| November 27, 2002 | CalendarLive on latimes.com | "Schuur and smooth for Manilow" by Don Heckman |
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| Look out, here come the jazz police: Barry Manilow is producing a jazz album. For the past few weeks, the pop megastar has been busily working in the studio with singer Diane Schuur, producing a CD of all-Manilow originals positioned in what he insists is a pure jazz setting. The venture began after Manilow joined the Concord record label. "I took a look at their roster," he says, "and they have some true musicians on the label -- the real stuff -- and Diane Schuur was one of them. They said that if I ever felt like producing anyone, to just pick through the roster. Well, Diane's like our Ella Fitzgerald, so I called her, told her I'd love to produce her, and she said, 'Let's go.'" Manilow is quick to add that producing is not exactly a new activity for him. "I've always loved it. I did Dionne Warwick's 'Dionne,' with 'I'll Never Love This Way Again' on it, and I did Bette Midler's first two albums and Nancy Wilson's 'With My Lover Beside Me.' And I've always co-produced my own stuff, forever." Nor has Manilow been completely detached from the jazz world in a career in which he notes, with a laugh, that he started out as a cocktail pianist. But it wasn't until he had become well established as a multimillion-selling pop artist that he decided to take a flier in an entirely different area. "I bit the bullet in 1984, and told Clive Davis that I'd run out of pop ideas. So I put together this album called '2:00 A.M. Paradise Cafe' and I called Gerry Mulligan and Mel Torme and Sarah Vaughan -- all these dynamite, legendary musicians and singers -- and they all joined me on this original album. I wrote everything on it -- a kind of 12-song, 45-minute suite. I was the soloist on it, and I don't think I sounded half bad. Certainly I sounded totally different from the guy who sang 'Ready to Take a Chance.' And I got some interesting reviews." Despite the "interesting" response, Manilow has pretty much been Manilow ever since. At least until his association with the jazz-drenched Concord label revived his jazz affections. But working with Schuur, who has often been criticized for a tendency to use her obvious vocal skills and what might generously be described as a histrionic style, called for a careful approach to production. "I guess [those sorts of histrionics] come from being on the road so much because audiences flip out when you do that kind of thing. Then, when you do it in the studio, the musicians and the producer flip out too. But when you take it home, it's just too overwhelming for your stereo system. The truth is that recording is not the same as live performance. There's a whole different art to making a record." Manilow and his songwriting associates spent a year writing the material for the album, which also features a version of "When October Comes," one of a group of songs written to Johnny Mercer poems offered to Manilow by the great lyricist's widow. But it took some sorting out to find the appropriate jazz focus. Initially some consideration was given to smooth jazz -- but not for long. "We talked about it," he says. "Smooth jazz, contemporary jazz, boring jazz. It used to be great, but now it's become, I don't know, bland or something. And I didn't want to put her in something like that." Manilow felt far more comfortable with a much earlier genre. "The era that I always go back to in the world of music and jazz, especially, is the '50s. For my taste, that's when they were really being inventive." Toward that end, Manilow brought in players such as Peter Erskine, Alan Broadbent, Chuck Berghofer and Warren Luening, with singer Karrin Allyson chipping in for a duet on one number with Schuur. Will Manilow wear more than a producer's cap and move into the studio himself for some musical participation in the album, which is scheduled for release in the Spring? "Oh, man, the problem is that the jazz police would really come down on that. Because this is a true jazz album, and I'm not. My singing is not true jazz singing. I love it, I can produce it, I can write it. But when I try singing it, I sound like Pat Boone. It just doesn't want to come out right." Still, it wouldn't be surprising if Concord decided to crank up the heat for at least a token Manilow appearance. |
| November 11, 2002 | Hollywood FYI | "Manilow's Holiday Treat" and "Streisand Duets Again": Barry Manilow will release A Christmas Gift of Love on Columbia Records on November 12, 2002. "I wanted to make a family Christmas album that would make you feel good. And the way I thought I'd get there was to swing," stated Manilow regarding his newest Holiday treat! Columbia Records will release the new Barbra Streisand album, Duets (November 26) ... including "I Won't Be The One To Let Go," a duet with Barry Manilow recorded specifically for this album.
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| November 11, 2002 | Chicago Sun-Times Online | "Barry's World" by Bill Zwecker: Tunesmith Barry Manilow [has] a full slate these days. He just completed producing Diane Schuur's next album, and he and Bruce Sussman have teamed up to write "Harmony," a Broadway-bound musical expected to hit the Big Apple in fall 2003. The show is based on the true story of a group of six young singers in Germany during the 1930s -- trying to bring beautiful music and humor to an era of great grief and tragedy. According to Manilow, the sextet, known as the Comedian Harmonists, are best described as "a cross between Manhattan Transfer and the Marx Brothers." While popular, the rise of Hitler led to their demise -- the group was composed of three Jews and three Gentiles. The musical is about their lives. Before all that, Manilow will release his CD "Christmas Gift of Love" for this holiday season. |
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November 8, 2002
(issue date Nov. 18, 2002) | People Magazine | "Songwriter Supreme Puzzler" by Fran & Lou Sabin: Page 140 - "Barry Manilow" is pictured as the answer to 18 Across in People Magazine's crossword puzzle of the week. Look for at least another half a dozen more clues/answers having something to do with Barry in the 11/18/02 edition. |
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| November 4, 2002 | Press Release | "Barry Manilow Releases 'A Christmas Gift of Love' On Columbia Records: An 'Ultimate' Year Closes With New Holiday Album - Streisand Duet; Plus Live CD & Broadway Show Coming 2003 |
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| LOS ANGELES, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Capping a banner year featuring a record breaking chart entry and headlining one of the top 10 grossing concert tours of the year, the unstoppable BARRY MANILOW will release A Christmas Gift of Love on Columbia Records (Sony Music Entertainment), November 12, 2002. With over fifty musicians, the album was recorded in the legendary Studio A at Capitol Recording Studios, Hollywood, California. "You can't imagine what it feels like to have the power of this orchestra backing you up," says Manilow, who co-produces the set with Robbie Buchanan. "I think of snow, cold, fireplaces, giving gifts, making people feel good, family," states Manilow, regarding the holiday season. "I wanted to make a family Christmas album that would make you feel good. And the way I thought I'd get there was to swing." And swing he does. Tracks like My Favorite Things, I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, Happy Holiday/Winter Wonderland, are among the up-lifting, up-tempo tunes receiving a Manilow treatment. Additionally keeping listeners warm is a tender reading of an acoustic Winter Wonderland, as well as What Are You Doing New Year Eve? and The Christmas Waltz. A standout track is Manilow's cover of Joni Mitchell's River. "I hope she approves of it because I think I retained the integrity of it," said Manilow. Noting it's "not one of your happier holiday songs," River finds the singer singing about a ruined relationship just in time for Christmas. A Gift of Love, the album's sole original, was penned by Manilow with Bruce Sussman (Copacabana, Bandstand Boogie). "It was sitting in the drawer," Manilow admits. "I never throw anything away. I tuck them away for use down the road." A Christmas Gift of Love tops a stellar year of success for Manilow. In November 2001, Concord Records released his Here at the Mayflower (Concord Records) album to glowing reviews. "With 'Mayflower,' Manilow has returned to center stage with a vengeance!" - New York Daily News. Sandwiched between Jennifer Lopez and Alan Jackson, Ultimate Manilow (Arista/BMG), a collection of 20 hits, entered the Billboard Album charts at #3, the highest chart entry of his career. The album has sold 1.5 million to date.
Manilow's "Live2002" 9-month concert tour took him around the globe and became one of the Top 10 grossing tours of the year. The concert was filmed for his May 2002 CBS-TV special, "Ultimate Manilow," at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Other achievements keeping Manilow busy in 2002 included a performance of his timely Let Freedom Ring at Super Bowl XXXVI, a one-hour appearance on Bravo's "Musicians," which is the highest rated episode of that series, and in June, Barry was honored to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Sting, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Manilow co-wrote "I Won't Be The One To Let Go," with Richard Marx and recorded it as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her November 26, 2002 CD release, "Duets" (Columbia Records). Concord Records is scheduled to release a two-disc recording of Manilow's "Live2002" concert in February 2003, titled "2 Nights Live." Manilow is co-producing the up-coming Diane Schuur album, scheduled for release in Spring 2003 on Concord. The album features all new originals co-written by Manilow. Additionally, with its financing in place, Barry Manilow's original musical, Harmony, is awaiting a theatre and is determined to open on Broadway in Fall 2003. Manilow's first holiday album, 1990's "Because It's Christmas," (Arista/BMG) is platinum-plus. A Christmas Gift of Love is Barry Manilow's 32nd album. Track listing for A Christmas Gift of Love: Winter Wonderland
Happy Holiday/White Christmas
Santa Claus is coming to Town
(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays
I'll Be Home for Christmas
My Favorite Things
The Christmas Waltz
I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
River
What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?
A Gift of Love
Columbia Records (Sony Music Entertainment)
Executive Producers: Garry C. Kief, Jay Landers
Produced by Barry Manilow and Robbie Buchanan
Mixed by Bill Schnee; Mastered by Doug Sax
Arrangers: Jorge Calandrelli, Patrick Williams, Ray Ellis, and Barry Manilow and Robbie Buchanan
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| November 3, 2002 | U-Daily News
(U-Press Telegram) | "A Lot To Copa With" by Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith |
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| Barry Manilow will be spending quite a bit of time in the spotlight through the holidays. He has a duet with Barbra Streisand, "I Won't Be the One to Let Go" (written by Manilow and Richard Marx), about to break on her Nov. 26-debuting "Duets" album -- available today as a "first listen" on AOL. And Barry's "Christmas Gift of Love" album is soon to appear in stores. He expects to hit "a few talk shows and some Christmas goings-on" to promote his disc, which he calls "a feel-good Americana holiday album." Meanwhile, Manilow's just finishing work producing Diane Schuur's next album. And he reports his and Bruce Sussman's "Harmony" musical "is just waiting for a theater" to make its Broadway bow. Financing is in place, and a fall 2003 debut is expected. The show's based on the true story of a group of six young singers, "the 'N Sync of their day, who were trying to make music in the most discordant time in history," Barry says. "They were called the Comedian Harmonists, and they were incredibly popular in 1930s Germany -- a music and comedy group that was sort of a combination of the Manhattan Transfer and the Marx Bros. But as soon as Hitler rose and the Nuremberg rallies took place, everything about them disappeared. Three of the members were Jews, and three were Gentiles. This follows what happens to them." |
| September 28, 2002 | Grabow & Associates | A Barry Manilow Bio |
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| Selling millions of albums and becoming one of the globe's most popular musician's-turned-entertainer is just tapping the surface when the name Barry Manilow is mentioned. The songs are well known by his fans whom he chooses to call "friends", and his overall persona as a concert performer only speaks in general terms of the extraordinary human being. The years that he has been supplying the world with music, theater, cinematics, and charity, have gone by quickly. It was over 20 years ago that Mr. Manilow hit the stage as an impassioned piano player, songwriter, arranger, composer... and he is still going strong. He has been through oceans of time and seas of success and progression. No one else in the world has had the kind of existence that has made him a man deserving of recognition and attention. Barry Manilow has said that he would be happy just staying in his studio, overlooking canyons and mountains, conjuring up music from his heart and wielding it to be presented to the growing world of the melody. This is believable for some people, but for others, the opposite. When Mr. Manilow started making his music, it was clear that this was a man who decided, after an ample duration, to provide the earth with healing and satisfaction. In a way, he is a natural Merlin of music. He is an aficionado of romance and the way it leads to true love in the end. Through his musical journeys, Barry Manilow has remained committed to his belief. That belief can be summed up as, "I am a human being, just like you. Never fall behind on what you are sincerely created to accomplish. No one is superhuman, but we can certainly give off that impression by our best intentions and good deeds." Barry Manilow will somehow make everyone in the world who hears his music or sees his mysticism experience and feel something. It only takes clearing off a dusted path in your mind's eye. Is there really a part of the human psyche that drives us to reach not just reach for the stars, but for the lights that will follow? Mr. Manilow has seemed to think so. Just look where it landed him and see the treasures that he has laid out for anyone who wants to follow their soul. There is nothing wrong with making an effort to carve out of life itself a better place to love and emerge and that is exactly what he does. |
| September 18, 2002 | Christian Science Monitor | "Still aglow for Barry Manilow" by Laura Kao |
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| As I got the baby down for her nap, I heard Barry Manilow being interviewed on the radio. Somewhere in my mind's recesses, a gangly adolescent girl squealed, "Eeee! Barry MAN-i-low!" I hadn't thought of him in years, after having heard his songs constantly during my teens. I turned up the radio and crooned rote lullabies to my daughter as I strained to catch the interview. The talk-show host is known for doing her homework on her guests, giving each one lengthy airtime and asking tactfully worded, but bold questions ... I could hear the ingratiating, possibly nervous, smile in his voice as he fielded her questions. No one, he said, was more surprised than he when his music spawned so many hits. He'd felt awkward on stage until he took acting lessons. On and on. It was an intelligent, enjoyable interview, as far as it went, but of course the show's host had to delve deeper. "Tell me, how has it felt being a perennial object of derision?" she asked, in only slightly less pointed words. I winced, listening. Talk about pulling no punches. And yet, I gave her credit: She had hit upon a phenomenon surrounding this singer. While the girls I knew swooned, the boys made verbal swipes, some quite cruel. Barry Manilow had a polarizing effect which, in my circle, broke down along gender lines. Manilow hit the rock and roll radio airwaves in the mid-1970s. Heavy metal and disco music were developing huge followings when he arrived, exuberantly singing sentimental songs. When one of his piano intros began, it was as if someone had switched the channel back four decades. Around every radio, competing female cries of "Oooo! Turn it up!" battled male pleas of "Ugh! Turn it off!" ... Who was right, I wondered? Boys or girls? When the radio interview mentioned a new disk, "Ultimate Manilow," I was intrigued. I hadn't been able to play my one Barry Manilow LP since my husband and I quit setting up our turntable three moves ago. I bought the CD. The music transported me, steeping me in happy nostalgia. I could see my classmate Sue receiving "Daybreak" at her Sweet 16 party, an event held in her parents' half-lit basement. Sue was delighted, as was the giver, Debbie, who had been "dying" until the album came out. The male guests, newly tall and complexion-challenged, displayed the lower whites of their eyeballs to one another. Further back, there was the New Year's Eve when my best friend and I stayed glued to the radio for six hours as they counted down the year's hits. When Barry Manilow was named "Best New Artist," we shrieked our approval. My brother gagged in the background. But even during my nostalgia-fest, the lens of the intervening years altered my assessment of the songs. Still, that voice... I have to listen to my new CD when my husband is out. Some things never change. The day I got it, he and I were shopping at a discount store, the baby strapped into the massive plastic cart as we loaded up on diapers, detergent, and other baby-centric items. Our daughter was being good, so I said yes when my husband asked complicitously, "Should we go look at CDs?" Perusing music-store shelves had been a pastime for us before parenthood, but it had gone the way of attending first-run movies. While my husband located the latest Sheryl Crow CD, I found "Ultimate Manilow" and flipped it over to read the song titles. Yup, yup, yup: There were all the tunes from my youth, plus a couple of others. My husband saw what I was holding, and his eyes bugged. "You're not going to get that, are you?" "Yes, I am." "Noooo." Disbelief. "Really?" "Yes. Really." I put it in with the diapers and sundries. He plucked it right back out and held it gingerly, as though a contagion might spread from contact. "Take this, okay, honey?" he said. "Um, could you get another cart and go through a different check-out line?" |
| September 18, 2002 | Playbill On-Line | "Manilow's Harmony Waiting for Right Broadway House" by Robert Simonson |
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| Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's long-in-development musical, Harmony, is eyeing a Broadway life in the near future, possibly this season. If a musical house of the right proportions opens, the show's New York debut could be as early as this season, said a spokesperson at William Morris, which is representing the property. The Broadway mounting would not be preceded by a national tour or out-of-town tryout. David Warren will direct. Mark Schwartz and Brent Peek are producing. The agency's plans echo the comments of Manilow, who, in an interview in the March 17, 2002, edition New York Times Magazine, said Harmony "should be in New York this time next year." Harmony played the La Jolla Playhouse in the fall of 1997 with plans to come to Broadway ... Rebecca Luker and Danny Burstein starred in the California production. Bruce Sussman penned the book and lyrics for Harmony. Harmony is inspired by the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, six young men in 1920s Germany who rose from unemployed street musicians to become world-famous entertainers. While at the height of their fame, they played to sold-out shows in world-class concert halls, made a dozen films and sold millions of records. But the group's mixture of Jews and Gentiles inevitably led to clashes with the newly established Nazi party. Manilow, a Brooklyn native, [penned] a musical score for Off-Broadway's The Drunkard when he was 18. In 1994 he wrote the score for the Warner Brothers animated feature, "Thumbelina." Sussman scored the Off-Broadway musical Miami (book by Wendy Wasserstein) and Ted Tally play, Coming Attractions. |
| August 2002 | Live Magazine | "Barry Manilow at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater" by Peggy Regan: Girls screaming, "I love you Barry" and guys yelling, "Go Barry!" Women just love the thrill of a sexy presence and a great voice. "You guys are going to thank me tonight," remarked Barry. Barry performed to a sell-out crowd for 90 minutes. He sang, danced, accompanied his 18-piece band and had the entire audience of every age group on its feet. He performed some old hits: "Ready To Take A Chance Again," "Somewhere In The Night," "Mandy," "I Write The Songs," "Could It Be Magic," and yes, "Copacabana," which gave a green light to make the aisles a makeshift dance floor. Barry included some new hits from his album, "Here At The Mayflower," and "Harmony" from his new musical ... The man of the hour ended his show with [the] patriotic finale, "Let Freedom Ring" [which] filled each and every heart allowing the emotion of truth and unity to spread. Barry Manilow is an accomplished performer loved by all and the legacy will go on forever. |
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| August 2002 | PlanetOut | "He still writes the songs": Looks like Barry Manilow has made it ... back to the Big Apple. The campy crooner is prepping his new musical, "Harmony," for the Great White Way, where it will premiere this fall. Written with Manilow's longtime collaborator Bruce Sussman, "Harmony" is set in 1920s Germany and is based on the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a six-member "boy band" who rose from unemployed street musicians to hugely popular entertainers. Their sophisticated music combined with physical comedy made them stars, but because three of them were Jews, the group came under attack when the Nazis rose to power, ordering all their records destroyed... |
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| August 20, 2002 | Star Tribune (Minneapolis - St. Paul) | "Music and Passion" by Randy A. Salas: Her name was Lola. She was a showgirl. And she was played by Annette O'Toole in the 1985 TV movie based on Barry Manilow's hit song "Copacabana" (Image, $19.99), available today on DVD. Yes, that's Manilow starring as Tony, the pianist who fails to follow the song's advice: "Don't fall in love." The musical is benign entertainment for families and Manilow fans -- of which there are many, judging from the recent success of his greatest-hits CD "Ultimate Manilow" and the concept album "Here at the Mayflower." |
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August 6,
2002 | Asbury Park Press | "Concert almost didn't make it through the rain" by James Quirk, account of the rescheduled concert at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ (August 2 and 4, 2002) |
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| When Barry Manilow took to the stage Sunday afternoon, it made sense that he opened with a particular time-honored hit: "I Made It Through the Rain." The more than 10,000 fans at the PNC Bank Arts Center had done just that, showing up to the show after Friday night's brutal storm forced Manilow to reschedule and caused what some concertgoers described as flood-like conditions at the Arts Center. Kevin Spence, executive director of the Arts Center, [said] his staff is looking into rain-flow problems at the venue. Though the adverse weather conditions prevented Manilow from taking the stage, he said, the storm did no serious damage to the venue itself. "We were hit very hard, like many other people," he said. "Essentially, it was so severe that we had to postpone the show. Interestingly enough, the performance on Sunday had a special air about it, as these people had gone through the storm and had come back. We had a tremendous return -- it was truly amazing." Anne Peters, 54, of Toms River, a Manilow fan of more than 25 years, said the Friday night concert started off well, with the opening act, jazz crooner Curtis Stigers, hitting the stage shortly after 8 p.m. But in the intermission before Manilow's set, the sky opened up. "People in back of us tapped us on the shoulder and said pick up your feet," said Peters, who was seated in Row N with several friends. "The water was coming down from the top of the arena." The PNC Arts Center is shaped like a large bowl, with the stage and floor seating at the bottom. The stage and floor seats are covered by a high, dome-like roof. Beyond this is the open-air lawn section, which slopes upward. Simple gravity dictates that whatever water falls in the lawn section will eventually make its way to the floor seats, which is exactly what happened Friday night. As the storm intensified, water began pouring out of the roof "with the force of Niagara Falls," Peters said. Opting not to stand in a swiftly deepening river, Peters and her friends decided to seek refuge in their car. They remained there until the announcement came at 11 p.m. that Manilow's performance would be postponed to Sunday, she said. Sunday afternoon's performance was not sold out, Spence said yesterday, but the Arts Center was filled to near its maximum capacity of 17,500 people. So, after all the wind and rain, was the rescheduled show worth it? Of course, Peters said. "He put on a great show," she said. "Everyone was upbeat about it -- and everyone was making jokes." |
August 2,
2002 | Asbury Park Press | "Looks like he made it: Pop crooner Barry Manilow attracts new generation of fans" by Polly Higgins (Tucson Citizen), promoting Barry's concerts at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ (August 3-4, 2002) |
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| Barry Manilow is perplexed. Happy, but perplexed. Don't call it a comeback -- the singer-songwriter-musician has been working steadily, if quietly, over the years -- but it does seem that the world is ready, once again, for his special brand of Manilove. His first album of original songs in a decade, "Here at the Mayflower," has been garnering respectable reviews since its release last November, and the latest in a long line of hits packages, February's "Ultimate," has gone platinum. Manilow begins an unprecedented three-day stint at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel tonight. "I still haven't come up with the answer as to why this has exploded," Manilow says. Even Arista, Manilow's former record company and the label behind "Ultimate," can't figure it out, he says. "My personal take is that there's a younger generation that has discovered a catalog of music and they have no problem with saying that they like it," Manilow says. "They're down front shouting and loving 'Even Now,' and standing up with their fist in the air at the big power ballad ending." Has Manilow finally reached level of strongman on the kitschometer, the position that allows the likes of Tom Jones and Neil Diamond to belt out the hits indefinitely to their peers as well as that never-aging group of teen-age and 20-something ticket buyers? His songs rarely seem to recede. "Copacabana" popped up on NBC's "Friends" several seasons ago and was featured in a Levi's karaoke commercial last year. The WB's "Angel" found the title character in a karaoke bar with "Mandy." And Manilow himself appeared on FOX's "Ally McBeal" in 2000 to prop up the emotive lawyer with "Even Now." Manilow has yet to possess a shortage of fans -- he's sold more than 50 million records over his 30-year career -- but he has gone up against critics who have often gleefully lavished his work with such pejorative terms as "lightheaded and emotionally vapid" (Rolling Stone) and "lachrymose" (The New York Times). "I have been in the pop world where it's very easy to take potshots," Manilow says. "And that's where I lived for a long time." But, like a tender-lovin' terminator, Manilow pushed on, scoring 15 Top 10 hits from 1974 to 1981, including "It's a Miracle," "Weekend in New England," "I Write the Songs," "Looks Like We Made It," "Day Break" and "Can't Smile Without You." But an irony-free performer, one whose best sellers have been sentimental songs with an overwhelmingly female audience, doesn't easily cross over to camp acceptance. The secret ingredient for Manilow may just prove to be longevity. As the Alan Alda character in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" believes that "tragedy plus time equals comedy," so too, perhaps, do years tacked onto songs "that make the young girls cry" result in widely enjoyable excess. Maybe enough time has passed since the release of Manilow's string of pop hits that the critical mass will trump the (generally male) critics. The piano man took a break from the pop world for many years, dropping out in the mid-'80s to pursue his love of show tunes and jazz on such albums as "Showstoppers" and "2:00 AM Paradise Cafe." "Here at the Mayflower" finds Manilow both offering up his classic pop ("Turn the Radio Up" is a bouncy number that sounds so Manilow he's almost covering himself), disco ("They Dance!"), Broadway-styled talker ("Talk to Me") and swelling ballads aplenty ("She Should'a Been Mine," "Some Bar by the Harbor"). Spinning an album's worth of tunes from the idea of an apartment building, the Mayflower, with each song emanating from a different person's life, Manilow (with the majority of the music self-penned, with a host of lyricists) pursued the notion of wondering what happens behind closed doors. The concept, he says, first came to him 18 years ago, but he became serious about it only in the last three. With this record, he says, he's checking the press. "This one is very dear to me," Manilow says. "I played on most of it, played most of the instruments, so if you don't like this, you really don't like what I do. And it was important to see what the temperature was out there." That temperature, as Manilow well knows, includes a singles-oriented climate, one perpetuated by record companies such as Arista, the singer's label for 25 years. Manilow jumped ship for his new release to Concord, a small jazz-based label that's home to Diane Schuur, for whom "The Man Who Writes the Songs" recently produced, and the late Rosemary Clooney, who died in late June. Manilow stands as an example of that often great divide between critics and public -- fun to apply adjectives to, but so singable, so hooky, not impossible to like. "All of that negative drubbing, when I look back on that it didn't stop me. It didn't stop the public," Manilow says. "I've always believed in what I do." |
August 2,
2002 | Asbury Park Press | "13 things you might not know about Barry Manilow" by Susan T. Leathers (Nashville Tennessean), promoting Barry's concerts at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ (August 3-4, 2002) |
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| Here are some other things you may not know about Barry Alan Pincus, known to millions of fans as
Barry Manilow: 1. He may be the man "who makes the whole world sing" but Manilow, who has written hundreds of songs during his long career, didn't write "that" song. The songwriter who "put the words and the melodies together" that formed the basis of "I Write the Songs" was Beach Boy Bruce Johnston. Johnston won a Grammy in 1976 for song of the year. Two years later, Manilow received the best pop vocal performance Grammy for "Copacabana." 2. Manilow is his mother's maiden name. An only child, his parents, Edna Manilow and Harold Kelliher, divorced when he was 2. Barry was named Pincus after his father's mother's maiden name. Follow that? 3. The No. 1 song on "The Ultimate Manilow 100" list of his top 100 songs is . . . drum roll, please . . . "Even Now." And the 100th? "Do You Know Who's Livin' Next Door?" Oh, "Mandy," you made it only to third place. 4. The young Manilow worked in the CBS mailroom to help pay his way through New York College of Music and Juilliard. 5. "Manilow Country" was The (then) Nashville Network's first high-definition broadcast. When it aired April 11, 2000, it became one of the network's highest-rated specials. The next night, Barry played with a 30-piece orchestra and a choir. "Manilow Live!" aired on Direct TV, then was released on DVD and VHS by Image Entertainment. 6. Not content with just one or another, Manilow has Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards on his mantel and he was nominated for an Academy Award for "Ready to Take a Chance Again" (from "Foul Play"). Other film credits include a song for the soundtrack of Walt Disney's "Oliver and Company," and the soundtracks for "Thumbelina" and "The Pebble and the Penguin." 7. Hundreds of fans have sung with Barry on stage over his 30-plus-year career. To read some hilarious firsthand accounts, check out barrynethomepage.com/cswy.html. 8. Barry is involved with many charitable organizations. He's a board member of Desert Paws, an animal welfare organization in Palm Springs, Calif., where he lives. 9. Manilow is famous not only for his songs, but also for his jingles. Hum along now: "You deserve a break today" (McDonald's); "Like a good neighbor" (State Farm), plus ones for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dr Pepper. 10. Other performers have had fun with Barry over the years. Ray Stevens' 1979 hit, "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow," first appeared on his "The Feelings Not Right Again" album (Warner Bros.). 11. Joining Manilow this year as inductees into the National Academy of Popular Music's Songwriter's Hall of Fame: Michael Jackson, Sting, Randy Newman and Ashford & Simpson. The 33rd annual induction and awards dinner, which took place in June in New York, will be broadcast Oct. 7 on the Bravo cable network. 12. Everyone knows Barry got his start with The Divine Miss M -- Bette Midler -- as her accompanist in New York's gay bath houses. But did you know his first night as a soloist was March 4, 1974, at a club called Paul's Mall in Boston? The audience reaction was so bad that he almost decided to quit his new career. 13. At Super Bowl XVIII in Tampa, Fla., 72,920 fans (not to mention the millions watching on TV) heard Barry sing the national anthem. The Los Angeles Raiders then beat the Washington Redskins, 38-9. |
| July 30, 2002 | NY Fired Up | Featured Review: "Barry Manilow Returns" - Q&A promoting Barry's concerts at Jones Beach (7/31-8/1/2002) and the PNC Bank Arts Center (8/2-8/4/2002) |
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| For thirty years Barry Manilow has stuck to his guns and just played music that he's loved. A native Brooklyn-ite, Barry took some time out from his huge tour and talked to us about where is career is at and how the acts of September 11 affected him. Fired Up: How long has the tour been going on?
Barry Manilow: Longer than I thought it was going to be. I thought I was going out for six weeks and now it's been nine months. But, it's all good because this insane career of mine has once again exploded and they won't let me stop.
Fired Up: Has this tour been larger than past tours?
Barry: Do you mean longer? I'm always touring but this year it just lasted a little longer than I wanted it to because of this resurgence that's happening. As a matter of fact we end it in New York at Jones Beach in the beginning of August.
Fired Up: What are you seeing in the crowd these days that's been different?
Barry: Girls with belly buttons. You've never in your life seen such babes in your life! It is beyond belief! I've never seen anything like it. I look for the fans that I have been kind of used to over the years and they have taken a back seat to these young, beautiful and enthusiastic girls down front.
Fired Up: How does it make you feel that your songs have transcended thirty years of trends?
Barry: It makes me feel grateful and it makes me feel that I wasn't crazy. That I was creating stuff that I believed in and even though people had trouble with it, critics and the like. There were people who didn't have trouble with it and they're still here. And now there is a new generation that's saying we like it to.
Fired Up: How did you like the Super Bowl?
Barry: It was thrilling and one of the top five experiences but, it was also scary because of the security. I have never seen anything quite like that, I mean everybody had their own security guard, everybody.
Fired Up: Tell us about the jacket you wore during your performance.
Barry: Two wonderful guys from the NYPD and the FDNY made it for me in memory of the September 11 tragedy. They gave it to me a day before I got there.
Fired Up: Being from New York I guess the events of 9/11 hit you pretty hard as it did all New Yorkers.
Barry: Yes, very hard and as soon as I could I came back to ground zero to show my support for all the incredibly brave people that were cleaning up this mess. Yeah, I still have friends and family in New York and it was horrible.
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| July 30, 2002 | Associated Press | "Barry Manilow Takes Manhattan"; also mentioned in People Magazine (July 31, 2002) |
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| Despite the humidity and 90-degree heat, Barry Manilow's fans decided they couldn't smile without him, and flocked to Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan to see him perform Tuesday. Manilow sang a few of his classics, including "Can't Smile Without You," for about 2,000 people at an outdoor concert that's scheduled to air Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America." He also did parts of "Mandy" and "Could It Be Magic," as well as the commercial jingles he wrote for State Farm, Band-Aid and McDonald's. The 56-year-old Brooklyn native, dressed in a black jacket and black pants, fanned himself backstage before opening the show with "New York City Rhythm." "This is above and beyond the call of duty," he told fans, many of whom held up handmade posters and Manilow albums. "My Jewish guilt is kicking in, having these people stand in the sun." |
| July 27, 2002 | New Haven Register | "Sentiment or schmaltz, he still writes the songs: Connecticut, it seems, can't get enough Barry Manilow, or vice versa" by Brian Hellauer, review of Barry's concert at the New Haven Coliseum in New Haven, CT (July 25, 2002) |
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| Manilow, once the punchline of many a music joke, has stuck around long enough to become respectable. This has been something of a comeback year for Manilow, in fact. With two albums on the charts, a TV special broadcast on CBS in May, and a musical in the works for 2003, Manilow made it clear to the audience that he appreciates the renewed attention. The veteran singer-songwriter graced the New Haven Coliseum Thursday night with his eighth Connecticut concert of 2002, delivering a well-oiled 80-minute set to a crowd of more than 5,000 faithful. The 56-year-old performer managed a sprightly performance that touched all the bases from nearly 30 years of pop success. "If nothing else, I've created a catalog of songs to be ruined in elevators for years to come," Manilow said midway through the show. After dozens of performances, this current Manilow show moves at a brisk pace. Opening with a medley of hits from his top-10 years, Manilow, backed by a Broadway-ready orchestra, seamlessly bounced from schmaltzy to serious to sentimental. [Fans turned out] to see the three faces of Manilow, all of which were on display Thursday. Schmaltzy Barry uses his jingle-ready knack for melody to turn out innocent pop songs -- such as "Daybreak," "I Write the Songs," and the current "Turn the Radio Up" -- that work their way into your brain and stay there ... Serious Barry shows his appreciation for the old standards and show tunes. To that end, he offered up a couple of songs associated with Frank Sinatra, along with his own "New York [City] Rhythm," and the title number from the upcoming musical "Harmony." [Some of the] numbers packed surprising punch, in particular "They Dance," from his latest album "Here at the Mayflower" ... Sentimental Barry is probably the best, and in many ways the most overlooked. The ballads that first brought Manilow popular success in the '70s are pure distillations of gender-neutral romance, and they hold up well. Seated at the piano, Manilow offered up unadorned versions of "Mandy" and "Weekend in New England" that hit home with the crowd. Manilow did an admirable job of inhabiting these songs as he performed them, emotion coloring the close-up of his face that filled the video monitors on either side of the stage. Between song patter, the instrumental breaks and costume changes were seamless and well-timed, up until the set closer "I Write the Songs." Manilow provided a bit of patriotic feeling during his encore, segueing from an a cappella version of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" to his own "Let Freedom Ring" with a gospel choir, a giant American flag, and red, white, and blue streamers shooting out over the audience. He's also not afraid to poke fun at his image. "I know it hasn't been easy being a Barry Manilow fan," he told the crowd before his encore. |
| July 23, 2002 |
The Saratogian | Barry Manilow belts out a tune at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Sunday night" by Rick Gargiulo, review of Barry's concert at the Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY (7/21/2002) |
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| Barry Manilow is cool again! Not that long ago, just tapping your toe to anything resembling a Manilow composition was the musical equivalent of leprosy. Statistically speaking, you had a better chance of being struck by lightning than finding someone to admit out loud they were a fan. No more! When Manilow pulled into the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Sunday night, he was greeted by what turned out to be 9,000 backup singers, suggesting he may still be a relevant force in popular music. In fact, the Manilow tour is currently one of the 10 hottest tours in the country this year, according to Pollstar magazine. How did this happen? Manilow has more hits than a porn Web site in a college dorm. At 56, he can belt just as well as he did in 1974 when "Mandy" rocketed to No. 1. Couple that with a charming wholesomeness you don't see much of anymore, and 30 years to polish the act, and you get Manilow today -- the consummate showman. Sunday night's performance moved seamlessly from an opening medley of "Ready to Take a Chance Again," "Daybreak," "Somewhere in the Night," and "This One's For You" to a wrap-up teaser of "It's a Miracle." There were no costume changes, no mention of his jingle-writing days ... and no gimmicks. It was 90 minutes of power, talent and efficiency. "Thank you for spending your Sunday evening with me," said Manilow, who understood just how hard it is to get these people to miss "60 Minutes." Departing from "the hits," Manilow unleashed a dazzling performance of the title song of "Harmony," a critically-acclaimed musical he wrote about six-man vocal group in Germany during the 1930s. Manilow, who just last month was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, recorded the six different parts before starting the tour and sang with his own accompaniment for the piece. And while his current release, "Ultimate Manilow", was likely the music industry's biggest shocker of the year, shooting out of the gate and debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart in [February], it's his concept album, "Here at the Mayflower," which is proof of his return. Songs like "They Dance!" and "Turn Up the Radio," which feel both new and vintage Manilow, have actually found their way into regular radio rotation. But Manilow is smart enough not to stray too long from the music that got him where he is, and the trifecta of "Weekend in New England," "Copacabana" and "I Write the Songs" (actually written by a Beach Boy), brought the main portion of the show to a body-swaying, sing-along close. A patriotic encore of "Let Freedom Ring," featuring the unfurling of a giant American flag and the choir Judas Praise, brought to a close another successful visit from the boy from Brooklyn. |
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