By the time he was in his sophomore year in high school, music had become an "obsession" for Barry Manilow. While working in the CBS mailroom when attending New York's City College, Manilow met two people who would change his life - future collaborator Marty Panzer and director Bro Herrod. It was Herrod who gave Manilow his first music job - he played piano during scene changes for Herrod's musical melodrama The Drunkard - a success which ran off-Broadway for eight years.After his time with The Drunkard, Manilow was the musical director for the Emmy-winning WCBS-TV series "Callback!" and had a three-year stint as Bette Midler's accompanist. He switched gears to pop music and rock 'n' roll and, under the name Featherbed, sang lead vocal on Adrienne Anderson's "Amy" (Bell Records) produced by Tony Orlando. Manilow continued to collaborate with Adrienne Anderson ("Rosalie Rosie" and "Could It Be Magic") and co-produced and created arrangements for Bette Midler's Grammy Award-winning album "The Divine Miss M" and her platinum follow-up "Bette Midler."
It was time for Manilow to go solo in 1974. He signed with Bell Records (which later became Arista Records). The release of the number one song "Mandy" began an unprecedented string of 25 consecutive Top 40 hits. Four years later, five of his albums were in the charts at the same time, a record equaled only by Frank Sinatra and Johnny Mathis. Manilow's impressive hit list included "I Can't Smile Without You," "Copacabana," "I Write The Songs" and "Daybreak."
In a dramatic departure, in 1984 Manilow fulfilled a lifelong dream of recording an original collection of "saloon tunes" with a classic all-star jazz ensemble including Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme, Gerry Mulligan and Shelly Mann. "2:00 AM Paradise Cafe" was universally heralded as Barry's most important body of work.
After a few more studio albums for his longtime label, Arista, Manilow returned to Broadway in 1989 but now as the headliner of his own show - Barry Manilow at the Gershwin. The show produced the "Barry Manilow: Live on Broadway" album and a home video of the same name.
In 1992, Arista released a 4-CD/cassette boxed set of Manilow's recordings, including 70 cuts with 30 never-before-released songs, original demos of some of his Top 40 hits, rare live recordings, new songs, a collector's book and a home video.
Venturing into new areas, Manilow scored and composed songs for the animated films Thumbelina and The Pebble and the Penguin. His live performances also changed direction with the launch of the musical fantasy Barry Manilow Presents Copacabana in Atlantic City and Barry Manilow's Copacabana - The Musical in England. A greatest hits tour followed in 1995 and again in 1999/2000 as did albums paying tribute to Frank Sinatra and Manilow's favorite love songs.
"I am a musician. My passion for music has obliterated everything in its path for my entire life. Whenever there was a choice between music and anything else, music won hands down every time. No one person or material thing could ever come close to the feeling I get when the music is right. I am totally committed to my music and my fans." - Barry Manilow
