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Barry Manilow music biography continued...

Born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York, Manilow's musical interest started early. He was age seven when he learned to play both the accordion and the piano, and was singing by age thirteen. He worked at CBS to pay his way for studies at the Julliard School of Music and connived his way into a position as musical director for the CBS show Callback. His big break came in 1971 when he met Bette Midler and she hired him as her musical director. After supervising Midler's first two albums, his debut opportunity arrived in the summer of 1972, which led to a record contract with Bell and his debut album. Bell morphed into Arista with Clive Davis at its head. The first song Manilow recorded for Davis was "Mandy," which became a number one hit in 1975. Manilow's second number one hit was in early 1976, with "I Write the Songs", off the Tryin' to Get the Feeling (1975) album, which went triple platinum. His rise to stardom was again confirmed with the concert double-LP "Live" (1977), which was to be his first, and only, number one album, with sales of over four million copies. "Even Now" (1978) was another triple platinum album, with three top ten singles, including the legendary "Copacabana," which made Manilow a superstar.



After a foray into jazz and pop-rock and years of constant touring, Manilow returned to the Arista fold and producer, music mogul and friend, Clive Davis. Together, they recorded "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties" (2006), a nostalgic and diverse collection of tunes from the 1950s, covering three discs. Since February 2005, Manilow has also been the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, and has performed hundreds of shows to packed audiences who love his showmanship almost as much as this tunes. Manilow's achievements include sales of more than 76 million records worldwide and multiple awards. His fans are as dedicated to him today as they were in the seventies and have seen him mature into a performer who simply lives to entertain them.