The real name of the American rock singer, musician, songwriter, composer and producer Barry Manilow is Barry Alan Pinkus.
Childhood and youth Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow was born on June 17, 1943 in Brooklyn (New York, USA), he spent his childhood in the family of his mother's parents (Jews by nationality), who left the Russian Empire.
In early childhood, the boy already played the accordion well. At the age of 7 he became the winner of the competition for young musicians. Without preliminary exams, the boy was enrolled in the first-class Juilliard School of Music, located in New York.
For his thirteenth birthday, Barry was given a piano. It was a fateful gift that played an important role in his life path. While studying at a music school, Barry changed his musical instrument, retraining as a pianist.
After graduating from music school, he continued to study music. The next stage of education is the New York College of Music. He combined his studies with work, moonlighting as a mail sorter at the CBS studio.
Musical career of Barry Manilow
In the early 1960s, Barry Manilow was approached to take over the arrangements. Having made several arrangements of musical themes for the musical Drunkard, he has established himself as a promising musician.
For almost a decade, this musical has held a leading position on the stage of Broadway. At the same time, additional earnings were composing call signs for various radio stations, as well as musical arrangements for corporate commercials.
Barry soon became the musical director of the hit CBS television series Callbak. In parallel, the young musician worked on scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show and performed in a cabaret.
Here he met the singing actress Bette Midler, here he began his career as an impresario of the singer.
The spectacular blonde drew the attention of the leaders of the label Arista Records - the recording giant. A year later (in 1973) Barry released his first debut album.
Some elements of light guitar rock were already heard in his melodies. Despite this, the first disc and many subsequent recordings of the young musician and performer were samples of American pop music, filled with impressive piano passages that partially resembled Elton John songs.
The sentimental style, which was especially liked by white housewives, was often criticized by fans of the rock direction, in which the majority were men. However, this did not stop the creator, he continued to write and fulfill his plans.
Barry Manilow received huge success thanks to his famous piano ballads. Their distinguishing feature was the endings - choral accompaniment like a hymn (Mandy, I Write the Songs).
Surge in popularity
The second half of the 1970s was marked by a surge in Barry's musical career. All the discs released by him went platinum.
The world-famous singer was given a perfect balance of light rock on the verge of romantic pop and traditional pop music of America.
Some of the achievements of the great performer remain unsurpassed masterpieces today. There have been over 40 singles in the US Top 20 in a row.
In the late 1970s, five Barry albums were on the hit parade at the same time. Barry Manilow has all the most prestigious awards that are awarded in pop music.
Incredible popularity reached the album 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe. Jazz sounded in it for the first time, however, the manner of performance remained the same as her "fans" of the singer knew.
Barry combined the release of records with work for radio and television. He took part in the filming of a television movie based on the CBS channel.
Talk shows, numerous concerts in the countries of the world continued to set unimaginable heights in ratings and box office records. Barry became the first pop singer at the residence of the Dukes of Marlborough (Blenheim Palace).
Alan Pinkus Bari's personal life
After graduating from high school, he got married. However, this marriage lasted only 1 year. The musician was secretly married to his manager.
Most recently, the singer spoke publicly about his sexuality and marriage to Keefe in an interview with People magazine. Being at a respectable age, Barry spoke about his doubts about fans.
He was afraid to disappoint them with his confession that he was gay. However, the reaction of the "fans" exceeded his expectations - they were happy for their idol.
At the end of the last century, the singer switched to performing well-known pop melodies in the traditional manner of the 1950s and 1960s. Frank Sinatra named Barry Manilow as his successor.
At the beginning of the century, Barry continued to perform concerts. In Las Vegas, at the Hilton entertainment and hotel complex, Barry's concert program gathered a large army of fans. In 2006, his album again took 1st place.
Barry Manilow, a singer whose concerts feature old-fashioned ballads from the era of hip-hop and post-grunge, does not leave indifferent the modern listener.
In the summer of 2002, the musical significance of the performer and musician was marked by the induction of Barry Manilow into the famous Songwriters Hall of Fame, along with Michael Jackson and Sting.
