Barry Manilow Brings New York City To Everybody

A few years ago there was an episode of the animated sitcom The Family Guy, where protagonist Peter Griffin and his friends were sitting together discussing a Barry Manilow concert soon coming to their town. One by one each explained how they hated Barry Manilow music and fans. However, one of the friends admitted that Manilow had one good song, Then Peter Griffin mentioned another song. Another friend gave yet one more title. Then they all decided they loved Barry Manilow music and even broke out singing “Ready to Take a Chance Again”. They all ended up at Manilow’s concert enjoying the same song performed live.

That segment of the episode was very funny, but it also taught me something about Barry Manilow. There are a lot of people who will publicly denounce him and his music, but there are three times as many fans – and possibly some who privately appreciate his music. Especially other musicians.

Barry Manilow has been one of the most successful artists of our day. He recorded and released 47 Top 40 singles, including 12 that hit number one and 27 of which appeared within the top ten, and has released many multi-platinum albums. Although not a favorite artist of music critics, Manilow has been praised by entertainers including Frank Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s as saying, “He’s next.” In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, “Don’t stop what you’re doing, man. We’re all inspired by you.”

I am one who readily admits to experiencing the inspiration at a very young age. Still fresh in my memories is the music of the young artist playing on my radio. I was about ten years old when I became aware of Manilow as I heard the song “It’s a Miracle”. Not long after that there was a television special that aired in Chicago that featured performers who were appearing in concert in the city. That special was the first time I actually saw Barry Manilow. The skinny, somewhat awkward performer went through his set. He introduced the members of his band and appeared truly personable. There was something about that music that I liked, and I never forgot it. Years later, as I started to study music, I found a complete music songbook of music from his first three albums. I sat down and analyzed that book. Studied and learned a lot about chords and progressions. Yes, I learned something about songwriting all from that book. Most of all I learned the relationship between the songs and the piano. I still have that book in my library today.

Many of my friends at the time had derogatory things to say about Manilow and his music, much like the characters on The Family Guy. The music I heard was different from my contemporaries listening experience. Later I would meet other musicians who heard and respected Barry Manilow’s music.  We could understand why Bob Dylan made sure Manilow understood that he, and many others liked his music.

Why are people drawn to Manilow’s music? Perhaps his background has a lot to do with it. One of the things you understand almost immediately is that Barry Manilow does not shy away from his start in music. Yes, he is from New York City and is not ashamed of his city of origin. Much of his early musical employment was in New York City.

Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Edna Manilow and Harold Pincus. His father was born to a Jewish father and an Irish-American Catholic mother, while his maternal grandparents were of Russian Jewish background.

Manilow grew up in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, and graduated in 1961 from Eastern District High School, which closed in 1995. It was in high school that he met his high school sweetheart Susan Deixler, who would become his wife in 1964. He enrolled in the City College of New York where he briefly studied before entering the New York College of Music. He also worked at CBS while he was a student in order to pay his expenses. Manilow’s marriage soon conflicted with his career aspirations, and they separated after a year. In 1966, Deixler had the marriage annulled. He later studied Musical Theater at the Juilliard performing arts school.

In 1964, Manilow met Bro Herrod, a CBS director, who asked him to arrange some songs for a musical adaptation of the melodrama The Drunkard. Instead, Manilow wrote an entire original score. Herrod used Manilow’s composition in the Off Broadway musical, which had an eight-year run at New York’s 13th Street Theatre.  Manilow then earned money by working as a pianist, producer and arranger.

During this time, he began work as a commercial jingle writer and singer, which continued through the remainder of the 1960s. Many of the TV jingles he composed he would also perform, including State Farm Insurance or Band-Aid. His singing-only credits include commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi, McDonald’s, and Dr Pepper. Manilow was awarded an Honorary Clio at the 50th Anniversary Clio Awards in Las Vegas in 2009 for his 1960s work as a jingle writer. When accepting the award, he stated that he learned the most about making pop music by working for three or four years as a writer in the jingle industry.

By 1967, Manilow was the musical director for the WCBS-TV series Callback, which premiered on January 27, 1968. He next conducted and arranged for Ed Sullivan’s production company, arranging a new theme for The Late Show, while writing, producing, and singing his radio and television jingles. At the same time, he and Jeanne Lucas performed as a duo for a two-season run at Julius Monk’s Upstairs at the Downstairs club in New York.

By 1969, Manilow was signed by Columbia/CBS Music vice-president and recording artist, Tony Orlando, who went on to co-write with and produce Manilow and a group of studio musicians under the name “Featherbed” on Columbia’s newly acquired Bell Records label.

Bette Midler caught Manilow’s act in 1971 and chose the young arranger to as a producer on both her début and sophomore releases The Divine Miss M (1972) and Bette Midler (1973), as well as act as her musical director on the eventual tour mounted for the former. In 1973, Manilow was nominated for the Album Of The Year Grammy Award for his production role on ‘The Divine Miss M’. Manilow worked with Midler from 1971 to 1975.

After a career spanning over 50 years and 30 studio albums, Barry Manilow released album 31 on April 21, 2017 at 73 years old. This Is My Town: Songs of New York celebrates Barry Manilow’s hometown New York City by “saying thanks to the city for giving me my ambition, my sense of humor and my decency”, according to Manilow. It consists both of new original Manilow compositions and standards “evoking the spirit and energy of New York City”. He is making his way to South Florida once again later this week. Yes, he still brings his New York City heritage and roots to the stage as he has for more than 50 years.