Yea I decided to bring it down a few notches for this one. That's because a legend is coming to South Florida and he goes by the name of Barry Manilow
Born in 1946 this performer reached his heyday in the late 1970's but his music still resonates today.
He's very well known for his ballads and probably his most popular "Mandy." Songs like that make me want to change my name. Which interestly enough he did. Born Barry Alan Pincus he adopted his mother's maiden name after I read on Yahoo! Music that his father left him at a young age.
He began playing music at a very young age and by the age of 18 he was accepted into the Julliard School of Music which he paid for by working in the CBS mailroom. He actually became the musical director of the stations show "Callback" and supported himself by writing and performing such high-profile jingles for State Farm, Dr. Pepper, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
He didn't make his big break until getting hired as Bette Midler's pianist. Not long after he got his own record deal but he didn't reach complete fame until his 1974 album "Barry Manilow II." Since then he's seen a bit of failure when in the 1980's his work didn't receive the same attention. But he's remained a music mogul and is still releasing work today.
For all you Barry fans you can catch him Feb. 23, 2008 at the Bank Atlantic Center at 8 p.m. Tickets can be a big pricey but many are still affordable.
1 comment:
Lindsay,
Very nice blog and post about Barry but he was actually born in 1943 and it was his record company's idea to knock three years off of his age so he would appeal to teenagers and young women in their twenties. It may be hard to believe, but Barry is still appealing to girls in their teens and twenties.
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