Barry Manilow

In 1964, he married Susan Deixler but the marriage was negated the following year. Almost two decades later, he was allegedly involved in an affair with pornographic actress, Robin Byrd, but he hushed those rumors.

Throughout his career, he suffered from a number of health issues. He suffered from a sprained and a fractured ankle once and was also incapacitated with bronchial pneumonia.

He was also treated for a non-cancerous cyst in his upper jaw, underwent an eye surgery and also two hip surgeries.

Barry Alan Pincus was born to Edna Manilow and Harold Pincus. He is of Irish-American ancestry and is of Jewish faith. He was raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where he studied at the Eastern District High School.

He graduated from the institute in 1961 and applied to the Julliard Performing Arts School. During this time, he was also working at CBS to pay for his course.

He was approached by Bro Herrod, the director of CBS, who asked him to organize songs for a musical adaptation of the drama, ‘The Drunkard’, for which, he wrote an entire score. It became an instant hit overnight.

In 1967, he became the musical director of the CBS network television show and thereafter, began writing a number of well-known jingles for commercials for ‘Band-Aid’ and ‘Dr. Pepper’.

In the early 70s, Manilow worked with Bette Midler as he helped her with her sophomore releases ‘The Divine Miss M’ and ‘Bette Midler’.

During this time, in 1973, he released his debut album, ‘Barry Manilow’, which was then remixed and re-released two years later. Meanwhile, he also released his second album, ‘Barry Manilow II’.

He released his third hit album, ‘Tryin’ to Get the Feeling’ in 1975, followed by ‘This One’s For You’, the following year.

In the late 70s, he starred in and produced four television specials for the ABC Network, one of which was known as ‘The Barry Manilow Special’, which had over millions of viewers.

In 1974, his second album, ‘Barry Manilow II’ featured the hit song, ‘Mandy’, which went on to make him extremely famous. The album is considered as one of his most important albums till date and featured at the #9 in the US countdowns. It was also certified 2X Platinum.

He released his next hit album, ‘Tryin’ to Get the Feeling’ in 1975, which was certified triple platinum in the United States. The album became so popular that it was later lampooned by Ray Stevens. The album featured the hit track, ‘Tryin’ to Get the Feeling Again’ and other hits like ‘New York City Rhythm’.