How It All Began

It was the late 1960's early 1970's when Barry Manilow  got asked to write a commercial jingle. His jingle was used for the product. Then he was asked to sing on a commercial. Doing these jingles for commercials was how he met Ron Dante. Barry showed Ron four songs he wrote Could It Be Magic, I Am Your Child, One Of These Days and Sweet Life. Ron suggested they make a demo record with these four songs on it. Ok said Barry and they split the eight thousand dollar recording fee in half. Ron said to Barry you sing the songs since you wrote them. Barry sang the four songs and Ron did backup along with a few other singers. They peddled the demo record to different labels. The last record label they went to was Bell Records. They showed the demo record to Larry Uttal the head of Bell Records. Larry Uttal told them he had just signed a new singer named Brian Murphy. Now these songs would be just perfect for Brian to sing said Larry. So Barry gave his four songs to Bell Records while retaining the publishing rights. Barry would get paid every time one of those songs was played on the radio. Barry called his friend Bruce Sussman to tell him the news. Say what said Bruce. Don't tell me you got a recording contract. No I didn't get a recording contract said Barry. I gave my four songs to Bell Records for their new artist Brian Murphy to record. Then Larry Uttal the president of Bell asked me and Ron Dante if we would produce Brain Murphy's album. We said yes we would produce Brian Murphy's album. You and I can still create musicals for Broadway said Barry. Right now I can use all the money I can make.  Barry Manilow was able to do what he always wanted to do write Broadway musicals. Barry was totally nuts about Broadway Theatre, classical music and jazz music. Country, pop and rock and roll didn't interest him. Now he sort of liked rhythm and blues and gospel. Some of Barry's favorite musicals were The Most Happy Fella, Company, Carousel, Gypsy, Pacific Overtures and South Pacific Then some of his favorite Broadway songwriters were Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein and Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. Being a Broadway songwriter was something Barry always wanted to do. The first musical that was a huge success on Broadway was the musical Copacabana in 1979. Copacabana was story of Lola Lamar who came to New York to make it big on Broadway. Anthony Stern (Tony Starr) who wanted to be a Broadway songwriter. Rico Castilli who was looking for the next pretty young thing to headline at his Tropicana night club in Havana Cuba. So Lola meets Tony on a radio show called Sing That Song. You had to know the words to the tune being played. Now actually Copacabana had a back story. The back story was about a Broadway songwriter named Stephen who was creating a musical about a girl named Lola. Lola she was from Tulsa Oklahoma. Two suit cases in hand a dream in her heart.  Lola came to New York to get her big break on the great white way. That's where she meets Tony a struggling Broadway songwriter. They fall in love. Then along comes Rico who see her and thinks she would be the perfect head Tropicana girl. After Rico sprits her away to Havana Cuba he falls in love with her. Tony goes to Havana to get back his one true love Lola. He brings her back to New York where he marries her. Sam Gropper who runs the Copacabana night club makes Tony and Lola his club's headliners. Their first night on stage is the evening after they got married. Because Lola betrayed him Rico come to the Copacabana for revenge. That's where they wrestle for the gun and Lola accidently kills Tony. Copacabana opened on Tuesday September eleven, nineteen seventy-nine. Copacabana was a huge success on Broadway. The next year Copacabana got nominated for a whole batch of Tony Awards. On Sunday June eight nineteen eighty Copacabana swept the Tony Awards. Winning every award  they were nominated for. Best Broadway Musical, Best Score, Best Book/Lyrics, Best Costumes and etc. That was the first of many Tony Award winning musicals Barry got on Broadway. Like Here Comes The Night, One Man In The Spotlight, Harmony, Fifteen Minutes and his latest Here At The Mayflower. In nineteen eighty-three Barry and his songwriting partners wrote some jazz songs. However they could not come up with an idea for a musical using those songs. So to get those songs heard Barry recorded them. He titled the album 2:00AM Paradise Café and put it out. He put 2:00AM Paradise Café out on Arista Records. That was the same record label Brian Murphy was on. Barry didn't think the album would do anything. Boy was he wrong. It went straight to number one on Billboard's Hot Two Hundred album chart. Stayed at number one for four months. Went to straight to number one on Billboard's Jazz chart. Stayed at number one for five months. When October Goes the first single off the album debuted at number one on Billboard's Hot One Hundred singles chart. Stayed at number one for four months. Bam Barry now had a career as a jazz recording artist. The other thing that Barry had to deal with  was everyone talking about him. Especially fans and the press talking about him being gay. So why did most everyone think he was gay was beyond him. Yes he worked at the Continental Baths for two weekends. Yes he met Bette Midler there. Produced her first two albums. Went on tour with her as her musical director. He and Ron Dante produced albums for Brian Murphy who was gay. But NO exclamation point he was gay. Barry gave up trying to tell everyone he was not gay. Mainly because they weren't listening to him when he told them no he wasn't gay. Girlfriends he had his share of them. Maxine Horn junior high, Susan Dexiler senior high. After high school he married Susan and a year and half later divorced her., Lorna Luft, Adrienne Anderson, Loraine Mazola, Linda Allen, Roberta Kent (who was a lesbian), Danna Robbins, Kyla Burk,  Abigail Stern, Julie Berkovic, Skylar Hertzbach and Carly Simon. Carly Simon was the dynamo in the small package that he fell in love with.  Barry met her back in November of two thousand eleven on GMA. He proposed to her on black Friday November two thousand thirteen.  Barry married Carly on Sunday July  twelfth of this year. As far as Barry was concerned he as off the market. He was now a very happily married man. However some of his fans and friends still thought he was gay. Especially Scott Nevins and Suzie Q.  Scott Nevins had the major hot's for Barry. Which made his flesh crawl just thinking about it. What got Barry was that Scott wouldn't leave him and Carly alone. He tried to stop them from marring each other. He tried to ruin their Montreal/Quebec honeymoon by showing up at their fake hotel. He tried to scare Carly into thinking she was insane. Scott thought if he could get Carly into a mental hospital  he could have Barry to himself. Well that didn't work but who knew what other tricks Scott had up his sleeve. Right now Barry had finished a US road trip from Seattle to Philadelphia. A week in New York doing a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall for his Manilow Music Project. Doing PBS's Great Performances at the Metropolitan Opera House on his birthday. Taking part in his international fan clubs New York City Rhythm Convention July seventeen to July twenty first. Songwriting one  zero one with him and his songwriting partners. Doing a fan club members only concert at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park Saturday July twentieth. Then the brunch on Sunday July twenty one with a Q&A with Barry afterwards . Last year Barry put out New York State Of Mind and album of songs all about New York City. This year Something's Coming Up songs recorded by Brian Murphy that were given jazz arrangements. 2:00AM Paradise Café II the sequel to 2:00AM Paradise Café which was released in 1984. Next year. Barry Manilow was putting out Barry Manilow Putting It together The Songs Of Stephen Sondheim. Barry Manilow was going to be Live In London June first through August thirty first at the London Palladium. Then in November it was going to be Cruising With Manilow and Friends Royal Caribbean cruise from November eighteen Tianjin China  to November twenty ninth Singapore Singapore. Barry invited Brian Culbertson,  Dave Koz, Michael Lington, Lorna Luft, Melissa Manchester and Diane Schurr to perform during the cruise. Then a little Barry and Carly time together. Barry hadn't figured out where he and Carly would go on their together time.