Before he wrote and performed hit songs like Mandy and Copacabana, Barry Manilow was making a living as a songwriter, accompanist and arranger in New York City.
While he worked with artists like Bette Midler, none of them knew him as a singer, and were quite surprised when he was signed to Bell Records in 1969.
The 80-year-old crooner - who recently became a grandfather - opened up to Peoplehow Midler reacted to the surprising news.
'When I told Bette [Midler], I said, "I just got a record contract." And she said, 'Doing what?' I said, "Singing." She said, "Well, you don’t sing." I said, "Yeah, I know, but they think I do!"' Manilow joked.
He revealed that his own singing initially came about because he couldn't afford to hire proper singers to perform the songs he wrote.
Songwriter:Before he wrote and performed hit songs like Mandy and Copacabana, Barry Manilow was making a living as a songwriter, accompanist and arranger in New York City
Barry and Bette:While he worked with artists like Bette Midler, none of them knew him as a singer, and were quite surprised when he was signed to Bell Records in 1969
Don't sing:'When I told Bette [Midler], I said, "I just got a record contract." And she said, 'Doing what?' I said, "Singing." She said, "Well, you don’t sing." I said, "Yeah, I know, but they think I do!"' Manilow joked
'I made some demos of songs that I had written — I was singing on my demos because I couldn’t afford to [hire] a bona fide singer — and Bell Records liked what they heard and offered me a record contract,' Manilow explained.
'People couldn’t believe that I was the one that got the record contract. They were supposed to; I was just a piano player, arranger,' Manilow added.
His debut self-titled album was released in 1973 and featured Could It Be Magic, but his 1974 follow-up - Barry Manilow II - featured his breakout hit Mandy.
The second album went platnium and reached #9 on the Billboard albums charts, though the singer admitted he was 'terrified' of performing live.
'The part that terrified me and that I wasn’t very good at was performing. It never dawned on me that it would be me up there singing and communicating with an audience. That was the hard part. And I stunk,' Manilow admitted.
'Yet the audiences didn’t think so. They didn’t care that I was awkward and stuttering. They liked the fact that I was a real guy up there,' he added.
'Little by little, because of these wonderful [fans], I figured out how to do it. But I still sometimes feel like a fraud since I never really wanted to do this,' Manilow said.
He went on to praise Midler, 77, stating, 'She was so daring. She's still the most talented human being I've ever, ever seen, forget about worked with.'
Demos:'I made some demos of songs that I had written — I was singing on my demos because I couldn’t afford to [hire] a bona fide singer — and Bell Records liked what they heard and offered me a record contract,' Manilow explained
Talented:He went on to praise Midler, 77, stating, 'She was so daring. She's still the most talented human being I've ever, ever seen, forget about worked with
'She tops them all. She can do anything. She's a comic, she's a singer, she's a actress. She's just the most brilliant talent ever, and I was lucky enough to be there and supporting her with my arrangements and ideas,' he says.
Manilow added, 'I loved working with Bette. And what I learned from her was, take chances. Don't play it safe.'
Years after his then-improbable music career, he's forging a new career on Broadway.
His musical with lyricist Bruce Sussman Harmony, began previews on Broadway on Wednesday, more than 25 years after its first performance in La Jolla, California in 1997.
