You would be hard-pushed to find someone who hadn’t heard of at least one Barry Manilow song. Even if you are not familiar with his complete back catalog you will have at least heard one of his 50 Top 40 hits such as Copacabana (At The Copa), Can’t Smile Without You, or one of his all-time classic love songs Mandy. Manilow has one of those voices that sound only like him and no one else. He is indeed truly unique.
Over the course of his 50-year-long career in music he has been involved in the performing, writing, composing, arranging, and producing of the above songs as well as many more and has had record sales that exceed the 80 million mark worldwide. In that time he has released a total of 40 albums under his own name and has also written and produced for greats such as Dionne Warwick, Bette Midler, Barbara Streisand, and many more.
He has received 2 Emmys, an Oscar nomination, a Grammy, a Tony Award as well as a best-selling autobiography. If you are a fan of Barry Manilow and have yet to see the great man perform, there is no better chance than May, when he comes to the o2 in London.
As anyone who has seen him will attest, a Barry Manilow concert is a high-energy, hit-filled journey through one of the greatest collections of songs by one songwriter.
His latest world tour, including his UK visit to the o2 arena, follows the release of what is perhaps his most intimate album to date, Night Songs. The collection of 16 songs features just Barry singing, playing piano, and acoustic bass. He chose songs that are some of his favorites by many of the greatest songwriters of all time (excluding Barry himself of course).
Even though a large number of the songs on the album are not the most well-known, the album has become one of his favorites to make, perform live, and listen to in his downtime. He has stated that it reminds him of the days before he was famous and selling out arena tours when he used to play in small piano bars. It was a time of his life that didn’t revolve around worrying about making it into the Top 40, catching planes, and checking in or out of hotel rooms every other night. Manilow has said he hopes the album would be like his fans listening to him playing in front of them in their own house.
Barry Manilow is one of those people who seems like he was just born to write and perform music and even though he is 70 years old his voice hasn’t lost his charm or power. Although promoting his new album, you can still be sure that he will perform all of his most memorable and popular songs. He may not play particularly en vogue music but anytime the man plays, the crowd erupts into song and leaves with a smile on their face.
