When I worked for ASCAP in the mid-1970s, I was paid extra for identifying more than my required 6 hours of recorded music, & yet I would linger & listen to all of a song called Weekend In New England. That song, along with his cover of Could It Be Magic are the only Barry Manilow songs I ever liked, but who knows… I took Qualudes during that era. I made several questionable choices.
The police in Britain & Australia use an ingenious method of managing loitering ruffians. To fight the growing problem of unseemly teenagers gathering in public places, the authorities have begun using something known as the “Manilow Method”. In the places where kids hang out, they put up a couple of loudspeakers & broadcast Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits Gold Collection on repeat. Before you can say “Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl”, the hooligans will have slithered away to the next corner. It seems to be working; it is reported that the implementation has led to a 24% drop in anti-social behavior. That is, assuming that one doesn’t consider playing of Barry Manilow really loudly as anti-social behavior (Which I believe you should). Although I understand that there is real talent, I am not actually a Fanilow.
Manilow’s career includes selling more than 85 million records & 25 consecutive Top 40 hits; in 1978, 5 of Manilow’s albums were on the charts at the same time. He writes the songs that makes the old world sing & middle-aged girls & boys a cry. Manilow’s music just seems to often go unappreciated by critics & listeners.
That doesn't seem to make a difference; Rolling Stone: “Manilow is the The Showman of Our Generation. Billboard ranks him as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time& gushes: “Among the few things one can count on in life: the taste of McDonald’s cheeseburgers, I Love Lucy reruns are still funny & Barry Manilow never wearing out his welcome at the top of the charts.”
Through the years, Manilow has made every attempt to conceal his sexual orientation. Manilow was married to Susan Deixler, his high school “sweetheart”. Manilow makes mention of Deixler in his 1987 autobiography Sweet Life; without naming her, he claims that she was “adorable, small with great legs & a voluptuous figure.” In 1966, a annulmen twas granted. Deixler: “the marriage was annulled for not being consummated.”
Maybe Manilow will never be ready to take a chance again. During a 2004 concert in NYC, just as he started to sing a duet with Brian d’Arcy James, Mailow joked to the audience: “Of course, we're not going to sing it to each other—that would be creepy.”
His own website dimishes the fact that he began his career in a gay bathhouse, despite the fact that he’s admitted ripping off his tuxedo & jumping into the bathhouse’s pool with lots of gay nude men. He blamed losing his inhibitions on the drinks & joints that had been passed to him. Manilow: “That’s such a bit of misinformation. There was just 1 bathhouse called the Continental Bathhouse & I worked there for 2 weekends with Bette Midler & that was it. I accompanied her for two weekends there & then we went on to a lot of nightclubs around NYC, Chicago & L.A. & she exploded like a year later. So it really wasn’t ‘gay bathhouses.’ I don't know where that came from.”
On the plus side, he canceled an appearance on The View because of Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s ultra-conservative stance. Manilow: “I strongly disagree with her views," he said. "I think she's dangerous & offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her.” When Manilow was being honored in Palm Springs for his AIDS awareness efforts, he stated “I've had 4 personal assistants in my career since the ’70s, & 3 out of the 4 have died of AIDS. My personal assistants have always become my best friends. They are my brothers.”
When Elizabeth Taylor asked him the early 1980s for help raising money to fight the disease he was there. Manilow: “Her friend, Rock Hudson, had died. She was the first one to try to make the public aware of this disease that was infecting everybody, & she was throwing a big dinner party. She called her entertainer friends, & they all turned her down. I don't know why. But I got the call & said, ‘Of course.’ But my band wasn't around. I just went there & played piano & sang for a good hour. It was the first one she had, & it was the first time I had ever done anything like that.”
I think it is unfortunate that Manilow suffered from the same fear of fan rejection that Liberace did. It would have been fun to have him be out & proud. For 25 years, Manilow has lived with his manager Garry Kief in homes they share in Bel Air & Palm Springs.
No comments:
Post a Comment