Barry Manilow: The Biography [Hardcover]

Patricia Butler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2001

For years Barry Manilow has provided fuel for comedians, cartoonists, journalists, talk show hosts and the public in general. Yet for a man whose name is a punchline, Barry Manilow has an enormous fan base. His fan club has over 60,000 world-wide and to date he has sold over 50 million albums. Since first taking the entertainment world by storm in the late 1970s, with hits including "Copacabana", "I Write the Songs", and "Could it be Magic", Manilow has completed several sell-out world tours. In 2000, he performed a successful US tour, in addition to several TV appearances and special events. He was also honoured in 1999 for his continuing musical excellence with two Grammy Award nominations. Yet for all his success, Barry Manilow, the man, remains shrouded in enigma. In his autobiography published in 1987, Manilow was less than forthcoming about his personal life, glossing over his love life and family life to concentrate on tales of his career. This biography tells the story of the singer's life with emphasis on his place in the music industry and explores and explains the scorn that Manilow is universally held agains his ongoing success. The story is told through various sources including past published accounts and reviews, as well as interviews with those from Manilow's personal and professional past and present.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Omnibus Press (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711985472
• ISBN-13: 978-0711985476
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,619,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Read, April 7, 2002

By 

Barbara A. Breuer (Staten Island, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barry Manilow: The Biography (Hardcover)

While this isn't the best biography I have ever read, it is the best I have read on Barry Manilow.

While this pales in comparison to _Sweet Life_, his autobiography, it does fill in where other biographies have dared not go.

Unlike the other biographies I have read, Manilow is human in this one and does not appear to walk on water.

My biggest problem with the book is that it is unbalanced. The author concentrates on his early years and breezes through his later years as if they were insignificant.

The information that she does give us regarding his early years is interesting and we gain a valuable insight into Manilow, both through previously published interviews as well as interviews with people who were part of his life back then. I was particularly concerned about how the author would treat his sexuality, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how she treated this topic with respect and dignity.

Since this is an unauthorized biography, one would expect most info to be culled from past interviews. This is ok, as she really digs deep to find the information from the interviews.

The fan portion left much to be desired. It's unfortunate that the author did not get the fan support she needed in the writing of this book as she would have gotten a better cross section of fans.

If for nothing else, buy the book for the pictures, as there are some I have never seen.

This is a book for those Manilow fans who are not afraid to think "out of the box."

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Shadow of a Biography, August 10, 2002

By 

Brenda Meskunas "Brenda" (Orlando, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Barry Manilow (Paperback)

If you've never read Barry's autobiography: "Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way To Paradise", that's the one you need to find and read. Ms. Butler's book, lacking Barry Manilow as a source (along with anyone who's been close to the man since 1980), comes across as a "shadow" of a book. It smacks of a college term paper that was required to be 20 pages when the writer only had enough material to fill 10 ... thus necessitating some "creative journalism" to fluff it out.

To the author's credit, she valiantly tries to fill in the holes where she can, relying almost exclusively on already-published information (thus making this a boring read for diehard fans) and anecdotes from people who knew Barry decades ago. Some of the stories as they relate to Barry's earlier years are mildly interesting, but any of value are few and far between.

The book is written fairly well until the twenty-fifth chapter, at which point the structure falls apart. It seems the author couldn't figure out a good way to wrap it up, so she stumbles onward with a chapter about psychotic fans and then, at the end, with a feeble attempt to answer the burning question: Why Barry, after more than three decades, continues to be scorned by the critics and the world at large? The burning answer? Well, we don't know, because the author never really answers it. I got to the end of this one and wondered why I had bothered.

I think some fans will like to own this because there are a few unique photographs, but beyond that it's a tedious read and, as biographies go, rather poorly written.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Why did she bother?, January 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Barry Manilow: The Biography (Hardcover)

Why did she write this book? It's clear that she does not have an ounce of respect for her subject. Aside from a few never-before-seen photos, this book was a waste of time and money. I found it odd that for the most part, the book seemed to end in the early 80's, around the same time Manilow's own autobiography ended (coincidence?), with very little mentioned about his accomplishments over the last 20 years in the last chapter. The chapter on his fans was an embarrassment to read, focusing on a few fans who seem to have lost touch with the real world. The author's sources are old magazine articles and interviews from people who have not been associated with Manilow for many years. The constant "reminders" of his sexuality became tedious, popping up several times for no apparent reason. The book also seems to go out of its way to discredit things Barry himself said in his own book with "let me tell you what REALLY happened" third-party accounts and the author's own speculations.

If you really want to read this book, wait until you find it at a yard sale.