It has been a decade since Barry Manilow last released an album of all-new material. But a few years back, the man who once wrote the songs that made the whole world sing found a brand new muse — in what some might think a highly unlikely place.
"I was watching Britney Spears being driven crazy by the paparazzi," Manilow says. "This young, beautiful, talented girl was just trying to live her life, but she was being followed around everywhere. I asked myself, is that the price of fame these days?"
Mind you, Spears is nowhere to be found on Manilow's15 Minutes, due Tuesday. Taking its title from Andy Warhol's prediction that in the future, everyone would be world-famous for that length of time, the 16-track collection instead traces the rise and fall of a fictitious pop star, one that Manilow envisioned as "a young guy, a talented writer and guitar player."
But as he worked on the song cycle with his collaborating lyricist, Enoch Anderson, Manilow discovered that this journey had roots in real-life pop history — and not just Spears'.
"I found myself in every song," Manilow says. "Around the eighth one, I realized that I was really writing about me. I never went down as far as the guy on the album does, but I did go down. I was a very unhappy guy."
Chatting in midtown Manhattan's SIR Studios, where he has rehearsed since the 1970s, Manilow seems like a fellow who has — to borrow a line from another one of his hits of yore — made it through the rain. At nearly 68 (born June 17, 1943, in Brooklyn), he looks fit and trim in a blue leather jacket over a black shirt and jeans.
"I never get fat, because I don't like eating," he quips, and exercise is limited to working with weights three times a week. "I don't need aerobics; I get enough of that when I'm on stage. And I've got my hair. I'm very lucky — 95 years old, and I've still got my hair."
Scratch past Manilow's self-deprecating humor and careful graciousness, though, and you'll find someone who seems both confident and sensitive. He has taken his lumps: For decades, his name has been synonymous with a kind of mild yet florid pop held in contempt by many rock pundits.
"I read a quote from Ethel Merman where she said, 'The hell with critics — I know when I'm good,'" Manilow says. "I agree. I know when I'm good. And this album is good. I hope they like it, I really do, but I wouldn't change a note."
‘12 lovely songs’ this is not
With a guitar hero as its central figure, 15 Minutes actually features more rock textures than much of Manilow's fare has. "I didn't want to write an album with 12 lovely songs on it," he says. "I've done that, and how could I compete with This One's for You, or Even Now, or Copacabana?"
But many of Manilow's new tunes have the ingratiating melodies and unapologetic sentimentality of those singles. Applied within a concept album, these qualities take on a decidedly theatrical feel. Asked if he ever thought of adapting 15 Minutes into a stage musical, as he did with Copacabana, Manilow says no. But he admits that the notion of crafting a narrative appealed to him.
"Writing pop songs is actually very difficult," he says. "Diane Warren can do two a day. But for me, it's agony to sit down and just write a song that says 'I miss you' or 'I love you.' But if you give me an idea, a person, a situation — that's easier."
Manilow has always considered himself a songwriter first. He calls his voice "my Achilles' heel." When record mogul Clive Davis approached him a number of years ago about doing a covers album, "I was on the fence, because I didn't want to do someone else's songs, even if they were really good. But because I'm also a producer and arranger, I thought I could find myself in that job."
The result was the successful series that launched in 2006 with The Greatest Songs of the Fifties, which entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1. A trio of albums covering the next three decades and 2010's The Greatest Love Songs of All Timefollowed.
Manilow also mentored singers on American Idol's eighth season. "I tried to get them to tell the story in the song. If someone chose I Made It Through the Rain, I'd say, 'Who are you singing this to?' The answer would be, 'The audience.' I'd say, no, who are you singing to? Your best friend? Your grandmother? God? By the time I finished, I think they were a little better."
Watching the young contestants backstage could, he admits, be more unsettling. "I remember being in a makeup chair, and this girl I had seen on the show was in the chair next to me. They had her hair up like a goddess, and they were putting more and more gloss on her lips, and she didn't look anything like the girl I'd seen before. I thought, how is she going to deal with this?"
‘Chosen career chose me’
Manilow notes that when his first chart-topping single, Mandy (not his original composition), came out in 1974, "it threw me for a loop — and that was after 10 years of writing songs for commercials and conducting and arranging for Bette Midler and other singers. I had to learn how to handle everything."
Michael Lloyd, who co-produced 15 Minutes, notes that Manilow "never thought of himself as a performer. He was thrust into the spotlight, and I think the ideas behind this album have actually been evolving for many years."
Manilow confirms this: "My chosen career chose me," he says. "I certainly wasn't going to turn down (fame); it was thrilling. But it was a challenge to keep myself grounded, to not go off into this crazy world. They were throwing everything at me — money, drugs. … Everything I wanted, I got."
He recalls "a really dark night of the soul about four years in, in 1978. I was in Florida on tour, and I had songs at No. 1, 2 and 3. I was in a rocking chair outside this place I was renting, looking up at the stars, and I realized that I was paying everyone inside — the cook, the driver, my assistant, my agent, my publicist. My friends were all gone; they didn't know where I was and I didn't know where they were."
It was several years later, after a harrowing concert in Las Vegas — Manilow won't give specifics, only saying that he realized "there was just too much pressure" — that he did take a year off.
Manilow no longer tours, but ironically, he has a regular gig in Vegas, where he's contracted to perform numerous weekends through the end of the year at the Paris Hotel, with negotiations for the future pending.
Hotel entertainment director Carlos Reynoso says Manilow is "an amazing storyteller, and he touches everyone who comes into the room. They all get glow sticks when they come in, and they're activated throughout the show. Then everyone leaves with this huge smile."
Manilow loves the arrangement. "I'm able to create a beautiful production, and the audience is very kind to me. They're my friends out there; they've always been my friends. They never call me Mr. Manilow. It's always Barry. Isn't that nice?"
Veteran music critic J.D. Considine once wrote an unflattering review of Manilow's music, "and I got handwritten letters from fans across the country, shaking their fingers at me for having written such nasty things about such a nice guy. The truth is, he's a very engaging performer; he's funny and charming and never speaks down to the audience. And he gives them what they want: tunes and a good time."
Crossword puzzles, in pen
One thing that Manilow still won't share with his admirers, or reporters, are details of his personal life. "I've opened the door to every aspect of my musical life, but that's the one area I save for myself. You can't come into my private life unless I invite you. The press has been respectful of me there — actually, I don't think they give a s---. I mean, I'm boring, boring as you can get."
Pressed to at least disclose his hobbies, he responds, "I make music. I've got my studio and that's what I do. I wish I could tell you I like tennis — I live in Palm Springs ( California) — but no. I do the New York Times crossword puzzle every Sunday, in pen, while having coffee and listening to my favorite classical radio station."
He also listens to contemporary pop music, everything from the Basement Jaxx and Foo Fighters to Lady Gaga. "I think she's doing some great work, and she seems very grounded for someone so young. I think it's because she seems to have had a great home life. She always turns it back to her sister and mother and stepmother. That's what I'm saying with my new album, that that's the sort of thing that will keep you grounded."
Manilow, who is already planning his next project — a second volume of his 1984 jazz album, 2:00 AM Paradise Café— has learned that lesson himself. And he's optimistic that the main character in 15 Minutes would eventually have done the same.
"I think there's a hopeful ending to this album," Manilow says. "(The character) says, 'I know the road to glory. Watch me fly.' And next time, maybe he won't make the same mistakes."
"I was watching Britney Spears being driven crazy by the paparazzi," Manilow says. "This young, beautiful, talented girl was just trying to live her life, but she was being followed around everywhere. I asked myself, is that the price of fame these days?"
Mind you, Spears is nowhere to be found on Manilow's15 Minutes, due Tuesday. Taking its title from Andy Warhol's prediction that in the future, everyone would be world-famous for that length of time, the 16-track collection instead traces the rise and fall of a fictitious pop star, one that Manilow envisioned as "a young guy, a talented writer and guitar player."
But as he worked on the song cycle with his collaborating lyricist, Enoch Anderson, Manilow discovered that this journey had roots in real-life pop history — and not just Spears'.
"I found myself in every song," Manilow says. "Around the eighth one, I realized that I was really writing about me. I never went down as far as the guy on the album does, but I did go down. I was a very unhappy guy."
Chatting in midtown Manhattan's SIR Studios, where he has rehearsed since the 1970s, Manilow seems like a fellow who has — to borrow a line from another one of his hits of yore — made it through the rain. At nearly 68 (born June 17, 1943, in Brooklyn), he looks fit and trim in a blue leather jacket over a black shirt and jeans.
"I never get fat, because I don't like eating," he quips, and exercise is limited to working with weights three times a week. "I don't need aerobics; I get enough of that when I'm on stage. And I've got my hair. I'm very lucky — 95 years old, and I've still got my hair."
Scratch past Manilow's self-deprecating humor and careful graciousness, though, and you'll find someone who seems both confident and sensitive. He has taken his lumps: For decades, his name has been synonymous with a kind of mild yet florid pop held in contempt by many rock pundits.
"I read a quote from Ethel Merman where she said, 'The hell with critics — I know when I'm good,'" Manilow says. "I agree. I know when I'm good. And this album is good. I hope they like it, I really do, but I wouldn't change a note."
‘12 lovely songs’ this is not
With a guitar hero as its central figure, 15 Minutes actually features more rock textures than much of Manilow's fare has. "I didn't want to write an album with 12 lovely songs on it," he says. "I've done that, and how could I compete with This One's for You, or Even Now, or Copacabana?"
But many of Manilow's new tunes have the ingratiating melodies and unapologetic sentimentality of those singles. Applied within a concept album, these qualities take on a decidedly theatrical feel. Asked if he ever thought of adapting 15 Minutes into a stage musical, as he did with Copacabana, Manilow says no. But he admits that the notion of crafting a narrative appealed to him.
"Writing pop songs is actually very difficult," he says. "Diane Warren can do two a day. But for me, it's agony to sit down and just write a song that says 'I miss you' or 'I love you.' But if you give me an idea, a person, a situation — that's easier."
Manilow has always considered himself a songwriter first. He calls his voice "my Achilles' heel." When record mogul Clive Davis approached him a number of years ago about doing a covers album, "I was on the fence, because I didn't want to do someone else's songs, even if they were really good. But because I'm also a producer and arranger, I thought I could find myself in that job."
The result was the successful series that launched in 2006 with The Greatest Songs of the Fifties, which entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1. A trio of albums covering the next three decades and 2010's The Greatest Love Songs of All Timefollowed.
Manilow also mentored singers on American Idol's eighth season. "I tried to get them to tell the story in the song. If someone chose I Made It Through the Rain, I'd say, 'Who are you singing this to?' The answer would be, 'The audience.' I'd say, no, who are you singing to? Your best friend? Your grandmother? God? By the time I finished, I think they were a little better."
Watching the young contestants backstage could, he admits, be more unsettling. "I remember being in a makeup chair, and this girl I had seen on the show was in the chair next to me. They had her hair up like a goddess, and they were putting more and more gloss on her lips, and she didn't look anything like the girl I'd seen before. I thought, how is she going to deal with this?"
‘Chosen career chose me’
Manilow notes that when his first chart-topping single, Mandy (not his original composition), came out in 1974, "it threw me for a loop — and that was after 10 years of writing songs for commercials and conducting and arranging for Bette Midler and other singers. I had to learn how to handle everything."
Manilow confirms this: "My chosen career chose me," he says. "I certainly wasn't going to turn down (fame); it was thrilling. But it was a challenge to keep myself grounded, to not go off into this crazy world. They were throwing everything at me — money, drugs. … Everything I wanted, I got."
He recalls "a really dark night of the soul about four years in, in 1978. I was in Florida on tour, and I had songs at No. 1, 2 and 3. I was in a rocking chair outside this place I was renting, looking up at the stars, and I realized that I was paying everyone inside — the cook, the driver, my assistant, my agent, my publicist. My friends were all gone; they didn't know where I was and I didn't know where they were."
It was several years later, after a harrowing concert in Las Vegas — Manilow won't give specifics, only saying that he realized "there was just too much pressure" — that he did take a year off.
Manilow no longer tours, but ironically, he has a regular gig in Vegas, where he's contracted to perform numerous weekends through the end of the year at the Paris Hotel, with negotiations for the future pending.
Hotel entertainment director Carlos Reynoso says Manilow is "an amazing storyteller, and he touches everyone who comes into the room. They all get glow sticks when they come in, and they're activated throughout the show. Then everyone leaves with this huge smile."
Manilow loves the arrangement. "I'm able to create a beautiful production, and the audience is very kind to me. They're my friends out there; they've always been my friends. They never call me Mr. Manilow. It's always Barry. Isn't that nice?"
Veteran music critic J.D. Considine once wrote an unflattering review of Manilow's music, "and I got handwritten letters from fans across the country, shaking their fingers at me for having written such nasty things about such a nice guy. The truth is, he's a very engaging performer; he's funny and charming and never speaks down to the audience. And he gives them what they want: tunes and a good time."
Crossword puzzles, in pen
One thing that Manilow still won't share with his admirers, or reporters, are details of his personal life. "I've opened the door to every aspect of my musical life, but that's the one area I save for myself. You can't come into my private life unless I invite you. The press has been respectful of me there — actually, I don't think they give a s---. I mean, I'm boring, boring as you can get."
Pressed to at least disclose his hobbies, he responds, "I make music. I've got my studio and that's what I do. I wish I could tell you I like tennis — I live in Palm Springs ( California) — but no. I do the New York Times crossword puzzle every Sunday, in pen, while having coffee and listening to my favorite classical radio station."
He also listens to contemporary pop music, everything from the Basement Jaxx and Foo Fighters to Lady Gaga. "I think she's doing some great work, and she seems very grounded for someone so young. I think it's because she seems to have had a great home life. She always turns it back to her sister and mother and stepmother. That's what I'm saying with my new album, that that's the sort of thing that will keep you grounded."
Manilow, who is already planning his next project — a second volume of his 1984 jazz album, 2:00 AM Paradise Café— has learned that lesson himself. And he's optimistic that the main character in 15 Minutes would eventually have done the same.
"I think there's a hopeful ending to this album," Manilow says. "(The character) says, 'I know the road to glory. Watch me fly.' And next time, maybe he won't make the same mistakes."
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