Before he hit the bigtime, Manilow wrote jingles. State Farm’s “Like a Good Neighbor,” Band-Aid’s “Stuck on Band-Aid” and McDonald’s “You Deserve a Break Today” live rent free in most of our heads even today, thanks to Barry Manilow.
After a stint playing piano for Bette Midler, Manilow secured his own record deal, and he was superstar bound from there. Thirteen of his recordings rocketed to number one on the top 40, with 51 of them reaching at least the top 20. His songs were part of the pulse of the 1980s, further fueled by high octane concert performances worldwide.
In December of 2021, the hitmaker Rolling Stone dubbed “The Showman of Our Generation” is giving the Coachella Valley Gift of Love V, a five-concert series benefiting 25 desert-city charities.
For the Roman numeral impaired, that “V” means five, making this the fifth charity Christmas series the longtime Palm Springs resident has performed at The McCallum Theatre. Past holiday concerts (the last one was in 2017) have included a children’s choir, Santa Claus, and even snow, a rare occurrence here in our desert.
The Manilow Music Project, the event’s umbrella organization, was created through The Manilow Fund for Health & Hope, a nonprofit organization established to support local grassroots organizations that promote education, health and care. The fund donates to organizations that focus on cancer, AIDS, children’s issues, victims of abuse, the homeless and music education, including instrument drives across the country.
“Anyone can make a difference,” Manilow says. “Just call your local schools and ask them what they need. Get ‘em a new set of drums! Music changes a young person’s life.”
“Fanilows” (also called Maniloonies) have been following him throughout his 40 performance years. In Britain alone the Barry Manilow International Fan Club (BMFIC) has more than half a million followers, with fan sites and clubs existing all over the world. He is an Oscar shy of an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), a “club” with only 16 members.
Manilow’s song catalogue count comes in at whopping 917 and, according to Billboard, in June of 2020, his 1980s recording of “When the Good Times Come Again” worked its way up Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, making
Manilow the first artist to reach the top 20 chart from the ‘70s to the ‘20s. Even at 78, Manilow is not resting on his mountain range of laurels. He’s back in residency at the International Theater at Westgate Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, where Manilow plays to sold-out crowds and was awarded the Best of Las Vegas awards for Best Resident Performer/Headliner and Best New Show. He was also inducted into the Las Vegas Hall of Fame by Las Vegas Magazine while concurrently working on a new original album.
Spring of 2022 brings HARMONY - the true story of The Comedian Harmonists, a sextet of young men in 1930s Germany who took the world by storm until their religious composition – a mixture of Jews and Gentiles – put them on a collision course with history. The show premieres in New York at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene in the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
Manilow’s Gift of Love V will run December 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17 at the McCallum Theatre. Regular individual ticket prices range from $59.99 to $499.99 each. For those with deeper pockets, there are Premium, Gold, and Platinum options. Manilow takes no compensation for the performances.
The show is comprised of Manilow’s songs of yore and holiday classics. Past Gift of Love shows elicited collective oohs and aahs, as well as thunderous applause because this showman always delivers. Expect no less at Gift of Love V.
