Barry Manilow began his career by deciding to pursue his passion of working in the entertainment world.
He became interested in music after his mother, Edna, and stepfather, Willie Murphy, purchased him a piano for $800, which they paid off over five years. It turned out to be money well spent, since Barry went on to build a name for himself and have a career that lasted several decades.
Before enrolling at the New York College of Music, Barry attended City College of New York. Later, he attended the Juilliard School to study musical theater before working as a log clerk for CBS.
At that period of his life, he fell in love with Susan Deixler, his high-school sweetheart whom he married when he was just 21 years old. The marriage only lasted for around two years as he felt he wasn’t ready to settle down just yet and was too busy doing music. “I just was not ready for marriage, I was out making music every night, sowing my wild oats. I was too young, I wasn’t ready to settle down,” the singer said.
For years, before his big breakthrough, Barry wrote songs for commercials. He was lucky enough to feature in a Dr. Pepper commercial which, according to the man himself, “paid the rent for years.”
“When I lucked into writing commercials, the only way you can go up against other songwriters when you’re going for a commercial is to write the catchiest melody you can write in fifteen seconds, and if you don’t write the best one, then another songwriter will get the commercial,” Barry told WHRB.
“And my instinct is always to write catchy melodies. I just like doing it. And so when I started to do jingles, I won a lot of them because my melodies were catchier than the other guys’ melodies.”
He stated, “But it was extremely beneficial because when I found myself in the pop music industry producing pop songs, which I never really thought about doing. Pop music is all about catchy melodies, hooks, and choruses…Well, learning how to do that while composing commercials came in handy when I eventually started writing pop songs.”
For a great part of his life, Barry kept a secret which burdened him, but then, at the age of 73, he decided to share it with the world.
Barry Manilow came out as gay and revealed that he and his partner, Garry Kief, had been together for nearly 40 years. He confessed that the two got married back in 2014 at their Palm Springs estate.
The couple originally met in 1978 and began a romance some years later. They are still together today, with Garry serving as Barry’s manager and president of Barry Manilow Productions.
“I knew that this was it,” Barry said after meeting Garry for the first time. “I was one of the lucky ones, I was pretty lonely before that.”
“Garry’s the smartest guy I’ve ever met. He’s a great manager. He takes care of my career on the business level, and I take care of the music, and we plan out what we want to do together. It’s about two guys who made it through 40 years.
“Maybe [coming out] will make people feel good. Maybe it will inspire some young people that they can do it, too. [Ours] has been a very positive love story. We’re still talking to each other!”
Another thing the great musician has revealed are his numerous plastic procedures. He isn’t embarrassed to admit he went under the knife, but he doesn’t want to be known as the “Joan Rivers of guys.”
When asked how he stays young, Barry told the British morning show This Morning: “It’s luck, just blind chance. Please do not bring up the fact that I am quite elderly. It’s very depressing.
It took a lot of bravery for Barry Manilow to come out as gay at his age, but he’s glad he did.
