Barry Manilow

Early life

Barry Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. He is the son of Harold Kelliher, a truck driver of Irish descent, and Edna Manilow. Barry's mother made his father change his name to Pincus, the name of a Jewish uncle of his father from the 1800s. Barry's parents divorced when he was a baby, and his mother's family allowed no further contact between Barry and his father. Barry's maternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and his paternal grandfather was Jewish, while his grandmother was a Catholic of Irish descent. His Irish roots trace back to Limerick, Ireland. Barry's grandfather had his surname changed to Manilow a few weeks before Barry's bar mitzvah.

Manilow grew up in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn and graduated in 1961 from the now-defunct Eastern District High School. In high school, he met Susan Deixler, and they later married for a short time. He enrolled in the City College of New York, where he briefly studied before entering the New York College of Music. He also worked at CBS to pay his expenses while he was a student. Afterward he studied musical theater at Juilliard Performing Arts School.

Career

1960s

In 1964, Manilow met Bro Herrod, a CBS director, who asked him to arrange some songs for a musical adaptation of the melodrama, The Drunkard. Instead, Manilow wrote an entire original score. Herrod used Manilow's composition in the Off Broadway musical, which had an eight-year run at New York's 13th Street Repertory Theatre.

During this time, Manilow began work as a commercial jingle writer and singer, which continued through the remainder of the 1960s. He performed many of the TV jingles he composed, including State Farm Insurance ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there") or Band-Aid ("I am stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me!"), for which he adopted a childlike voice and wrote the music (Donald B. Wood wrote the lyrics). His singing-only credits include commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi ("all across the nation, it's the Pepsi Generation"), McDonald's ("you deserve a break today"), and Dr Pepper. Manilow was awarded an Honorary Clio at the 50th Anniversary Clio Awards in Las Vegas in 2009 for his 1960s work as a jingle writer and singer. When accepting the award, he said he learned the most about making pop music by working for three or four years as a writer in the jingle industry.

By 1967, Manilow was the musical director for the WCBS-TV series Callback, which premiered on January 27, 1968. He next conducted and arranged for Ed Sullivan's production company, arranging a new theme for The Late Show, while writing, producing, and singing his radio and television jingles. At the same time, he and Jeanne Lucas performed as a duo for a two-season run at Julius Monk's Upstairs at the Downstairs club in New York.

By 1969, Manilow was signed by Columbia/CBS Music vice-president and recording artist Tony Orlando, who went on to co-write with and produce Manilow and a group of studio musicians under the name "Featherbed" on Columbia Pictures's newly acquired Bell Records label.

1970s

Manilow recorded and accompanied artists on the piano for auditions and performances in the first two years of the 1970s. He recorded four tracks as Featherbed, produced by Tony Orlando on Bell Records. Three of the tracks were "Morning", a ballad; "Amy", a psychedelic-influenced pop song; and an early, uptempo version of his own co-composition (with Orlando) "Could It Be Magic". The fourth tune recorded was "Rosalie Rosie," which was to be the flip side of "Could It Be Magic", but Bell Records went with "Morning" as the flip for Featherbed's second release instead. Neither of two singles released impacted the charts.

Bette Midler saw Manilow's act in 1971 and chose him as her pianist at the Continental Baths in New York City that year, and subsequently as a producer on both her debut and second record albums, The Divine Miss M (1972) and Bette Midler (1973). He also acted as her musical director on the tour mounted for her first album. In 1973, Manilow was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for his production role on The Divine Miss M at the 16th Grammy Awards. Manilow worked with Midler from 1971 to 1975.

After the Featherbed singles failed to impact on the music charts, in July 1973, Bell Records released the album Barry Manilow, which offered an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop and guitar-driven rock music, including a song called "I Am Your Child", which Manilow had composed with Marty Panzer.

Among other songs on the album were Jon Hendricks' vocalese jazz standard "Cloudburst", most successfully recorded by his group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross in 1959, and a slower-tempo version of "Could It Be Magic". The latter's music was based on Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor" and provided Donna Summer with one of her first hits. It was also covered by Take That in the 1990s, as an upbeat disco song.

In 1974, former CBS Records chief Clive Davis became temporary president of Bell with the goal of revitalizing Columbia Pictures's music division. With a $10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures' new record division, Arista, in November 1974, with Davis himself owning 20% of the venture. Bell had its final number 1 hit in January 1975 with Manilow's breakthrough 1974 release of the single "Mandy" (Bell 45,613), followed shortly by the label's final hit, as well as its final single, "Look in My Eyes Pretty Woman" by Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,620—US No. 11), after which the more successful Bell albums were reissued on Arista. The final releases using the Bell imprint have the designation "Bell Records, Distributed by Arista Records, 1776 Broadway, New York, New York 10019" around the rim of the label.

1980s

During the 1980s, Manilow topped the Adult Contemporary radio charts with songs such as "The Old Songs", "Somewhere Down the Road", "Read 'Em and Weep" (by Jim Steinman), and a remake of the 1941 Jule Styne and Frank Loesser standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You". Manilow's songs continued to receive frequent radio airplay throughout the decade. In the UK, Manilow performed five sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. In the United States, at Radio City Music Hall, his 1984 ten-night run set a box-office sales record of nearly $2 million, making him the top draw in the 52-year history of the venue. In 1980, Manilow's One Voice special, with Dionne Warwick as his guest, was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Music Direction at the 32nd Primetime Emmy Awards.

Also in 1980, a concert from Manilow's shows at London England's Wembley Arena was broadcast while he was on a world tour. Manilow released the self-titled Barry (1980), which was his first album to not reach the top ten in the United States, stopping at number 15. The album contained the top 10 hits "I Made It Through the Rain" (originally a minor hit for its writer, Gerard Kenny) and "Bermuda Triangle". The album If I Should Love Again followed in 1981, with two top 40 recordings that both hit number 1 on the AC chart—"The Old Songs" and "Somewhere Down The Road"—and a third single that became a hit in the UK, a cover of the 1965 The Four Seasons smash "Let's Hang On!". This was the first of his albums that Manilow produced without Ron Dante. Manilow's sold-out concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena aired nationally on Showtime and locally on Philadelphia's now-defunct PRISM. In 1982, a concert from his show at the Royal Albert Hall was broadcast in England. The live album and video Barry Live in Britain also came from his Royal Albert Hall shows.

On August 27, 1983, Manilow performed a landmark open-air concert at Blenheim Palace in Britain, an event that he told the audience was "one of the most exciting nights" in his life. It was the first such event ever held at that venue and was attended by an estimated 40,000 people. This concert was also taped for airing on Showtime. In December 1983, Manilow was reported to have endowed the music departments at six major universities in the United States and Canada. The endowments were part of a continuing endeavor by Manilow to recognize and encourage new musical talent.

In 1984, Manilow released 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe, a jazz/blues collection of original barroom tunes recorded in one live take in the studio. That same year, Showtime aired a documentary of Manilow recording the album with a number of jazz legends including Sarah Vaughan and Mel Tormé. In 1984 and 1985, England aired two one-hour concert specials from his National Exhibition Centre (NEC) concerts. Barry also produced more songs for Dionne Warwick 6 songs on her Finder Of Lost Love album and 1 on her Friends album both albums released in 1985. In 1985, Manilow left Arista Records for RCA Records, where he released the pop album Manilow, and began a phase of international music, as he performed songs and duets in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. The Manilow album was a complete about-face from the Paradise Cafe album, containing a number of uptempo tracks that featured synthesizers. In 1985, Japan aired a Manilow concert special where he played "Sakura" on the koto.

1990s

Manilow released a number of cover tunes during the 1990s, starting with tracks on the 1989 release Barry Manilow, and continuing with his 1990 Christmas LP Because It's Christmas. On the Christmas album, Manilow was joined by pop girl trio Exposé and together they recreated, note for note, a 1943 million-selling recording of "Jingle Bells" by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters. Manilow has credited Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne Andrews as inspiring him, perhaps most evident in his recording of "Jump, Shout Boogie". More "event" albums followed, including Showstoppers, a collection of Broadway songs (1991), Singin' with the Big Bands (1994), and a late 1970s collection Summer of '78 (1996), which included the hit "I Go Crazy", a hit for Paul Davis in 1978. The decade ended with Manilow recording a tribute to Frank Sinatra, Manilow Sings Sinatra (1998), released months after Sinatra's death.

In 1990, Japan aired National Eolia Special: Barry Manilow On Broadway where he sang the title song "Eolia", which was used as a song there in a commercial for an air conditioner company of the same name, as well as other songs from his 1989–1990 Live on Broadway tour. In the early 1990s, Manilow signed on with Don Bluth to compose the songs with lyricists Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman for three animated films. He co-wrote the Broadway-style musical scores for Thumbelina (1994) and The Pebble and the Penguin (1995). The third film, Rapunzel, was shelved after the poor performance of The Pebble and the Penguin. Manilow was to be cast as the voice of a cricket. He also composed the score and wrote two songs with Sussman for Disney Sing Along Songs: Let's Go To The Circus.

Manilow produced the 1991 album With My Lover Beside Me by legendary jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson. The record is based on lyrics left behind by famed composer Johnny Mercer that had never been set to music. Manilow was invited in 1993 by Mercer's widow to complete the songs. His own recording of "When October Goes", with lyrics by Mercer, was released as a single in 1984, from his album 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe. Further Mercer compositions were set to music by Manilow over the following years, culminating in the 1991 Nancy Wilson release. Manilow is featured in a duet on the record in the final cut "Epilogue".

On February 19, 1992, Manilow testified before the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration House Committee in support of H.R. 3204, The Audio Home Recording Act of 1991. The bill was signed into law on October 28, 1992, by President George H. W. Bush and became effective immediately. In 1993, PBS aired Barry Manilow: The Best of Me, which was taped at Wembley Arena in England earlier that year. The BBC also played a one-hour version of the same show including "The Best of Me", sung during the concert, as a bonus song or "lucky strike extra" as Manilow says, not seen in The Complete Collection and Then Some..., the video release of the show, but the song was included on the DVD of the same title, with Manilow seated in front of a black curtain, lip-syncing to the recording. He performed 14 concerts as part of an extended tour of Germany, Austria, and Denmark. Manilow branched out in another direction and, with Sussman, launched Copacabana, a musical play based on previous Manilow-related adaptations. They wrote new songs and it ran for two years in London's West End, and a tour company formed.

2000s

In 2000, Manilow had two specials, Manilow Country and Manilow Live!, taped over two consecutive days at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, Tennessee. On April 11, 2000, The Nashville Network (TNN) aired the two-hour Manilow Country, which featured country stars Trisha Yearwood, Neal McCoy, Deana Carter, Jo Dee Messina, Lorrie Morgan, Kevin Sharp, Lila McCann, Gillian Welch, and Jaci Velasquez singing their favorite Manilow hits with a "country" twist; Manilow also performed. This special was TNN's first High Definition (HD) broadcast and became one of TNN's highest rated concert specials.

In June 2000, DirecTV aired the two-hour concert special Manilow Live! where Manilow had his band, a 30-piece orchestra, and a choir. This HDTV special documented the concert tour at the time with the greatest hits of his career and was also released to video. Also that year, he worked with Monica Mancini on her Concord album The Dreams of Johnny Mercer, which included seven songs of Mercer's lyrics set to Manilow's music. Meanwhile, Manilow's record contract with Arista Records was not renewed due to new management. He then got a contract at Concord Records, a jazz-oriented label in California, and started work on the concept album Here at the Mayflower. The album was another eclectic mix of styles, almost entirely composed and produced by Manilow himself.

While Manilow was at Concord Records, the Barry Manilow Scholarship was awarded for four consecutive years (2002–2005) to the six highest-achieving students to reward excellence in the art and craft of lyric writing. The UCLA Extension course "Writing Lyrics That Succeed and Endure" was taught by long-time Manilow collaborator Marty Panzer, and each student received three additional "master class" advanced sessions as well as a three-hour private, one-on-one session with Panzer. Scholarship recipients were selected by the instructor based on progress made within the course, lyric writing ability, and the instructor's assessment of real potential in the field of songwriting. In February 2002, Manilow returned to the charts when Arista released a greatest hits album, Ultimate Manilow. On May 18, 2002, he returned to CBS with Ultimate Manilow, his first special on the network since his Big Fun on Swing Street special in 1988. The special was filmed in the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, and was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Music Direction at the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Produced by Manilow, Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook was released on September 30, 2003. It was the first time the pair had worked together in more than twenty years. The album went gold, and they collaborated again in 2005 on Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook. On December 3, 2003, A&E aired A Barry Manilow Christmas: Live by Request, his second of two concerts for the series. The two-hour special had Manilow taking requests for Christmas songs performed live with a band and an orchestra. Manilow told the audience that he was what Clay Aiken was going to look like in thirty years, acknowledging an ongoing comparison of the two. Also on the special were guests Cyndi Lauper, José Feliciano, and Midler (who, busy preparing her own tour in Los Angeles, appeared only in a pre-taped segment).

2010s

On January 26, 2010, Manilow released The Greatest Love Songs of All Time, and, in December of that year, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

He opened his new show "Manilow Paris Las Vegas" at the Paris Hotel & Casino at Las Vegas in March 2010.

On December 11, 2010, Manilow performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway.

Manilow completed work on his new album, 15 Minutes, in March 2011, with his official Facebook page announcing that he had completed putting "finishing touches" to the album on March 16, 2011.

On March 13, 2011, Manilow appeared at the 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, singing "Copacabana" with the BBC Concert Orchestra and also singing with hit West End star, Kerry Ellis.

Since March 2011, he has hosted They Write the Songs, a documentary series for BBC Radio 2 in which he looks at the life and work of popular composers.

In May 2011, Manilow recorded his concerts at the O2 Arena in London, for CD and DVD release in early 2012.

In a June 2011 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Manilow said his new album was influenced by Britney Spears; the album is about the pleasures and pitfalls of fame. It was influenced directly by Spears's personal struggles in 2007. 15 Minutes debuted at number 7 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Album Chart. The first single from 15 Minutes, "Bring on Tomorrow", entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 200 Singles Chart's top 40, becoming Manilow's 47th top 40 hit.

In November 2011, Manilow recorded his shows at the Paris Las Vegas for an upcoming TV special and DVD release.

Manilow concluded his two-year residency at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas on December 11, 2012. This also ended his seven-year stay in Las Vegas.

2020s

On February 14, 2020, Manilow released Night Songs II, which debuted at No. 32 on the Billboard 200, marking his sixth consecutive decade of top 40-charting albums beginning with Barry Manilow II in 1975.

In April 2020, Manilow scored his 36th top-20 Billboard Adult Contemporary chart hit with "When the Good Times Come Again", which peaked at number 12 the week of July 2. The song was originally recorded for his self-titled 1989 album and never released as a single. A fan made a lyric video for the song when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Manilow found the video and posted it on his Facebook page, leading his management company to send the song to radio stations for airplay.

In August 2020, Manilow sold his song catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Fund.

In 2021, Manilow started his The Hits Come Home residency at the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas.

On December 11, 2023, NBC aired the Christmas special Barry Manilow's A Very Barry Christmas, featuring Manilow.

A fourteen-night residency at the London Palladium in May and June 2024 has been billed as the "last, last UK concerts".

On September 23, 2025, Manilow released the Peter Allen/Dean Pitchford-penned song "Once Before I Go," a single from his forthcoming album What a Time.

Personal life

Manilow married his high-school sweetheart, Susan Deixler, in 1964. He later said he was in love with her but his passion for a music career and lack of maturity strained their relationship. He left the woman he considered "the perfect wife" after one year of marriage in pursuit of a "wondrous musical adventure". Manilow credits the response he received from Playboy in December 1965 for the courage to leave everything behind and begin a career in music: I asked a lot of people what I should do, and they all said different things. Finally, I was so desperate, I wrote to the Playboy Advisor. Deixler had the marriage annulled in 1966. After coming out as gay in 2017, Manilow said that he had been in love with Deixler and the marriage's failure was not related to sexual orientation.

In 1978, Manilow began a relationship with TV executive Garry Kief, who soon became his manager. They married in 2014, after same-sex marriage became legal in California. They kept the relationship and his sexual orientation private until the marriage made headlines in 2015. The media reported it after a friend of Manilow's, Suzanne Somers, disclosed that the two men had privately exchanged vows at Manilow's home in Palm Springs, California. No official paperwork was filed, but it was reported that the couple exchanged wedding bands as a sign of their dedication. Manilow officially came out as gay in April 2017, telling People that he was pleasantly surprised to find that his mostly female fan base was supportive of the marriage; he had feared the news would disappoint them.

Manilow has a stepdaughter through his husband's previous marriage and an adopted granddaughter.

Health

On December 22, 2025, Manilow, a cigarette smoker from age 9 to age 39, announced a diagnosis of early stage lung cancer, for which he would undergo surgery.

Following his successful lung cancer surgery, Manilow is facing significant vocal challenges that threaten his singing career. Despite being cancer-free and intending to proceed with a summer tour, Manilow revealed in a June 2026 interview that his voice has not recovered as expected.

Philanthropy and fundraising

After Hurricane Hugo in 1989 affected the Charleston, South Carolina area Manilow held a benefit concert at the University of South Carolina's Carolina Coliseum in Columbia where the $10 tickets sold out in three hours, and asked concertgoers to bring canned food to be donated to residents in disaster areas. Before his concert, Mayor T. Patton Adams declared the day "Barry Manilow Day." Manilow presented The Red Cross and The Salvation Army with checks of $42,500 each.

On January 15, 1994, three hours before showtime, Manilow canceled a performance at an Ethnic Pride and Heritage Festival hosted at the Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Benefactors included the Children's Hospital of New Jersey in Newark, the Community Foundation of New Jersey as well as United Hospitals Medical Center Foundation and Newark Museum in Newark during the pre-inaugural activities for then New Jersey Governor-elect Christie Whitman. Manilow said that he was specifically told in writing that the concert would be part of a nonpartisan event.

To help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, every dollar his fans donated to the American Red Cross through the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope website Manilow personally matched, and the fund itself also matched, tripling the original donation. The fund delivered $150,000, raised in 48 hours, to the American Red Cross.

On October 27, 2011, Manilow visited Joplin, Missouri, a little more than five months after a tornado destroyed one-third of that city, including its only high school. His Manilow Music Project made a contribution of $300,000 to restore the musical program and instruments that were lost.

Litigation

On February 8, 1994, Manilow sued Los Angeles radio station KBIG (104.3 FM), seeking $13 million in damages and $15 million in punitive damages, claiming that one of their advertisements was causing irreparable damage to his professional reputation. The ad, a thirty-second spot that began airing on January 31, suggested that people listen to KBIG because it does not play Manilow's music. The lawsuit was filed in Orange County Superior Court by Los Angeles attorney C. Tucker Cheadle. Two days later, KBIG agreed to drop the commercial, but Cheadle stopped short of agreeing to withdraw the $28 million lawsuit.

Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Philip Espinosa sued Manilow over the audio volume of a December 23, 1993, concert he attended with his wife. The judge said in the lawsuit he has had a constant ringing in his ears (tinnitus) and nearly blew his ears out. Espinosa sought unspecified damages, and the trial was set for September 23, 1997. The suit also named Manilow's production company, an Arizona concert promoter, and the city of Tucson, Arizona, which runs the convention center where the concert was held. In July 1997, to settle the suit it was reported that Manilow donated $5,000 to the American Tinnitus Association.

In media

In 1979, Manilow's musical style was satirized in the song "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow" performed by Ray Stevens. The song leads off with a musical phrase resembling the opening of "I Write the Songs" and also references "Mandy", "Copacabana", "Can't Smile Without You", "Weekend in New England", "Could It Be Magic" and "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" in a storyline where the singer details a litany of comedically unfortunate events in his life, concluding that he needs Manilow to sing one of his more melancholy and wistful songs to comfort him, as several of Manilow's biggest hits have storylines about suffering and misfortune.

The song reached number 49 on the US Billboard Hot 100 number 11 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It spent a total of eight weeks on Hot 100 chart and also charted in Great Britain, Canada, and Australia. The single's cover art is a spoof of Manilow's album Barry Manilow II, and the song's album spoofs title and cover art of Manilow's Tryin' to Get the Feeling.

In 1989, an American tabloid claimed that Manilow was engaged to porn star Robin Byrd. On a June 22, 1989, appearance on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson asked Manilow about the story. Manilow replied that he was just friends with Byrd, an innocent picture had been taken, and that there was no truth to the engagement. After he met Byrd, his band gave him a videotape of Debbie Does Dallas as a present for his birthday. Manilow told Carson that he could not watch his friend doing what she does in that movie.

Manilow made headlines in June 2006 when Australian officials blasted his music from 9:00 p.m. until midnight every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to deter gangs of youths from congregating in a residential area late at night. In February 2022, New Zealand authorities employed a similar tactic against protesters who camped outside the country's parliament building to protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Tours

Headlining

Opening act

Freddie Hubbard in Concert (for Freddie Hubbard) (1974)

No Way to Treat a Lady Tour (for Helen Reddy) (1975)

An Evening with Roberta Flack (for Roberta Flack) (1975)

Residency shows

Awards

1977 Emmy for Outstanding Special – Comedy, Variety or Music – The Barry Manilow Special

1977 Special Tony Award – Barry Manilow on Broadway

1978 American Music Awards – Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist

1978 Grammy – Copacabana Best Pop Male Vocal Performance

1979 American Music Awards – Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist

1980 American Music Awards – Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist

1980 Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

2002 Songwriter's Hall of Fame

2003 Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award

2006 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Barry Manilow: Music And Passion

2007 RIAA – Plaque commemorating worldwide record sales of 75 million

2009 Clio Awards – Honorary Clio Award for 1960s work as a jingle writer and singer at the 50th Anniversary CLIO Awards in Las Vegas.

2026 American Advertising Federation (AAF) – President's Award for Special Lifetime Contributions to Advertising at 75th Anniversary Awards Gala.

Selected TV and movie appearances

Tonight Show – November 17, 1972 (with Bette Midler)

Tonight Show – September 12, 1973 (with Bette Midler)

The Dick Cavett Show – September 19, 1974 (with Bette Davis)

Donny & Marie on October 23, 1977

ABC special The Barry Manilow Special on March 2, 1977

ABC special The Second Barry Manilow Special on February 24, 1978

ABC special The Stars Salute Israel at 30 on May 8, 1978

ABC special The Third Barry Manilow Special on May 23, 1979

ABC special Barry Manilow: One Voice on May 19, 1980

May 8, 1982, Goldie & Kids a special with hostess Goldie Hawn where he acted in skits and sang "One Voice", "Sunday Father", and "I Am Your Child".

Tonight Show – November 29, 1985, singing his new hit "In Search of Love"

In 1985 Barry wrote and starred in the television movie Copacabana, a musical which was inspired by his 1978 song "Copacabana"

On September 17, 1987, he appeared in the star-studded CBS special We The People 200: The Constitutional Gala taped at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to debut his song "Let Freedom Ring".

CBS special Barry Manilow: Big Fun on Swing Street on March 7, 1988