After High School he attended the Julliard School of Music and began working for CBS, first as a mail room clerk and then as a musical arranger. He later struck out on his own as a pianist and arranger for musicals and vocalists. He also worked in advertising and wrote jingles for commercials. In 1972 he accompanied Bette Midler on her infamous tour of gay bath-houses. After she landed a record contract, she retained Manilow to arrange her first two albums. Through this connection, Manilow got his own record deal, making his eponymous debut in 1973. His next album, Barry Manilow II, brought hint to national attention thanks to the No 1 hit Mandy.  After that Manilow became more and more commercially successful with each release, turning out a string of easy-going pop hits throughout the 70's including I Write the Songs, Looks like we made it, I Made it through the Rain and of course Copacabana with which he is most identified.

During the 1980's Manilow expanded into a but continued to turn out albums of "middle of the road" soft pop. As the decade wore on he began to adopt more of an "entertainer" image, following the tradition of pre-rock pop singers such as Frank Sinatra.

By the turn of the century, it might have seemed to sonic that Manilow, despite his historic aclaiev emcnts and continuing popularity- as a concert attraction, was ready to he relegated to "where are they now status. But the reality is that Manilow himself was thinking "what can I do now for an encore". At the same time, a greatest hits collection Ultimate Manilow debuted on the billboard charts at number three and has a new generation discovering his wonderful catalogue of well crafted songs.

Manilow's return to prominence has been gratifying to him, especially after many years of being derided by critics as a peddler of schmaltzy sentiment. But Manilow knows that what he's been doing is touching the hearts of his many listeners. "I stand something that most guys don't stand or honest emotion" he states.

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