Barbra Streisand

BORN: April 24, 1942, Brooklyn, NY

Barbra Streisand's status as one of the most successful singers of her generation is all the more remarkable not only because her popularity has been achieved in the face of a dominant musical trend -- rock & roll -- which she did not follow, but also because, despite an amazing singing voice that has enthralled practically anyone who has heard it, she has always used singing as a mere stepping stone to other careers, as a stage and film actress and as a film director.

Streisand struggled briefly as an actress and nightclub singer in New York in the early '60s before landing her first part in a Broadway show, I Can Get It For You Wholesale, in 1962. The cast album for that show and a subsequent appearance on a studio revival of Pins and Needles were her first recordings. Signed to Columbia Records, she released her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, in 1963. It became a Top Ten, gold-selling record, turning Streisand into one of the best-selling recording artists of the early '60s. But despite three successful albums by early 1964, Streisand turned her back on potentially lucrative concert bookings in favor of a starring role in the Broadway show Funny Girl, in which she appeared for more than two years. "People" from that show became her first Top Ten single, and the People album her first chart-topping LP. She turned to television in 1965 with My Name Is Barbra, the first of five network specials. In 1967, Streisand went to Hollywood to film Funny Girl, for which she would win an Academy Award. But by 1970, with her second and third films flops and her recording career flagging in the face of rock, she seemed consigned to Las Vegas before turning 30. Instead, she returned to hit-making with a Top Ten cover of Laura Nyro's "Stoney End" and a successful non-singing performance in the comedy The Owl and the Pussycat.

In the 1970s, Streisand successfully married her musical and film acting interests, first in The Way We Were, a hit film with a theme song that became her first #1 single, and then with A Star Is Born, which featured her second number one single, "Evergreen," a song she co-wrote. From that point on, every album she released sold at least a million copies. In the late '70s, she found recording success in collaboration: Her duet with Neil Diamond, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," hit number one, as did "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," a dance record sung with Donna Summer. She had her biggest selling album in 1980 with Guilty, which was written and produced by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and which contained the number one hit "Woman in Love." In 1983, Streisand's first directorial effort, Yentl, became a successful film with a Top Ten soundtrack album. In 1985, The Broadway Album returned her to the top of the charts. 1991 saw the release of Just for the Record..., a boxed set retrospective, and her second film as a director, The Prince of Tides. Streisand returned to the concert stage in 1994, resulting in the Top Ten, million-selling album The Concert. In 1996, she directed her third film, The Mirror Has Two Faces. Just for the Record... followed two years later, and in 1999 she released A Love Like Ours. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

A superstar performer of stage, TV, films, and recordings, Barbra Streisand is one of the chosen few who can boast of having a Grammy, Oscar, Tony and Emmy to her name. Born April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, Streisand harbored show business ambitions from childhood. In 1960, when she was 18, Streisand won a talent contest at The Lion, a Greenwich Village nightclub; she went on to gain some recognition on the nightclub circuit and appeared in an off-Broadway revue. In 1962 the singer made her Broadway debut in a supporting role in I Can Get It For You Wholesale; the musical wasn't very successful, but she stole the show with her singing and comedic skills, leading to a New York Critics Award and instant stardom. Streisand's role in the show also contained another perk; an introduction to co-star Elliott Gould, whom she married in 1963 (they were divorced in 1971).


Streisand went on to gain huge popularity in supper club appearances and on various television specials, particularly in a TV appearance with Judy Garland that gained the nation's attention. She won further popularity with her 1965 TV special, My Name is Barbra, and its follow-up, Color Me Barbra (1966). Streisand topped her own success in a stunning performance as the lead in the hit Broadway musical Funny Girl (1964); she repeated her portrayal of real-life entertainer Fanny Brice in the musical's film version (1968), her big screen debut, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. Meanwhile, CBS signed her to a multi-million dollar recording contract and she starred in a number of elaborate TV specials. In 1970 she was presented with a special Tony award as Broadway's "Actress of the Decade." She went on to become a successful screen actress in an up-and-down career that included starring roles in musicals, comedies, and dramas. Some of her more notable work included 1970's The Owl and the Pussycat, Peter Bogdanovich's hugely successful What's Up, Doc? (1972), and The Way We Were (1973), in which she co-starred with Robert Redford and had her first #1 single with the film's title song. In 1976, Streisand won further acclaim with A Star is Born, for which she won a Best Song Oscar.


The 1980s saw Streisand begin to take a more active role in behind the camera as a producer and director. In 1983 she directed, co-wrote, and starred in Yentl, winning a Golden Globe for her directorial efforts. Her next big onscreen hit came with 1991's adaptation of Pat Conroy's The Prince of Tides. Considered one of the most powerful and independent women in showbusiness, with five Emmys and seven Grammys to her name by 1990, Streisand continued to ride high with a sold-out concert series in 1995. In 1996, she directed The Mirror Has Two Faces, which she starred in with Jeff Bridges and Lauren Bacall. In 1998, she once again made news with her marriage to actor James Brolin. ~ All Movie Guide