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