Barbra Streisand

Nightclub shows

Streisand was next asked to audition at the Bon Soir nightclub, after which she was signed up at $125 a week. It became her first professional engagement in September 1960, where she was the opening act for comedian Phyllis Diller. She recalls it was the first time she had been in that kind of upscale environment: "I'd never been in a nightclub until I sang in one."

Dennen now wanted to expose Streisand to his vast record collection of female singers, including Billie Holiday, Mabel Mercer, Ethel Waters, and Édith Piaf. Streisand realized she could still become an actress by first gaining recognition as a singer. From his collection she drew the song that best defined her mission in singing: A Sleepin' Bee, with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Truman Capote for the 1954 musical House of Flowers. "The lyrics to that song gave me the three acts of a play that I longed for as an actress," Streisand said. "And Harold was one of those writers who could write these magnificent melodies. That gave me what I needed." According to biographer Christopher Nickens, hearing other great female singers benefited her style, as she began creating different emotional characters when performing, which gave her singing a greater range.

Streisand improved her stage presence when speaking to the audience between songs. She discovered that her Brooklyn-bred style of humor was received favorably. During the next six months appearing at the club, some began comparing her singing voice to famous names such as Judy Garland, Lena Horne and Fanny Brice. Her conversational ability to charm an audience with spontaneous humor during performances became more sophisticated and professional. Theater critic Leonard Harris wrote: "She's twenty; by the time she's thirty she will have rewritten the record books."

Early theatre roles and Broadway debut

Streisand accepted her first role on the New York stage in Another Evening with Harry Stoones, a satirical comedy play in which she acted and sang two solos. The show received terrible reviews and closed the next day. With the help of her new personal manager, Martin Erlichman, she had successful shows in Detroit and St. Louis. Erlichman then booked her at an even more upscale nightclub in Manhattan, the Blue Angel, where she became a bigger hit during the period from 1961 to 1962. Streisand once told Jimmy Fallon, with whom she sang a duet on the Tonight Show, that Erlichman was a "fantastic manager" and still managed her career after 50 years.

While appearing at the Blue Angel, theater director and playwright Arthur Laurents asked her to audition for a new musical comedy he was directing, I Can Get It for You Wholesale. She got the part of secretary to the lead actor businessman, played by then-unknown Elliott Gould. They fell in love during rehearsals and eventually moved into a small apartment together. The show opened on March 22, 1962, at the Shubert Theater, and received rave reviews. Her performance "stopped the show cold", wrote Nickens. Groucho Marx, while hosting the Tonight Show, told her that 20 was an "extremely young age to be a success on Broadway". Streisand received a Tony Award nomination and New York Drama Critic's prize for Best Supporting Actress. The show was recorded and made into an album.

Early television appearances

Streisand's first television appearance was on The Tonight Show, then credited to its regular host, Jack Paar. She was seen during an April 1961 episode on which Orson Bean substituted for Paar. She sang Harold Arlen's "A Sleepin' Bee". During her appearance, Phyllis Diller, also a guest on the show, called her "one of the great singing talents in the world."

Later in 1961, before she was cast in Another Evening With Harry Stoones, Streisand became a semi-regular on PM East/PM West, a talk/variety series hosted by Mike Wallace and Joyce Davidson. Some of Streisand's PM East segments survive as audio recordings, and still photos survive, but moving images do not.

In early 1962, she went into the Columbia Records studio for the cast recording of I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Also that spring, she participated in a 25th anniversary studio recording of Pins and Needles, the classic popular front musical originated in 1937 by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Reviews of both albums highlighted Streisand's performances.

In May 1962, Streisand appeared on The Garry Moore Show, where she sang "Happy Days Are Here Again" for the first time. Her sad, slow version of the 1930s upbeat Democratic Party theme song became her signature song during this early phase of her career.

Johnny Carson had her on the Tonight Show half a dozen times in 1962 and 1963, and she became a favorite of his television audience and himself personally. He described her as an "exciting new singer". During one show, she joked with Groucho Marx, who liked her style of humor.

In December 1962, Streisand made the first of a number of appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. She was later a cohost on The Mike Douglas Show, and also made an impact on a number of Bob Hope specials. Performing with her on The Ed Sullivan Show was Liberace, who became an instant fan of the young singer. Liberace invited her to Las Vegas to perform as his opening act at the Riviera Hotel. He is credited with introducing Streisand to audiences on the West Coast. The following September, during her ongoing shows at Harrah's Hotel in Lake Tahoe, she and Elliott Gould took time off to get married in Carson City, Nevada. With her career and popularity rising so quickly, she saw her marriage to Gould as a "stabilizing influence".

First albums

At age 21, Streisand signed a contract with Columbia Records that gave her full creative control, in exchange for less money. Lieberson relented and agreed to sign her. Nearly three decades later, she said:

The most important thing about that first contract – actually, the thing we held out for – was a unique clause giving me the right to choose my own material. It was the only thing I really cared about. I still received lots of pressure from the label to include some pop hits on my first album, but I held out for the songs that really meant something to me.

Streisand took advantage of this several times during her career. Columbia wanted to call her first album, in early 1963, Sweet and Saucy Streisand. She used her control to insist that it was called The Barbra Streisand Album, saying "if you saw me on TV, you could just go [to the record shop] and ask for the Barbra Streisand album." It reached the top 10 on the Billboard chart and won three Grammy Awards. The album made her the best-selling female vocalist in the country. The Second Barbra Streisand Album followed later that year, which established her as the "most exciting new personality since Elvis Presley." She ended that breakthrough year of 1963 by performing one-night concerts in Indianapolis, San Jose, Chicago, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.

Return to the stage

Streisand returned to Broadway in 1964 with an acclaimed performance as entertainer Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the Winter Garden Theatre. The show introduced two of her signature songs, "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade". Because of the musical's overnight success, she appeared on the cover of Time. In 1964, Streisand was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical but lost to Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly! Streisand received an honorary "Star of the Decade" Tony Award in 1970.

In 1966, Streisand repeated her success with Funny Girl in London's West End at the Prince of Wales Theatre. From 1965 to 1968 she appeared in her first four solo television specials, including the Emmy Award–winning My Name is Barbra.

Streisand applied for an apartment in two buildings in Manhattan but was rejected by the co-op boards of both buildings. She bought a townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1970, which was sold after ten years.

Stardom

Singing

Streisand has recorded 50 studio albums, almost all with Columbia Records. Her early works in the 1960s (her debut The Barbra Streisand Album, The Second Barbra Streisand Album, The Third Album, My Name Is Barbra, etc.) are considered classic renditions of theatre and cabaret standards, including her pensive version of the normally uptempo "Happy Days Are Here Again". She performed this in a duet with Judy Garland on The Judy Garland Show. Garland referred to her on the air as one of the last great belters. They also sang "There's No Business Like Show Business", with Ethel Merman joining them.

Beginning with My Name Is Barbra, her early albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials. Starting in 1969, she began attempting more contemporary material, but like many talented singers of the day, she found herself out of her element with rock. Her vocal talents prevailed, and she gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented Richard Perry-produced album Stoney End in 1971. The title track, written by Laura Nyro, was a major hit for Streisand.

During the 1970s, she was also highly prominent on the pop charts, with Top 10 recordings such as "The Way We Were" (US No. 1); "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" (US No. 1); "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (1979, with Donna Summer), which as of 2010 is reportedly still the most commercially successful duet, (US No. 1); "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (with Neil Diamond) (US No. 1); and "The Main Event" (US No. 3), some of which came from soundtrack recordings of her films. As the 1970s ended, Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the U.S. — only Elvis Presley and The Beatles had sold more albums. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits "Woman in Love" (which spent several weeks on top of the pop charts in the fall of 1980), "Guilty", and "What Kind of Fool".

After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots. Columbia Records objected that the songs she wanted to sing were not pop songs, but Streisand asserted the full creative control her contract gave her—'I've always had the right to sing what I want'—with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted No. 1 Billboard position for three straight weeks and being certified quadruple platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for album of the year, and handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to release another album of Broadway songs in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including "On My Own" (from Les Misérables), a medley of "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?", and "Heather on the Hill" (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), "All I Ask of You" (from The Phantom of the Opera), "Warm All Over" (from The Most Happy Fella), and an unusual solo version of "Make Our Garden Grow" (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was scrapped. Only "Warm All Over" and a reworked, lite FM-friendly version of "All I Ask of You" were ever released, the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You. At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her film directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities, and previously unreleased material.

The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit, as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance, hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. While Back to Broadway received less critical acclaim than its predecessor, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, a notable achievement for a mature artist that simultaneously displaced Janet Jackson's Janet from the top position. One of the album's highlights was a medley of "I Have A Love" / "One Hand, One Heart", a duet with Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.

In 1993, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century". In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years (discounting her Las Vegas nightclub performances between 1969 and 1972). What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Las Vegas led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets for the tour sold out in under an hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500, making Streisand the highest-paid concert performer in history at the time. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top-grossing concert of the year and earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, while the taped broadcast on HBO was the highest-rated concert special in HBO's 30-year history. Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on acting and directing duties as well as a burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin.

In 1996, Streisand released "I Finally Found Someone" as a duet with Canadian singer and songwriter Bryan Adams. The song was nominated for an Oscar, as it was part of the soundtrack of Streisand's self-directed movie The Mirror Has Two Faces. It reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was her first significant hit in almost a decade and her first Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 (and first gold single) since 1981.

In 1997, she finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely inspirational nature that also featured a duet with Céline Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and once again debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts. Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics complaining about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged "If You Ever Leave Me", a duet with Vince Gill.

On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, selling out in the first few hours, eight months before her return. At the end of the millennium, she was the number one female singer in the U.S., with at least two No. 1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A two-disc live album, Timeless: Live in Concert, was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the Timeless concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, in early 2000. In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced that she was retiring from playing public concerts. Her performance of the song "People" was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.

Streisand's subsequent albums included Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs, and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous film themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.

In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song "Smile" alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Bennett's 80th birthday album, Duets. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for Tony Bennett: An American Classic, directed by Rob Marshall. The special aired on NBC on November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opened the special.

That same year, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the 2006 Streisand concert tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with a featured stop in Sunrise, Florida, and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. Streisand's 20-concert tour set box office records. At the age of 64, she grossed $92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her show of October 9, 2006, at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999, show being the house record and highest-grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of $1,000.

Marriages and relationships

Streisand has been married twice. Her first husband was actor Elliott Gould, whom she married on September 13, 1963. They announced their separation on February 12, 1969, and divorced on July 6, 1971. They had one child, Jason Gould, who appeared as her on-screen son in The Prince of Tides.

In 1969 and 1970, Streisand dated Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

She started a relationship with hairdresser/producer Jon Peters in 1973. He went on to be her manager and producer. They broke up in 1982 during the making of Yentl but remain friends. She is the godmother of his daughters, Caleigh Peters and Skye Peters.

Streisand briefly dated film director Michael Cimino in early 1983, though they kept their relationship secret. Cimino had considered her for a role in his planned adaptation of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, which was not made.

From November 1983 to October 1987, Streisand lived with Baskin-Robbins ice cream heir Richard Baskin, who composed the lyrics to "Here We Are At Last" on her 1984 album Emotion. They remained friends after the split, and Baskin would accompany Streisand to public events in between her subsequent romances.

She dated actor Don Johnson from December 1987 until at least September 1988; they recorded a duet of "Till I Loved You".

Streisand briefly dated actors Richard Gere in 1983 and Clint Eastwood in 1989.

From 1989 to 1991, she was involved with composer James Newton Howard.

Streisand dated tennis champion Andre Agassi from 1992 to 1993. Writing about the relationship in his 2009 autobiography, Agassi said: "We agree that we're good for each other, and so what if she's twenty-eight years older? We're simpatico, and the public outcry only adds spice to our connection. It makes our friendship feel forbidden, taboo – another piece of my overall rebellion. Dating Barbra Streisand is like wearing Hot Lava."

During the early-to-mid-1990s, Streisand was in romantic relationships with several high-profile men, including newscaster Peter Jennings, and actors Liam Neeson, Jon Voight, and Peter Weller.

Her second husband is actor James Brolin, whom she married on July 1, 1998. They have no children together. Brolin has two sons from his first marriage, including actor Josh Brolin, and one daughter from his second marriage.

Streisand has several dogs; she loved her dog Samantha so much that she had her cloned.

In March 2019, Streisand apologized for her controversial statements about Michael Jackson's accusers.

Name

Streisand changed her name from "Barbara" to "Barbra" because, she said, "I hated the name, but I refused to change it." Streisand further explained: "Well, I was 18 and I wanted to be unique, but I didn't want to change my name because that was too false. You know, people were saying you could be Joanie Sands, or something like that. (My middle name is Joan.) And I said, 'No, let's see, if I take out the 'a,' it's still 'Barbara,' but it's unique." A 1967 biography with a concert program said, "the spelling of her first name is an instance of partial rebellion: she was advised to change her last name and retaliated by dropping an "a" from the first instead."

According to Streisand, her surname is pronounced with an "s" sound "like sand on the beach," not the "z" sound often used. The Apple voice digital assistant Siri originally pronounced her surname wrong, prompting Streisand to personally contact Apple CEO Tim Cook to complain about the pronunciation, which Apple soon corrected.