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More from them in a bit. Chatterbox. When the
stars talk they talk to Nick and Sue. Welcome
back to the Chatterbox Redux Podcast with Sue
and Nick and today our special guest is Barry
Manilow. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox
giving you all you need to know about musical
entertainment. Chatterbox, the best interviews
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Hi, this is Barry Manilow. I'm excited to show
you my brand new album called What A Time. And
now on Chatterbox, we're just lucky enough to
welcome Barry Manilow. Barry, welcome. How are
you? Hello, Barry. You must be really proud of
your new album, What A Time. How long did it
take to write the album? Yes, I am. I am so happy
that I was able to make an album with these songs
on it. See, I've been writing concept albums
for many years. Swing Street, Showstoppers, Here
With The May Flowers, Singing With The Big Bands,
greatest songs of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. And
these albums took up years. And yet, I kept writing
pop songs with my collaborators, knowing that
I had no place to put these songs. And finally,
I've found a place to put these songs. I'm so
happy about it. I've always been crazy about
these songs and I'm so happy that we were able
to finally put them on an album. What a time.
Barry, you've been singing since the 1960s. What
is the motivation to keep you writing and singing?
You know, I'm just one of those guys who likes
to create. I just like getting up in the morning
with a purpose. I'm just that kind of a hairpin.
So I create, and I like creating. I've always
loved doing that. I especially love creating
with somebody. Very rarely do I write a song
by myself. Not that I can't. It's just much more
fun having a collaborator, and I happen to have
some great collaborators. So yeah, I just keep
on going. I don't know where they're gonna land,
but that's not the point for me. The point is
creating. And I just love creating. Your new
album, What A Time, sounds like a roller coaster
of emotions with different styles and songs.
Well, you know, I've always done that. If you
look back on the earlier albums that I made before
I started doing those concept albums, I go from
one style of music to the next, to the next,
to the next. You know, take a genius like Stephen
Sondheim. You put on the first cut of his latest
Broadway musical. brilliant as it is when you
play the second cut it's pretty much the same
style as the first one and you put on the third
cut and the style is pretty much the same they're
brilliant brilliant but I don't do that I've
never done that I go from one style of music
to the next style to the next style that's what
you're hearing and I just always love doing that
it must feel good when the greatest young artists
in the world, like Sabrina Carpenter, want to
work with you? Yes, it was great. Great feeling.
But, you know, I'm always surprised when young
people like her even know what I do. These days
I'm actually being recognised for my music more
than I've ever been recognised. Not just walking
down the street, but in general. You know, I
had this problem that took me to the hospital
for a couple of weeks and it was really kind
of scary. But people, strangers, came out of
the woodwork just saying the most beautiful things.
People that I knew and many people that I didn't
know. It was those people that got me through
the situation that I was in. These people were
so kind. and just so encouraging to me. You know,
they would say, you'll make it through, don't
come back too soon, we're all rooting for you.
It was those people that got me through the scary
situation that I was in. I'm so grateful to them.
Barry, you are back in the UK for some concerts
this week. Can you remember your first ever concert
in the UK? Well, you know, the first time I played
in England, was somewhere in the 1970s. And I
think we played the London Palladium and we sold
out. It was just amazing to me that we could
do that since I'd never been to Britain. But
the very first show that we did, I felt as if
I knew them. And I think they felt as if they
knew me. But these audiences... They always felt
like family to me. You were recently diagnosed
with lung cancer and underwent major surgery.
How's the recovery going? The recovery has been
going slow. That's what the doctors tell me.
This takes a while to get your lungs back in
shape. And me, I have no patients, so it's been
agony. But I think I'm getting better. I think
I'm slowly getting better and I thank everybody
for being concerned. What would you like to say
to all those fans that are there with you at
the beginning? Well, of course I would say a
big thank you. I wouldn't be here without them.
These are great people, I'm not kidding. I've
met them and you want to have dinner with all
of them. You want to sit and listen to music
with them. I'm very proud to have these kinds
of people calling themselves fans. I'm very proud
to have them in my life. Tell us about song number
one on your new album, Once Before I Go. Okay,
the first song, Peter Allen and Dean Pitchford
wrote this song. Two friends of mine and Claude
called me a few years ago and he said, you know,
did you ever hear of a song called Once Before
I Go? And I said, oh yeah, Peter played that
for me. in my old apartment when I was living
in New York, he said, you should do this. You
should do this song. You know, I loved it then.
It brought me to tears. But I never thought about
recording it because when Peter showed it to
me, I was too young to sing a song like this.
But when Clive reminded me of it, well, time
had gone by and now it doesn't feel so wrong
to sing a song like this. I was lucky because
I was on the road and the great Kenny Babyface
Edmonds produced this record and it's a beautiful
rendition of the song. I hope Peter would have
liked it, most of all I hope you do. Yeah Barry,
song number two, how did the song number two
come about? So the title of the album is What
A Time and it's a song about looking back. And
I'm a sucker for a song about looking back with
a brilliant and emotional lyric by the great
John Bettis. I'm very proud of my melody, but
really, it's the lyric and the idea that's the
star of this song. This is the title song from
the album. It's called What A Time. At song number
three, Sunshine has quite a story attached to
it. Now here's an interesting story. I got a
phone call from my friend Gary Barlow of Take
That fame. He was working on a new original album
and he asked me to listen to the album and pick
one song to arrange. I love arranging music.
So I picked this song called Sunshine and he
released it on his album. and it's a terrific,
feel -good song. From my rendition of it on my
album, I played around with it and I loved what
David Benson and Greg Barth held and I did with
the production. Listen to this, this is called
Sunshine by Gary Barlow and myself. The next
cut is called Another Life and we're calling
it 2026 because I have recorded this song on
this crazy... box set which included everything
and everything I've ever opened my mouth to sing
or to talk. Everybody was doing box sets back
in those days. And this one barely made it on
the box set. I've always loved it. It's a real
rock and roll ballad, man. It was written by
Preston Sturges and Andrew Hill. It's a real
interesting concept. because he's moved on, but
she hasn't. We haven't heard a song quite like
that in a long time. I think it's the very first
bona fide rock ballad that I've ever done. I
wish I'd played guitar. Really, it's a real bona
fide rock ballad. See what you think. It's called
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Don't forget, CBUKRDUX. Now this is the first
bona fide gospel song that Bruce and I had ever
wrote. Bruce meaning my wonderful friend and
collaborator, Ruth Sussman. He's so brilliant.
We wrote this for Whitney Houston and had nearly
made it on her last album. I've always loved
it. So I took a pass at singing the lead vocal.
It was such fun to sing the lead on this song,
backed by a huge gospel choir. Yeah, hope you
like it. What is the story behind song number
six, The Chosen One? Okay, this next song, I
wrote this on a hot day in Malibu. I watched
the sea and the sand from the picture window
of the house that we were renting. I usually
just write the melody and leave it to the geniuses
that I collaborated with to write the lyrics.
But this time, it came to me to write the lyrics
and the music. The song is about a guy who thought
he was the chosen one, but it turns out that
she chooses somebody else. I think we've all
been there. I love the production of this song
because it starts so easy and winds up so passionate
at the end. I love songs like that. This is the
chosen one. The song, One More Chance, has some
amazing lines in it. Another wonderful lyric
by my longtime collaborator, Bruce Susman. You
know, it's very difficult for Bruce and I to
write a pop song. You see, pop songs by their
nature are all about I love you or I miss you.
And that's it. Because if you write anything
other than I love you or I miss you, then you're
writing a Broadway song. So it's difficult to
write a pop song with those rules for writers
like Bruce and I. So Bruce, being the genius
that he is, placed the vocalist on the phone
late at night. My favorite lines that he wrote
on this song say, I talk to friends, ask them
what to do. Why talk to friends when my best
friend is you? So here is one more chance. Song
number eight. Nobody Knows My Song sounds like
a very special song. OK, the next song, it's
a wonderful lyric by Enoch Anderson. It's a song
about wanting the world to know that you are
an original, that there's only one like you.
I always thought that this song would appeal
to young people because they're always feeling
so left out and they want to be individuals.
It's kind of an uplifting song. And because of
that, put this lyric to a very aggressive dance
rhythm. So listen to this. Nobody knows my song.
Song number nine is a duet. with Sharon Muffy
Hendrix. How did that come about? I made a demo
of this song many years ago and I asked my dear
friend Muffy Hendrix to do the vocal with me.
Muffy has been with me on the road with me for
oh my god since the very beginning. I've always
loved this song but there was never any room
for it on the concept albums that I was making.
I'm so happy I can show this song to everybody.
It has a beautiful lyric by the late Lisa Sennett,
who also wrote the lyrics to When Love is Gone
on the 2AM Paradise Cafe album. She was a prolific
and terrific lyricist. This is as close to a
country song as I've ever gotten. I asked Muffy
to sing the female part of the song since nobody
could top her vocal. on that first demo. Muffy's
been with me since the beginning of my career.
She was there and watched my star ascend from
the very first big concert in 1974. She watched
as Mandy hit the number one spot, followed by
all the rest. I love Muffy. Everybody loves Muffy.
I love her like a sister. So here's me and Muffy
doing when somebody says goodbye. Song number
10, Don't Trouble the Water. And it's another
great lyric by Nick Anderson. It comes up with
some really interesting ideas for lyrics and
this is one of them. It's called Don't Trouble
the Water. I put it to a kind of a Calypso beat.
I've never done one of those ever and I really
liked it. It was produced by my buddies David
Benson and Glenn Barthel. One of the things I
love about the song is the vocal bass line all
through the song. You'll hear it. It's called
Don't Trouble the Water. Dave Cos joins you on
song number 11. Look at me now. What is the story
behind that? OK, it's another wonderful lyric
and concept by John Bettis. And my friend Dave
Kaas makes a lovely appearance on this song.
He's so great. I'm very proud of my melody and
the production is done by the multi Grammy award
winning Dave Cobb. He loved this song so much
that he texted me after he was done and he wrote
that all the musicians loved. playing this song
with all these crazy chord changes that I've
written. He said, I can't wait for the world
to hear this song. That's what he said. I hope
everybody likes it as much as he does. You know,
I sang this song once or twice in concerts now
and again, not many times, and yet I keep getting
notes from the audience, people in the audience
that heard me do that song. What is that song?
Where can I hear it? Where can I get it, really?
So I'm happy that I could put this song on the
album. I really love it. For those people and
for everybody. It's a really beautiful piece.
I'm very proud of it. It's called Look At Me
Now. Song 12, Nobody Told Me, has quite a story
to it. OK, so it's a beautiful song with a beautiful
lyric by John Mattis. It's a wonderful idea for
a song. It's a terrible situation that the singer
finds himself in. He falls out of love with somebody
and then his best friend falls in love with that
girl. Wow. It's a beautiful song, and I'm very
proud of it. Here, listen. Nobody told me. And
last but not least, coming of age. I think this
is one of Adrienne Anderson's most interesting
lyrics. It didn't take me too long to put a melody
to her lyric, but it really took a long time
to arrange and conceptualize this song. I found
my way to the talented producer named Michael
Nielsen. Together with Michael Lloyd and myself,
Michael Nielsen did a wonderful job creating
this rendition of the song. I love what Adrian
did. Listen, this is a really interesting song.
Coming of age. Barry Manilow, thanks so much
for coming on Chatterbox. And you take care,
Barry. Thank you. Nick and Sue. If you're looking
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do some good to the planet and show your true
colours. We've been listening to the Chatterbox
Redux podcast with Sue and Nick and today our
special guest was Barry Manilow. If you're interested
in becoming a future guest on the Chatterbox
Redux podcast or the radio show Chatterbox UK,
you're welcome to submit songs, books or whatever
it is you do and send us a CV, synopsis or press
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and Twinkle the Tuxedo Cat, thank you very much
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you again next time for another Chatterbox Redux
podcast. In the meantime, take care, we thank
you for your company and we catch you then. Bye
bye. Barry Manilow was represented in the UK
by Heart Media London. This is Nick and Sue with
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