STREISAND

Barbra Streisand, singer, songwriter, actress, and movie producer and director, has been one of the most popular and influential entertainers of the late 20th century. Barbara Joan Streisand, born on April 24, 1942, began her musical career at an early age. When someone said her last name sounded “too Jewish,” she changed the spelling of her first name.

In 1961, Streisand landed her first job as a Greenwich Village nightclub singer. Then, while headlining at the Blue Angel, she was discovered by Broadway producer David Merrick. He immediately signed her for a supporting role in the musical comedy I Can Get It for You Wholesale, which opened in March 1962. Her performance in that show brought her a recording contract with Columbia Records, and her first release, The Barbra Streisand Album, became 1963’s top-selling album by an American female performer. Her second and third albums also both sold very well. By the mid-1960s she had won three Grammy Awards for the best female pop vocalist.

Throughout the decade, she continued her rise to superstardom with U.S. national television guest appearances, recordings, Broadway musicals, and eventually films. She opened on Broadway in March 1964 in Funny Girl, a musical comedy based on the life of Fanny Brice, and in 1968 she starred in the film version, for which she won her first Oscar. She played the lead in the film version of Hello Dolly! which was released in 1969, and in the same year she received an honorary Tony Award as “star of the decade” for her stage work. In the 1970s, Streisand moved more toward film work and recording. Her biggest success was the film The Way We Were, the title song from which became her first movie hit. In 1976 she won her second Oscar for the song “Evergreen,” from the film A Star Is Born.

Streisand continued her dual careers in both the 1980s and the 1990s, releasing movies such as Yentl, accompanied by a platinum soundtrack, and the late 1985 album The Broadway Album, a collection of songs from Broadway musicals, which won the 1986 Grammy Award for best pop vocal performance.

Although Barbra Streisand rarely performed on the concert stage, there were few who could equal her there.

Throughout her musical career, Streisand has demonstrated mastery of a variety of singing styles. This diversity and her striking vocal technique, with its highly individual use of timbre and vibrato, mark her as one of the outstanding interpreters of popular songs. While Streisand continued her dual acting and singing careers throughout the 1990s, she still shied away from live performances except for very rare or special occasions, such as the 1992 Inauguration of President Bill Clinton.

Judi Gerber

BARBRA

STREISAND