PLEASE CALL OFFICE FOR AVAILABILITY: 08447 707 788 DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED:
Barbra Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn) is an Academy Award-winning American singer, theatre and film actress, composer, liberal political activist, film producer and director. She has won Oscars for Best Actress and Best Original Song as well as multiple Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, Golden Globe Awards. Streisand now ranks as the top-selling female artist in U.S. history with 71 million albums sold in the USA alone, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.She is considered one of the most successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and is the only woman in the top 10 biggest selling music artists in the U.S.
Streisand was born Barbara Joan Streisand in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York to Jewish American parents. Her father, Emanuel Streisand, a grammar teacher, died when she was 15 months old; and she had a turbulent relationship with her stepfather, Louis Kind. She has a sister Roslyn Kind who was also a performer. Her mother, Diana Ida Rosen, a school secretary, did not encourage her daughter to pursue a show business career, opining that Barbara was not attractive enough. She was educated at Erasmus Hall High School, where she graduated fourth in her class in 1959, and she sang in the school choir with Neil Diamond. She was also friendly there with future World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. She never attended college. Streisand has said, "I hated it (Brooklyn) when I grew up, but now I realize that I draw strength from my roots." (October 17, 2006; concert in Toronto).
Following a music competition, Streisand became a nightclub singer while in her teens. She originally wanted to be an actress and appeared in a number of Off-Off-Broadway productions, including one with then-aspiring actress Joan Rivers, but when her boyfriend Barry Dennen helped her create a club act - first performed in a gay bar in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1960 - she achieved success as a singer. It was at this time that she shortened her first name to Barbra to make it more distinctive. In 1961 Streisand entered into a contract with Winnipeg, Manitoba's "Town and Country" Restaurant.NETQUOTEVAR:2 The performance received critical approval, but the restaurant owner was not savvy enough to understand her performances.
In 1962 Streisand first appeared on Broadway, in a small but star-making role in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962). She also signed her first recording contract that year with Columbia Records. Her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, won two Grammy Awards in 1963. Her recording success continued, and at one time, Streisand's first three albums appeared simultaneously on Billboard's pop albums Top Ten - an unusual feat considering it was at a time when rock and roll and The Beatles dominated the charts.
Jule Styne's and Bob Merrill's Funny Girl (1964), based upon the life of Fanny Brice, was fashioned for Streisand after Styne saw Streisand's I Can Get It For You Wholesale performance. Styne saw Streisand's work in the show at the invitation of producer Ray Stark's wife, who was Fanny Brice's daughter. Ironically, she was strongly opposed to the casting of Streisand, preferring Carol Burnett.
After several notable television appearances, including a legendary guest appearance on The Judy Garland Show (CBS, 1963), Streisand appeared on a number of her own television specials for CBS. The first special, My Name Is Barbra (1965), was praised by critics and fans, as were most of the subsequent specials.[citation needed] Streisand is classified as one of the most "Amazing Female Vocalists" in the 2006 edition of Women in Song.
Barbra Streisand has recorded more than 60 albums, almost all with the Columbia Records label. Possessing a singing voice of unusual power and range as well as a unique tonal quality, she has stamped nearly every song she has sung with her unique style of interpretation. Her early works in the 1960s (her debut, The Second Barbra Streisand Album, The Third Album, My Name Is Barbra, etc.) are considered classic renditions of theatre and nightclub standards, including her version of "Happy Days Are Here Again". Beginning with My Name Is Barbra her albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials.
Starting in 1969, Streisand tackled contemporary songwriters; like many talented singers of the day, she found herself a fish out of water in attempts to tackle rock, but 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 big hit for Streisand.
Streisand's 1980 album, Guilty featured the songwriting, production and vocal talents of Barry Gibb and was one of her biggest successes.
During the 1970s, she was also highly prominent in the pop charts, with number-one records like "The Way We Were", "Evergreen", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (with Donna Summer) and "Woman in Love"; some of these came from soundtrack records to her films.
When the 1970s ended, Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the U.S. - only Elvis Presley and The Beatles having sold more albums. In 1982, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand was "the most influential mainstream American pop singer since Frank Sinatra." Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album. This was an unexpected success, holding the coveted #1 Billboard position for 3 straight weeks, and being certified 3x Platinum. The album featured songs reworked by Stephen Sondheim especially for this recording, was critically acclaimed, nominated as Album of the Year and landed Streisand her 8th Grammy as Best Female Vocalist.
In 1991, a four-disc box set, entitled Just for the Record was released, spanning Streisand's entire career. It featured over 70 tracks, including live material, greatest hits, and rarities, from her early recordings up to 1991.
Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1992. However, Streisand's music career was on hold. A tour was suggested, and she debated it for two years because of her stage fright. A year later, Streisand landed another #1 Back to Broadway. This album included the duet medley I Have A Love / One Hand, One Heart with the legendary Johnny Mathis whom Streisand has publicly acknowledged as one of her favorite singers.
In September 1993, Streisand made global news, announcing her first public concert tour in 27 years. Tickets to the limited tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also hit the cover 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 $50 to $1,500 - making Streisand the highest paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top grossing concert of the year, earned five Emmy Awards,the Peabody Award, and the taped broadcast on HBO is to-date the highest rated concert special in HBO's 30 year history.
On New Year's Eve 1999, she returned to the concert stage, giving the highest grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the last millennium, she was the number one female singer in the US, with at least 2 # 1 albums in each decade since she had started out.
Her most recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a collection of somber holiday songs, and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous movie themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel album to their previous 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 Tony Bennett's 80th Birthday Album, 'Duets'. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled Tony Bennett: An American Classic. The special aired on NBC Television November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opens the special.
In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September of 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from future paying public concerts. Her performance of the song 'People' was broadcast on the Internet via America Online. In 2006, Streisand reversed the concert retirement and 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, NJ, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as Streisand: The Tour.
On October 9, 2006, Streisand performed a concert at the Madison Square Garden, featuring a skit that made fun of President George W. Bush. When one heckler continued to yell repeated taunts during and long after the skit had ended, Streisand responded by shouting "Shut the fuck up!" She later apologized, but added that "The artist's role is to disturb." Ultimately, Streisand endured negative reaction to the sketch at only two out of her twenty concert dates. It was thought that an audience member in Fort Lauderdale threw liquid from a cup at her because of the skit, but the incident was found to be non-political. Streisand brushed the incident off.
Streisand's 20 concert tour set record-setting box office numbers. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, 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 October 9, 2006 show 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 the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999 show being the house record and the highest grossing concert of all time.
Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the first time there was a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! (1969) and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).
She also starred in the original screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972), with Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974), and the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford. Her second Academy Award was for Best Original Song as composer of the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born (1976); this was the first time a woman had received this award.
Along with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969 so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was the personal Up the Sandbox (1972).
In 1970, she had a topless scene in The Owl and the Pussycat. She regretted the move and bought up all prints of the film, deleting the scene. When High Society magazine published the original photos of her bare breasts, Streisand sued them. "The Owl and the Pussycat" is also notable for it being the first Hollywood film in which a major Hollywood star uttered the word "fuck," wherein Barbra tells a carload of pestering punks to "just fuck off."
Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, writer, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991). Steven Spielberg called Yentl a masterpiece, and both won critical acclaim.
There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director.NETQUOTEVAR:6 Prince of Tides received even more nominations, including Best Picture, but, as often is the case, the director was not nominated.
In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year-long break, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, and Robert De Niro.
Streisand has been an active supporter of the Democratic Party and many of its causes, such as working against global warming, supporting gun control, getting more useful aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and questioning the motives behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She has often been chastised by the Drudge Report as well as by conservative organizations like the Media Research Center for her criticism of conservative politics and actions.
