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Barbra Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942) 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 has ranked as the best selling female album artist of all-time in the United States, according to the RIAA, for over thirty years.[1]. She is considered one of the most successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and is the only woman on the list of best selling album recording artists in the US, with RIAA-certified shipments of over 71 million records.
Streisand was born named 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,[2] 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.[1] 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.
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.
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.[3]
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 4x 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.[4] 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."[5] 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.[6]
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. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold upwards of 1,000 dollars.
A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 in May of 2007 as "Live Steisand 2006," her 29th Top 10 album.
In summer of 2007 Streisand will perform live in Europe for the first time since 1994. The first concert will take place in Vienna (June 21), then she will take to Paris (June 26), Nice (July 10) and Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 & 25), the only European city where Streisand had already performed before. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and £1,500.00 and the Dublin date between €200,00 and €885,00.[7]
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 requested that director Herbert Ross delete the scene from the movie. Years later, a magazine called High Society magazine had obtained the original negative from the film which featured the topless scene. When they published the photos of her bare breasts, Streisand took action to remove the magazine from the stands. "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."
From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman woman on the list.
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.[8] 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 long 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. Barbra Streisand performed both at Lyndon B. Johnson's (1965) and Bill Clinton's (1993) inauguration galas.
Over the years, Streisand has been the recipient of an award in every medium she has worked in. Among her awards are:
In 1995, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. As of 2007, her US album sales rank her as the top-selling female album artist in the US.
Streisand remains one of only a few individuals (including Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, Liza Minnelli, and Whoopi Goldberg) to have won an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy.
She will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
Barbra Streisand has been married twice. Her first husband was actor Elliott Gould to whom she was married from 1963 to 1971. They have one child, Jason Gould. Her second husband is actor James Brolin, whom she married on July 2, 1998. The wedding was reported regularly in the celebrity gossip media. While they have no children together, Brolin has two children from his first marriage and one child from his second marriage. Both of her husbands starred in the 1970s conspiracy thriller Capricorn One.
Streisand has also allegedly dated Ryan O'Neal, Tom Smothers, Warren Beatty, Jon Voight, Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau, producer Jon Peters, Don Johnson, Steve McQueen, Andre Agassi, knowledge management guru Larry Prusak (in high school), and news anchor Peter Jennings.
She has two Goddaughters, Caleigh Peters and Skye Peters, the daughters of Jon Peters.
Streisand's iconic status has been parodied on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live in the recurring skit Coffee Talk where character Linda Richman, played by Mike Myers, hosts a talk show dedicated to, among other things, the adoration of Streisand. Barbra Streisand, in turn made an unannounced guest appearance on the show, surprising Richman (and Myers) as well as guests (played by Madonna, and Roseanne Barr).
Streisand has been repeatedly satirized in the animated series South Park, most notably the episode "Mecha-Streisand," where she is portrayed as self-important and turns into a robotic dinosaur in order to conquer the universe, before being defeated by Robert Smith of The Cure. On another occasion, the Halloween episode "Spookyfish" was promoted for a week as being done in "Spooky-Vision," which turned out to mean that Streisand's head was in the four corners of the screen. In the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, her name is used as a powerful curse word (a gag repeated in "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants"). In interviews, Matt Stone and Trey Parker have claimed to believe she is pure evil, and that of all the celebrities they mock, she is the only one they truly hate.
Streisand is the favorite of the character Howard Brackett, played by Kevin Kline, in the film IN & OUT (1997), who finally admits to being gay while standing at the altar. His unfortunate bride-to-be, played by Joan Cusack, cries out in frustration to family and friends present, "Do you know how many times I've had to sit through FUNNY LADY?!!!" In a later scene, the now "out" Howard is taunted by a friend during an argument at a bar with a jeering, "The studio thought that Barbra was too ol-l-ld to play YENTL." Barbra's signature tune, "People," is played by a school orchestra in honor of teacher Howard as the story wraps. This and similar references refer to her popularity among gays.
Streisand is mentioned many times in Fran Drescher's The Nanny, where Fran Drescher played Fran Fine who, along with her entire family, is obsessed with the performer.
Streisand is referenced in at least two episodes of The Simpsons. Outside Springfield Elementary School, announcing Lisa's jazz concert, is an advertisement for a Streisand concert in the same venue for the following day, with tickets still on sale. In another episode, after Marge undergoes therapy, she informs the therapist that whenever she hears the wind blow, she'll hear it saying "Lowenstein", Streisand's therapist character in The Prince of Tides, despite Marge's therapist having a completely different name.