Monday, February 06, 2006

Barry Manilow To Debut At Number One With New CD?

Variety is reporting that Barry Manilow's new album The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties -- with covers of standards like "Unchained Melody" -- is expected to sell 150,000 copies and should debut at Number One on Wednesday's Billboard charts. Manilow last hit #1 with Barry Manilow Live in 1977. It's an almost equally big triumph for Clive Davis, who was forced out of Arista at 2000 because he was an old fuddy duddy and then begged to come back in 2003. Davis could have four albums in the Top 10 during Grammy week, including Manilow, Heather Headley's In My Mind, Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable and Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts. None of them are traditional pop acts -- Manilow should be over the hill, Headley is a Broadway singer, Foxx is a movie star and Underwood is a TV spinoff.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't forget, the Strokes lift the melody from Manilow's "Mandy" for "Razorblade.

NYCD Online said...

Didn't The Barry hit the upper reaches of the charts with "Ultimate Manilow" a couple years back? Or does that not count in Popsurfingworld because it's a compilation?

Michael in New York said...

You're right about Ultimate Manilow. My Billboard Album book is about to be updated, thank God. Billboard doesn't mention that in its chart story, though it should.

Michael in New York said...

Mrwaturi -- up next: the 60s!