Barry Manilow Slowing Down As Career Heats Up

It ain't easy being a pop star when you're 63 years old. Barry Manilow is enjoying one of the biggest hits of his career with his album devoted to covers of classic songs from the Fifties, he's got lucrative gigs in Las Vegas, his new album (including songs from the Sixties -- clever, that) comes out in mid-October and he's performing on the Emmys Sunday August 27. But the poor guy had to cancel some show out of pain -- somewhere amidst all that activity he has to have surgery to replace torn cartilage in both hips. (That is SO not rock n roll.) But here's why I linked to this article. Yesterday, an article claiming Charley Pride had sold 70 million "records" (ie. singles, albums, eps, etc.) seemed quite a stretch to me since he'd only had 10 gold records and no platinum. But the BBC says Manilow has sold 70 million records worldwide as well. (Maybe they just throw that figure in for every artist.) Does it seem likely? Much more so. Manilow has 10 gold albums, 6 platinum albums, 2 double platinum albums and 3 triple platinum albums. That's 24 million albums in the US alone. Add in about 30 or so hit singles, overseas sales and you can see how he is much closer to 70 million records than Pride.