Hey, he’s still as hip as ever
Barry Manilow has spent more than three decades making records.
Now he wants to set one straight: Reports of the demise of his hips have been greatly exaggerated.
“No matter how many press releases, no matter how many interviews I give, I say ‘No, no, no, it’s not hip replacement. I had two tears in both cartilages on both hips,’ “offers the 60-year-old singer-composer.
More specifically, says Manilow, he tore the labrum – the cartilage that acts as a buffer between bones – in each of his hips. It’s a condition usually found in athletes.
“What I do is athletic, running around on stage for 30 years,” he says. “Jumping up and down stairways, having … dancers jump on me. You add that up for 30 years, yeah, something’s gonna happen.
“This pain started to creep on me three years ago, until this last year where it was unbearable,” Manilow says. “And no matter how many doctors I went to, they all told me, ‘I guess it’s going to have to be a hip replacement.’ “
And that left him thinking his performing career could be over.
“I would have had to reinvent myself somehow,” he says, “as one of those guys who sits on a stool and plays the piano.”
Manilow surprised the music world when his latest CD, “The Greatest Songs of the Fifties,” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart.
His follow-up, “The Greatest Songs of the Sixties,” will be released Tuesday.
A visit by veteran recording industry exec Clive Davis to the hot-ticket “Manilow: Music and Passion at the Las Vegas Hilton” show last year led to the new CD series.
While a 1960s-themed sequel was a no-brainer, Manilow says, choosing the material for the new album was much harder.
“For the ‘Fifties,’ there were only about 70 cuts Clive and I were considering,” he explains. “But for the ‘Sixties,’ we had about between 250 and 270 songs I could have done.”
After running the idea by friends, he says, “There were 20 songs that kept coming up – ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,’ ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,’ ‘Blue Velvet’ … I recorded 19 songs and whittled it down to 13.”
So, is a “Greatest Songs of the Seventies” in the works?
“It all depends on how popular this one is,” Manilow says. “If we get a hit on the ‘Sixties’ like we did on the ‘Fifties,’ then I would assume we’re gonna go for the Seventies.”
Speaking of the 1970s, Tuesday also will see the release of a two-DVD package, “First & Farewell,” pairing a video of the final stop of Manilow’s 2004 tour – which he promised was his last full-blown road show – with a black-and-white recording of a rehearsal for his first solo tour in 1974.
Could the Barry Manilow of 1974 have ever conjured the Barry Manilow of 2006?
“I didn’t even think I’d get through the first tour,” he admits.
“As a matter of fact, the last thing you hear on that (first) DVD is, ‘Wish me luck.’ “
The birthday bunch
Singer Grace Slick is 67. Actor Henry Winkler is 61. Actor Harry Hamlin is 55. Actor Kevin Pollak is 49. Actress Nia Long is 36. Country singer Kassidy Osborn (SHeDAISY) is 30. Actor Tequan Richmond (“Everybody Hates Chris”) is 14.