Barry Manilow Net Worth

What is Barry Manilow's Net Worth?

Barry Manilow is an American singer and producer who has a net worth of $100 million.

Barry Manilow is one of the most successful adult contemporary artists of all time, with a career built on sweeping ballads, theatrical arrangements, and an uncanny ability to turn sentimental pop songs into enduring standards. He is best known for hits such as "Mandy," "Copacabana (At the Copa)," "Can't Smile Without You," "I Write the Songs," "Looks Like We Made It," "Weekend in New England," and "Even Now."

Manilow studied at the Juilliard School and the New York College of Music before working in television and commercial jingles, writing memorable ad tunes like "Stuck on Band-Aid" and "Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There." His big break came in the early 1970s when he became Bette Midler's pianist, arranger, and musical director, helping her develop "The Divine Miss M" persona and producing her debut album. That partnership led to his own record deal, and his 1974 single "Mandy" became his first No. 1 hit, setting off a streak of success that included "Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You," "Could It Be Magic," and "Copacabana (At the Copa)."

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, Manilow dominated adult contemporary radio and sold out arenas around the world. He released multiple platinum albums, including "Tryin' to Get the Feeling," "Even Now," and "One Voice." In addition to his pop career, he composed music for film and stage, including the musical "Harmony," and recorded tribute albums celebrating the Great American Songbook.

Despite shifting musical trends, Manilow has remained a beloved live performer with a fiercely loyal fan base. He has sold more than 85 million records worldwide, earned a Grammy, two Emmys, and a Tony Award, and established himself as one of the defining voices of American popular music.

Commercial Jingles

In the early 1960s, before achieving fame as a recording artist, Barry Manilow supported himself by writing and performing commercial jingles for major brands. At the time, he was a struggling musician living in New York City, grateful for any opportunity that allowed him to stay close to music. These advertising gigs paid modestly—typically one-time buyouts with no residuals or royalties—but they became a crucial training ground for his later pop success. As Manilow explained in an interview:

"You don't get residuals if you write it, so they just buy you out. At that point, $500 meant a lot of money — I was grateful to have it."

For instance, Manilow was paid a flat fee of just $500 to compose the now-iconic State Farm jingle "Like a Good Neighbor." Reflecting on the deal in a 2012 interview, he noted with wry amusement that the singer who performed the line "is on her third Rolls-Royce now," since, unlike him, she continues to collect performance royalties each time the jingle airs. The anecdote perfectly illustrates the irony of early advertising work: despite writing one of the most recognizable pieces of commercial music in history, Manilow earned only a modest one-time payment, while others have continued to profit from its enduring ubiquity.

Below is a list of commercial jingles penned by Barry Manilow:

• State Farm: "Like a Good Neighbor"
• Band-Aid: "Stuck on Band-Aid"
• KFC: "Grab a Bucket of Chicken"
• Pepsi: "Feelin' Free"
• McDonald's: "You Deserve a Break Today"

And while he may not have made a lot of money off the jingle, Barry would later credit this work as teaching him everything he would eventually need to know about creating pop songs:

"It was the best music college I could ever imagine."

Early Life

Barry Alan Pincus was born on June 17, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family with both Jewish and Catholic roots. Raised by his mother and grandparents in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he showed early musical talent and a fascination with the stage. After graduating from Eastern District High School in 1961, Manilow attended the City College of New York before transferring to the New York College of Music. To pay tuition, he took a part-time job in the CBS mailroom, a stroke of luck that would prove pivotal to his future career.

While working at CBS, he enrolled in night classes at the Juilliard School, where he studied musical theater and orchestration. His formal training in harmony and composition, combined with his practical exposure to television production at CBS, gave him a rare mix of classical discipline and pop accessibility—a blend that would define his career.

Early Career and Jingles

Before he became a recording star, Manilow worked steadily in advertising, television, and nightclub music. He wrote, arranged, and performed commercial jingles, an experience that sharpened his gift for memorable melodies and concise hooks. He has been associated with famous advertising music for brands including Band-Aid, State Farm, and McDonald's, although in some cases he performed or arranged jingles rather than writing every word and melody himself.

The jingle business gave Manilow steady income and valuable discipline. A commercial jingle had to communicate instantly, lodge in the listener's memory, and create a strong emotional response in a matter of seconds. Those same instincts later helped him craft and perform pop songs that were direct, dramatic, and instantly recognizable.

During this period, he also worked as a pianist, arranger, and musical director. His most important early professional relationship was with Bette Midler, whom he met while she was performing in New York bathhouses and clubs. Manilow became her pianist and musical director, helping arrange her early act and working on her first albums. Their collaboration helped launch Midler's career and gave Manilow important exposure as a musical force behind the scenes.

Breakthrough as a Recording Artist

Manilow released his debut album, "Barry Manilow," in 1973, but his breakthrough came after Clive Davis and Bell Records helped reposition one of its songs. The ballad originally titled "Brandy" was renamed "Mandy" to avoid confusion with the Looking Glass hit of the same name. Released in 1974, "Mandy" became Manilow's first No. 1 single and transformed him from a talented industry professional into a major pop star.

The success of "Mandy" was followed by a remarkable run of hits. "It's a Miracle," "Could It Be Magic," "I Write the Songs," "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again," "This One's for You," "Weekend in New England," "Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You," and "Even Now" made Manilow one of the dominant adult contemporary artists of the 1970s.

His music was lush, emotional, and theatrical. While many rock critics dismissed his work as overly sentimental, audiences responded to the sincerity and drama of his performances. Manilow's records often felt like miniature stage productions, with carefully built arrangements, sweeping choruses, and vocal performances designed to make every lyric feel personal.

"Copacabana" and Signature Songs

One of Manilow's most famous songs, "Copacabana (At the Copa)," was released in 1978. Co-written by Manilow, Jack Feldman, and Bruce Sussman, the song told the story of Lola, Tony, and Rico in a fictional nightclub tragedy set to a Latin-flavored disco-pop arrangement. It became one of his signature recordings and won a Grammy Award.

"Copacabana" stood apart from many of Manilow's ballads because it was narrative, upbeat, and theatrical in a different way. It later inspired television and stage adaptations, reinforcing Manilow's long-standing connection to musical theater. While songs like "Mandy" and "Weekend in New England" made him a master of the romantic ballad, "Copacabana" showed his ability to create a complete world inside a pop song.

Another interesting wrinkle in Manilow's catalog is "I Write the Songs." Despite its title, Manilow did not write it. The song was written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys, but Manilow's version became definitive. Its title also created a public misconception, since many casual listeners assumed it was an autobiographical statement. In reality, Manilow's greatest strength was not always writing every hit himself, but selecting, arranging, interpreting, and selling songs with maximum emotional impact.

Albums and Commercial Success

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Manilow released a string of successful albums, including "Barry Manilow II," "Tryin' to Get the Feeling," "This One's for You," "Even Now," "One Voice," and "If I Should Love Again." His albums regularly reached high chart positions, and his singles became fixtures on pop and adult contemporary radio.

Manilow also developed a reputation as a tireless live performer. His concerts combined pop music, showmanship, humor, theatrical pacing, and direct audience connection. He understood how to make large rooms feel intimate, which became one of the reasons his touring career remained strong long after radio trends changed.

As musical tastes shifted in the 1980s, Manilow moved between pop albums, swing-influenced recordings, jazz projects, show tunes, and concept albums. He never again dominated the singles charts the way he had in the 1970s, but he maintained an unusually loyal audience and continued selling records, touring, and expanding his catalog.

Las Vegas and Later Career

Manilow became especially associated with Las Vegas, where his theatrical style and loyal fan base made him a natural fit for long-running residency shows. He headlined major engagements at the Las Vegas Hilton, Paris Las Vegas, and Westgate Las Vegas, joining the tradition of superstar entertainers who turned Vegas residencies into lucrative second acts.

His Vegas productions allowed him to present his career as a full-scale musical experience, combining hits, storytelling, video, orchestration, and stagecraft. For an artist whose music had always leaned theatrical, the residency format was ideal. It also introduced him to audiences who may have known the songs but had never seen him perform live.

In the 2000s, Manilow also returned to the top of the album charts with themed projects such as "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties," "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties," and related collections. These albums highlighted his skill as an interpreter of classic material and proved that his audience remained highly engaged decades after his first breakthrough.

Songwriting, Producing, and Theater Work

In addition to his recording and performing career, Manilow has long been active as a composer, arranger, and producer. His work with Bruce Sussman has included songs, stage projects, and theatrical material. Their musical "Harmony," about the Comedian Harmonists, was a long-running passion project that went through multiple productions before reaching Broadway.

Manilow's theatrical instincts have always been central to his music. Many of his songs are structured like scenes, with characters, emotional turns, and dramatic climaxes. That sensibility made his work particularly appealing to fans of traditional pop, cabaret, and musical theater, even when pop critics were less generous.

He has also written and produced for other artists, arranged music across genres, and remained deeply involved in the construction of his own shows. His career is a reminder that his success was never based solely on his voice. It came from a complete musical skill set: arranging, pacing, song selection, melody, production, and performance.

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Lawsuits

In 1994, Barry filed a lawsuit against a Los Angeles radio station, claiming that one of their advertisements was destroying his reputation. The ad boasted that their radio station was better than the others since it did not play music by Barry Manilow. Eventually, the radio station agreed to drop the ad.

In 1997, Manilow settled another legal matter by donating $5,000 to the American Tinnitus Association. Judge Philip Espinosa sued the singer because he claimed that one of his concerts was too loud. Espinosa claimed that the music had caused "constant ringing" in his ears.

Fighting Crime

In 2006, Barry Manilow indirectly helped fight crime in Australia. Officials learned that the best way to stop gangs from congregating on the streets was to blast Manilow's music as loud as possible from 9 PM till midnight every night during the weekends.

Relationships

Barry Manilow has had relationships with both men and women in the past. His first love was his high school sweetheart, Susan Deixler, whom he married in 1964. Although Manilow has always stated that he genuinely loved Deixler, he left her after one year in order to focus fully on his musical career. Manilow would later become romantically involved with men, although he has stated that his attraction to Susan was genuine and that he didn't end the marriage because of his homosexual feelings.

In 1978, Barry started dating a TV executive named Garry Kief. This relationship continued until 2014, when the pair were finally able to marry because of the legalization of same-sex marriage in California. He had previously kept his relationship with Kief secret, as he was worried that his sexual orientation would upset fans – especially his large female audience.

Real Estate

In 1994, Barry Manilow listed his Bel-Air residence for $2.71 million. The property was built 25 years prior and features 5,000 square feet of living space. The home sits on two acres of land and also boasts a guest house, recording studio, and theater room.

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