Author:
Music Inside Buzz Music Artist Special
[Edit]
|
Date Posted: 00:55:03 09/28/05 Wed
Spotlight on Regine Music Idol - Barbra Streisand
Monday, February 03, 2003 / By Joelle Jacinto
Barbra Streisand sings more in "Duets"
ANY true Barbra Streisand fan would not be caught dead without this
album. The diva's followers would be glad to know that there's a new
Streisand masterpiece on the shelves, one that can only be described
as 'a career-spanning collection featuring 19 of Barbra's classic
duets hits.'
What's more, two of those are newly recorded tracks - with Barry
Manilow entitled "I Won't Be The One To Let Go" and "All I Know
Of Love" with Josh Groban.
And it only gets better. The album also features Barbra's duet
with Frank Sinatra, "I've Got A Crush On You," for the first time
on any Barbra Streisand album. Their parts were recorded separately
for Sinatra's own "Duets" album in 1993, but when Barbra cheekily
flirted "Oh, you make me blush, Francis."
Sinatra re-recorded his part to reply to her with, "I've got
a crush, my Barbra, on you."
Barbra's "Duets" is full of such classic moments. The album
opens with her wonderful timeless duet with Judy Garland,
"Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again," and continues with
the most classic duets in the history of popular music.
Included in this collection are Barbra's memorable duets with Neil
Diamond ("You Don't Bring Me Flowers"), Ray Charles ("Crying Time"),
Kris Kristofferson ("Lost Inside of You"), Johnny Mathis ("I Have A
Love/One Hand, One Heart"), Don Johnson ("Till I Loved You"),
Donna Summer ("No More Tears"), Kim Carnes ("Make No Mistake,
He's Mine"), Barry Gibb ("Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool").
Some tracks are the unforgettable themes of her films, such as
"I Finally Found Someone" with Bryan Adams. Celine Dion performed
the Oscar-nominated "I Finally Found Someone" at the 1997 Academy
Awards, after which Barbra had said to her, "Next time, let's do one
together." The result was "Tell Him," which is inevitably included
in "Duets" as well.
The career of Barbra Streisand has been paved with bold, creative
achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts. Those who have
not really followed the star's career would be amazed at her long
list of achievements.
Aside from a remarkable recording career, "The Prince of Tides" was
the first motion picture directed by its female star ever to receive
a Best Director nomination from the Directors Guild of America as
well as seven Academy Award nominations. Barbra Streisand produced
the heralded drama in addition to directing and starring in it.
Her very first Broadway appearance in "I Can Get It For You
Wholesale" won her the New York Drama Critics Award and received a
Tony nomination. For her very first record album, "The Barbra
Streisand Album," she won two 1963 Grammy Awards, one of which was
for Album of the Year; and she was then the youngest artist to have
received that award.
For her motion picture debut in "Funny Girl," she won the 1968
Academy Award for Best Actress, the first of two Oscars.
With "Yentl" in 1983, she became the first woman ever to
produce, direct, write and star in a major motion picture.
She was honored with an Emmy Award and the distinguished
Peabody
Award for her first television special, "My Name Is Barbra,"
in 1965. The program earned a total of five Emmys. 30 years
later, "Barbra Streisand: The Concert" earned her two additional
Emmy awards.
She is the first female composer ever to win an Academy Award, this
for her song, "Evergreen," the love theme from her 1976 hit film,
"A Star Is Born."
She was nominated again in 1997 as co-composer of "I Finally
Found Someone," the love theme for her most recent film as
director/producer/star, "The Mirror Has Two Faces."
The "actress who sings," as Streisand once called herself, has
repeatedly been at the top of the record sales charts. Her recent
albums, "A Love Like Ours" (1999) and the double album, "Timeless -
Live In Concert" (2000), were both quickly certified as gold and
then platinum.
Her prior "Higher Ground" (1997) and earlier "Back To Broadway"
(1993) albums are among only a handful of recordings ever to become
Number One on the sales charts in their initial week of release and
to go platinum through their first shipping orders.
The previous "The Broadway Album" (1985) similarly enjoyed great
praise and sales, became #1 and brought her three Grammy nominations
and her eighth Grammy for Best Pop Female Vocalist.
The double-album "Barbra Streisand: The Concert" (1994) was another
recent ffort in her parade of hits. "Higher Ground" occasioned two
additional Grammy nominations.
At home in pop, show tunes, rock and ballads, she even made a
classical album titled "Classical Barbra" (1976) which was nominated
for a Grammy Award in the classical division. Of all her releases,
1980's "Guilty," Barbra's collaboration with Barry Gibb of The Bee
Gees, achieved the greatest success worldwide, selling over 20
million units and spawning several smash hit singles.
Barbra had achieved sales unequaled by any other female
recording artist. With forty-seven gold albums, she is second
in the all-time charts, ahead of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones,
exceeded only by Elvis.
Thus, she is the only artist among the top four all-time gold record
sellers who was not part of the rock & roll revolution, which has
dominated the record business for four decades.
Her twenty-eight platinum albums, according to the Recording
Industry Association of America, exceed all other female singers.
That organization also noted that she is the only female artist ever
to have achieved thirteen multi-platinum albums (including the
soundtrack for her motion picture "A Star Is Born"), earning her
eight Grammy Awards and Grammy's Lifetime Achievement and Legend
Awards in the process.
Recipient in 1995 of an Honorary Doctorate in Arts and Humanities
from Brandeis University, Barbra Streisand is a rare honoree, the
only artist to earn Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, Cable
Ace, Peabody, and the American Film Institute's Life Achievement
Award.
She is also the recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts'
National Medal of Arts and has been honored by France as a Commander
of the Order of Arts and Letters.
A remarkable body of work from a remarkable woman. She has serenaded
the world with her beautiful songs and the heavenly voice the
world knows so well.
Barbra Streisand lets the music speak, and the world always listens.
/ ------- special tribute this week on RV fans Bird Nest -->
mmJun ;-} Group co-moderator
Philippine * Music * Inside * Buzz-Stories
http://insidebuzz.tripod.com
rv_thebirdnest- ThE FaNs BiRd'S nEsT!
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/rv_thebirdnest/
[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
|
