Biography of Barbra Streisand

Despite having to compete with rock singers during what is known as the "rock era," Barbra Streisand has turned out to be one of the most successful recording artists since WWII. As of the end of 1989, she had collected more platinum records than any other person, and her gold albums were exceeded only by Elvis Presley's. Streisand is also a successful actress and film director.She got her start in New York City nightclubs and in musical comedy, appearing in I Can Get It for You Wholesale on Broadway when she was signed to CBS Records (now Sony Music). She went on to a starring role in Funny Girl (she would also star in the film version), by which time she had released her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album. During the mid-'60s, Streisand's albums were consistent sellers, though only her first single, "People," made the Top Ten. That meant she appealed primarily to adults and, as the '60s wore on, the music business became increasingly youth-oriented. In addition, Streisand turned more of her attention to Hollywood, resulting in a slight fall-off in her popularity as a singer.She began to address this in the early '70s by singing more rock-oriented material, notably a Top Ten version of Laura Nyro's "Stoney End," but by the mid '70s she had found a niche as a singer of contemporary ballad material (for example, the theme song from her hit film The Way We Were). Streisand helped her own cause by co-writing the #1 hit "Evergreen" from her next film, A Star Is Born, and thereafter displayed a remarkable versatility that even found her at home in duets with disco diva Donna Summer and Bee Gee Barry Gibb. She was less active as a recording artist in the '80s, though in 1985 she scored an amazing success with The Broadway Album, probably her best-selling album ever. In 1991, she released a boxed-set retrospective, Just for the Record ..., and in 1992 was thought to be close to re-signing a lucrative deal with Sony, covering both her musical and film activities. ~ William Ruhlmann