Nick and Sue. This edition of the Chatterbox Redux podcast is brought to you in association with the Old Glory iconic music and sports superstore. More from them in a bit. Chatterbox. When the stars talk they talk to Nick and Sue. Welcome back to the Chatterbox Redux Podcast with Sue and Nick and today our special guest is Barry Manilow. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment. Chatterbox, the best interviews
with Nick and Sue. Chatterbox, the best news. Hi, this is Barry Manilow. I'm excited to show you my brand new album called What A Time. And now on Chatterbox, we're just lucky enough to welcome Barry Manilow. Barry, welcome. How are you? Hello, Barry. You must be really proud of your new album, What A Time. How long did it take to write the album? Yes, I am. I am so happy that I was able to make an album with these songs on it. See, I've been writing concept albums
for many years. Swing Street, Showstoppers, Here With The May Flowers, Singing With The Big Bands, greatest songs of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. And these albums took up years. And yet, I kept writing pop songs with my collaborators, knowing that I had no place to put these songs. And finally, I've found a place to put these songs. I'm so happy about it. I've always been crazy about these songs and I'm so happy that we were able to finally put them on an album. What a time.
Barry, you've been singing since the 1960s. What is the motivation to keep you writing and singing? You know, I'm just one of those guys who likes to create. I just like getting up in the morning with a purpose. I'm just that kind of a hairpin. So I create, and I like creating. I've always loved doing that. I especially love creating with somebody. Very rarely do I write a song by myself. Not that I can't. It's just much more fun having a collaborator, and I happen to have
some great collaborators. So yeah, I just keep on going. I don't know where they're gonna land, but that's not the point for me. The point is creating. And I just love creating. Your new album, What A Time, sounds like a roller coaster of emotions with different styles and songs. Well, you know, I've always done that. If you look back on the earlier albums that I made before I started doing those concept albums, I go from one style of music to the next, to the next,
to the next. You know, take a genius like Stephen Sondheim. You put on the first cut of his latest
Broadway musical. brilliant as it is when you play the second cut it's pretty much the same style as the first one and you put on the third cut and the style is pretty much the same they're brilliant brilliant but I don't do that I've never done that I go from one style of music to the next style to the next style that's what you're hearing and I just always love doing that it must feel good when the greatest young artists in the world, like Sabrina Carpenter, want to
work with you? Yes, it was great. Great feeling. But, you know, I'm always surprised when young people like her even know what I do. These days I'm actually being recognised for my music more than I've ever been recognised. Not just walking down the street, but in general. You know, I had this problem that took me to the hospital for a couple of weeks and it was really kind of scary. But people, strangers, came out of the woodwork just saying the most beautiful things.
People that I knew and many people that I didn't know. It was those people that got me through the situation that I was in. These people were so kind. and just so encouraging to me. You know, they would say, you'll make it through, don't come back too soon, we're all rooting for you. It was those people that got me through the scary situation that I was in. I'm so grateful to them. Barry, you are back in the UK for some concerts this week. Can you remember your first ever concert
in the UK? Well, you know, the first time I played in England, was somewhere in the 1970s. And I think we played the London Palladium and we sold out. It was just amazing to me that we could do that since I'd never been to Britain. But the very first show that we did, I felt as if I knew them. And I think they felt as if they knew me. But these audiences... They always felt like family to me. You were recently diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent major surgery.
How's the recovery going? The recovery has been going slow. That's what the doctors tell me. This takes a while to get your lungs back in shape. And me, I have no patients, so it's been agony. But I think I'm getting better. I think I'm slowly getting better and I thank everybody for being concerned. What would you like to say to all those fans that are there with you at the beginning? Well, of course I would say a big thank you. I wouldn't be here without them.
These are great people, I'm not kidding. I've met them and you want to have dinner with all of them. You want to sit and listen to music with them. I'm very proud to have these kinds of people calling themselves fans. I'm very proud to have them in my life. Tell us about song number one on your new album, Once Before I Go. Okay, the first song, Peter Allen and Dean Pitchford
wrote this song. Two friends of mine and Claude called me a few years ago and he said, you know, did you ever hear of a song called Once Before I Go? And I said, oh yeah, Peter played that for me. in my old apartment when I was living in New York, he said, you should do this. You should do this song. You know, I loved it then. It brought me to tears. But I never thought about recording it because when Peter showed it to me, I was too young to sing a song like this.
But when Clive reminded me of it, well, time had gone by and now it doesn't feel so wrong to sing a song like this. I was lucky because I was on the road and the great Kenny Babyface Edmonds produced this record and it's a beautiful rendition of the song. I hope Peter would have liked it, most of all I hope you do. Yeah Barry, song number two, how did the song number two come about? So the title of the album is What
A Time and it's a song about looking back. And I'm a sucker for a song about looking back with a brilliant and emotional lyric by the great John Bettis. I'm very proud of my melody, but really, it's the lyric and the idea that's the star of this song. This is the title song from the album. It's called What A Time. At song number three, Sunshine has quite a story attached to it. Now here's an interesting story. I got a phone call from my friend Gary Barlow of Take
That fame. He was working on a new original album and he asked me to listen to the album and pick one song to arrange. I love arranging music. So I picked this song called Sunshine and he released it on his album. and it's a terrific, feel -good song. From my rendition of it on my album, I played around with it and I loved what David Benson and Greg Barth held and I did with the production. Listen to this, this is called
Sunshine by Gary Barlow and myself. The next cut is called Another Life and we're calling it 2026 because I have recorded this song on this crazy... box set which included everything and everything I've ever opened my mouth to sing or to talk. Everybody was doing box sets back in those days. And this one barely made it on the box set. I've always loved it. It's a real rock and roll ballad, man. It was written by Preston Sturges and Andrew Hill. It's a real
interesting concept. because he's moved on, but she hasn't. We haven't heard a song quite like that in a long time. I think it's the very first bona fide rock ballad that I've ever done. I wish I'd played guitar. Really, it's a real bona fide rock ballad. See what you think. It's called Another Life. Old Glory is the ultimate destination for music, sports and pop culture fans. They are a family owned business founded back in 1969.
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Don't forget, CBUKRDUX. Now this is the first bona fide gospel song that Bruce and I had ever wrote. Bruce meaning my wonderful friend and collaborator, Ruth Sussman. He's so brilliant. We wrote this for Whitney Houston and had nearly made it on her last album. I've always loved it. So I took a pass at singing the lead vocal. It was such fun to sing the lead on this song, backed by a huge gospel choir. Yeah, hope you like it. What is the story behind song number
six, The Chosen One? Okay, this next song, I wrote this on a hot day in Malibu. I watched the sea and the sand from the picture window of the house that we were renting. I usually just write the melody and leave it to the geniuses that I collaborated with to write the lyrics. But this time, it came to me to write the lyrics and the music. The song is about a guy who thought he was the chosen one, but it turns out that she chooses somebody else. I think we've all
been there. I love the production of this song because it starts so easy and winds up so passionate at the end. I love songs like that. This is the chosen one. The song, One More Chance, has some amazing lines in it. Another wonderful lyric by my longtime collaborator, Bruce Susman. You know, it's very difficult for Bruce and I to write a pop song. You see, pop songs by their nature are all about I love you or I miss you.
And that's it. Because if you write anything other than I love you or I miss you, then you're writing a Broadway song. So it's difficult to write a pop song with those rules for writers like Bruce and I. So Bruce, being the genius that he is, placed the vocalist on the phone late at night. My favorite lines that he wrote on this song say, I talk to friends, ask them what to do. Why talk to friends when my best friend is you? So here is one more chance. Song
number eight. Nobody Knows My Song sounds like a very special song. OK, the next song, it's a wonderful lyric by Enoch Anderson. It's a song about wanting the world to know that you are an original, that there's only one like you. I always thought that this song would appeal to young people because they're always feeling so left out and they want to be individuals. It's kind of an uplifting song. And because of that, put this lyric to a very aggressive dance
rhythm. So listen to this. Nobody knows my song. Song number nine is a duet. with Sharon Muffy Hendrix. How did that come about? I made a demo of this song many years ago and I asked my dear friend Muffy Hendrix to do the vocal with me. Muffy has been with me on the road with me for oh my god since the very beginning. I've always loved this song but there was never any room for it on the concept albums that I was making. I'm so happy I can show this song to everybody.
It has a beautiful lyric by the late Lisa Sennett, who also wrote the lyrics to When Love is Gone on the 2AM Paradise Cafe album. She was a prolific and terrific lyricist. This is as close to a country song as I've ever gotten. I asked Muffy to sing the female part of the song since nobody could top her vocal. on that first demo. Muffy's been with me since the beginning of my career. She was there and watched my star ascend from
the very first big concert in 1974. She watched as Mandy hit the number one spot, followed by all the rest. I love Muffy. Everybody loves Muffy. I love her like a sister. So here's me and Muffy doing when somebody says goodbye. Song number 10, Don't Trouble the Water. And it's another great lyric by Nick Anderson. It comes up with some really interesting ideas for lyrics and this is one of them. It's called Don't Trouble the Water. I put it to a kind of a Calypso beat.
I've never done one of those ever and I really liked it. It was produced by my buddies David Benson and Glenn Barthel. One of the things I love about the song is the vocal bass line all through the song. You'll hear it. It's called Don't Trouble the Water. Dave Cos joins you on song number 11. Look at me now. What is the story behind that? OK, it's another wonderful lyric and concept by John Bettis. And my friend Dave Kaas makes a lovely appearance on this song.
He's so great. I'm very proud of my melody and the production is done by the multi Grammy award winning Dave Cobb. He loved this song so much that he texted me after he was done and he wrote that all the musicians loved. playing this song with all these crazy chord changes that I've written. He said, I can't wait for the world to hear this song. That's what he said. I hope
everybody likes it as much as he does. You know, I sang this song once or twice in concerts now and again, not many times, and yet I keep getting notes from the audience, people in the audience that heard me do that song. What is that song? Where can I hear it? Where can I get it, really? So I'm happy that I could put this song on the album. I really love it. For those people and for everybody. It's a really beautiful piece. I'm very proud of it. It's called Look At Me
Now. Song 12, Nobody Told Me, has quite a story to it. OK, so it's a beautiful song with a beautiful lyric by John Mattis. It's a wonderful idea for a song. It's a terrible situation that the singer finds himself in. He falls out of love with somebody and then his best friend falls in love with that girl. Wow. It's a beautiful song, and I'm very proud of it. Here, listen. Nobody told me. And last but not least, coming of age. I think this is one of Adrienne Anderson's most interesting
lyrics. It didn't take me too long to put a melody to her lyric, but it really took a long time to arrange and conceptualize this song. I found my way to the talented producer named Michael Nielsen. Together with Michael Lloyd and myself, Michael Nielsen did a wonderful job creating this rendition of the song. I love what Adrian did. Listen, this is a really interesting song. Coming of age. Barry Manilow, thanks so much for coming on Chatterbox. And you take care,
Barry. Thank you. Nick and Sue. If you're looking for the perfect gift, either for yourself or for a fellow fan, you need to check out the Old Glory iconic music and sports store. They've been the gold standard for fan merch since 1969. They carry over 300 ,000 items ranging from grateful dead hoodies to official sports team hats and other merch. And look, I know what it's like to buy a banned shirt only for it to shrink or
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merch in the game. That's CBUKRDUX. Look good, do some good to the planet and show your true colours. We've been listening to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and Nick and today our special guest was Barry Manilow. If you're interested in becoming a future guest on the Chatterbox Redux podcast or the radio show Chatterbox UK, you're welcome to submit songs, books or whatever it is you do and send us a CV, synopsis or press
release. However, we receive several thousand such press releases every week and it's impossible to reply to each one individually. Why not email us or leave a comment because we'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Our email address is nickelbum at myyahoo .com. Alternatively, you could write to us. And wherever it is you choose to listen to the Chatterbox Redux podcast, don't forget to give us a like, a follow, a favorite or whatever it is on that platform. just so you
don't miss a future episode. Sue, myself Nick and Twinkle the Tuxedo Cat, thank you very much for your company and we look forward to welcoming you again next time for another Chatterbox Redux podcast. In the meantime, take care, we thank you for your company and we catch you then. Bye bye. Barry Manilow was represented in the UK
by Heart Media London. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment Chatterbox the best interviews with Nick and Sue the best news