Barbra Streisand mp3

Barbra Streisand (born April 24, 1942 as Barbara Joan Streisand), is a two-time Academy Award-winning American singer, theatre and film actress, composer, liberal political activist, film producer and director. She has won Oscars for Best Actress and Best Original Song as well as multiple Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, Golden Globe Awards and an honorary Tony Award. She is considered one of the most successful female artists in the history of modern entertainment.

Streisand was born Barbara Joan Streisand in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Emanuel Streisand, a grammar teacher, died when she was 15 months old; and she had a turbulent relationship with her stepfather, Louis Kind. Her mother, Diana Ida Rosen, did not encourage her daughter to pursue a show business career, opining that Barbara was not attractive enough. She was educated at Erasmus Hall High School, where she graduated fourth in her class in 1959, and she sang in the school choir with Neil Diamond. She was also friendly there with future World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. She never attended college. Streisand has said, "I hated it (Brooklyn) when I grew up, but now I realize that I draw strength from my roots." (October 17, 2006; concert in Toronto).

Barbra Streisand has recorded more than 60 albums, almost all with the Columbia Records label. Her early works in the 1960s (her debut, The Second Barbra Streisand Album, The Third Album, My Name Is Barbra, etc.) are considered classic renditions of theatre and nightclub standards, including her version of "Happy Days Are Here Again". Beginning with My Name Is Barbra her albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials.

Starting in 1969, Streisand tackled contemporary songwriters; like many talented singers of the day, she found herself a fish out of water in attempts to tackle rock, but her vocal talents prevailed and she gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented Richard Perry-produced album Stoney End in 1971. The title track, written by Laura Nyro, was a big hit for Streisand.

During the 1970s, she was also highly prominent in the pop charts, with number-one records like "The Way We Were", "Evergreen", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (with Donna Summer) and "Woman In Love"; some of these came from soundtrack records to her films.

When the 1970s ended, Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the U.S. - only Elvis Presley and The Beatles having sold more albums.

In 1982, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand was "the most influential mainstream American pop singer since Frank Sinatra."

Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album. This was an unexpected success, holding the coveted #1 Billboard position for 3 straight weeks, and being certified 3x Platinum. The album featured songs reworked by Stephen Sondheim especially for this recording, was critically acclaimed, nominated as Album of the Year and landed Streisand her 8th Grammy as Best Female Vocalist.

In 1991, a four-disc box set, entitled Just for the Record was released, spanning Streisand's entire career. It featured over 70 tracks, including live material, greatest hits, and rarities, from her early recordings up to 1991.

Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1992. However, Streisand's music career was on hold. A tour was suggested, and she debated it for two years because of her stage fright. A year later, Streisand landed another #1 Back to Broadway. This album included the duet medley I Have A Love / One Hand, One Heart with the legendary Johnny Mathis whom Streisand has publicly acknowledged as one of her favorite singers.

In September 1993, Streisand made global news, announcing her first public concert tour in 27 years. Tickets to the limited tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also hit the cover of major magazines, in anticipation of what Time magazine named, "The Music Event of the Century." The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from $50 to $1,500 - making Streisand the highest paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top grossing concert of the year, earned 5 Emmy Awards,the Peabody Award, and the taped broadcast on HBO is to-date the highest rated concert special in HBO's 30 year history.

On New Year's Eve 1999, she returned to the concert stage, giving the highest grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the last millennium, she was the number-one female singer in the US, with at least 2 # 1 albums in each decade since she had started out.

Her most recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a collection of somber holiday songs, and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous movie themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel album to their previous Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.

In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song 'Smile' alongside Tony Bennett, at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th Birthday Album, 'Duets'. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled 'Tony Bennett: An American Classic." The special aired on NBC Television November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opens the special.

In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September of 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from future paying public concerts. Her perfomance of the song 'People' was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.

In 2006, Streisand reversed the concert retirement and announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as Streisand: The Tour.

On October 09 2006, Streisand performed a concert at the Madison Square Garden, featuring a skit that made fun of President George W. Bush. When one heckler continued to yell repeated taunts during and long after the skit had ended, Streisand responded by shouting "Shut the fuck up!" She later apologized, but added that "The artist's role is to disturb." Ultimately, Streisand endured negative reaction to the sketch at only two out of her twenty concert dates. It was thought that an audience member in Fort Lauderdale threw liquid from a cup at her because of the skit, but the incident was found to be non-political. Streisand brushed the incident off.

Streisand's 20 concert tour set record-setting box office numbers. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed $92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third place record for her Oct 9th, 2006 show at Madison Square Garden, the record is held by herself, for her two shows in September 2000. She also didn't break the record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with the record being held by herself for her December 31st, 1999 show there which set the record for highest grossing concert of all time.

Taken from Wikipedia.org