Barbra Streisand - Biography

Last Editor: pam-pam69				Barbra Streisand Biography -   Name : Barbra Streisand Birthdate : April 24, 1942 Birthplace : Brooklyn, New York, USA Real Name : Barbara Joan Streisand Occupation : Singer, Actress, Producer, Director Nickname : Babs Height : 5' 5

Barbra Streisand Trivia -

She and Shirley MacLaine celebrate their joint birthday together every year. Announced engagement to James Brolin. [May 1997] Attended Bais Yakov School in Brooklyn, New York as a child. Daughter of Diana Rosen and Emmanuel Streisand. Has an older brother Sheldon Streisand and younger half-sister Rosalyn (originally Rosalind) Kind. Singer/actress/director. Mother of actor Jason Gould. Sister of Roslyn Kind. Favorite colour is white. Loves Chinese food and coffee icecream. Hates performing live. Good friends with Shirley MacLaine and Donna Karan. When she and Neil Diamond had a smash hit in 1978 with "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", it was not the first time that the Brooklyn-born superstars had sung together. While students at New York City's Erasmus High School, they both sang in the school choir. Supported Al Gore's bid for the presidency. [2000] Is a staunch Democrat. Spoke out against the nomination of former Missouri Senator John Ashcroft for Attorney General. [2001] Was the first person ever to receive a Grammy, an Emmy, an Oscar, and a Tony. She won her first Grammy in 1963, her first Emmy in 1965, her first Oscar in 1968, and her one Tony in 1970. Her Tony was a non-competitive award for Star of the Decade, which is why most people attribute this first to others (such as Rita Moreno) who won all 4 awards in competitive categories. Born at 5:08 AM EST Dated former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Mary Martin, Anne Bancroft and Carol Burnett all turned down the Broadway role of Fanny Brice before Barbra nabbed it. Singer Eydie Gormé was also considered but balked when they would not cast husband Steve Lawrence as Nicky Arnstein. Named the best selling female singer of the 20th Century. She has sold more than 68 million records, with 47 Gold, 28 Platinum and 13 Multi-Platinum. Female artist with most albums sold in U.S. Only artist to achieve Billboard #1 albums in four decades, the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s. Solo artist with longest time span between first #1 and latest #1 albums (33 years between "People" and "Higher Ground"). Artist with longest career in the Billboard Top 20 (32 years, 7 months between "People" and "I Finally Found Someone"). Second most Gold album certifications (47) {#1: Elvis Presley}. Third most top 40 albums (45) {#1: Frank Sinatra}. Fourth most top 10 albums (26) {#1: Frank Sinatra}. Fourth most number 1 albums (8) {#1: The Beatles}. Fifth top Billboard-charting artist {#1: Elvis Presley}. Highest grossing single concert, with $14,694,750, MGM Grand Garden Arena, December 31, 1999. Second single largest grossing American concert engagement, with $16.6 million, 7 peformances, Madison Square Garden, 1994 (#1: $19 million, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, 15 performances, Continental Airlines Arena, 1999) . First woman since the silent era to direct, produce, write and star in a feature film; she also sings (Yentl (1983)). Artist with Grammy nominations in the most categories -- 9. Only artist to receive Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, CableACE and Peabody awards. Only Oscar recipient for both acting and songwriting. Turned down the role of call girl Bree Daniels in Klute (1971), which won Jane Fonda an Oscar. Measurements: 36-25-36 (1960s measures), 34 1/2B-27 1/2-33 1/2 (filming The Main Event (1979)), 34B-25-36 (1995 stats). (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine). Shoe size: 8AA Bra size: 34B Panties size: 6 (from donations to charity auctions) Was once a switchboard operator. Graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. 3 December 2003 - Her invasion-of-privacy suit over aerial photos taken of her Malibu home and shown on a web site dedicated to the California coastline was thrown out of court by a California judge. She claimed it would encourage stalkers. Ranked #31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll She was voted the 54th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Received a Special Tony Award in 1970. Previously, she was nominated twice for a Tony: in 1962 as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical) for "I Can Get It for You Wholesale," and in 1964 as Best Actress (Musical) for portraying Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl," a signature role she recreated in her Oscar-winning performance in the film version of the same name, Funny Girl (1968). Godmother of Caleigh Peters

Barbra Streisand Detailed Biography -

Barbra Streisand's status as one of the most successful singers of her generation is all the more remarkable not only because her popularity has been achieved in the face of a dominant musical trend -- rock & roll -- which she did not follow; but also because, despite an amazing singing voice that has enthralled practically anyone who has heard it, she has always used singing as a mere stepping stone to other careers, as a stage and film actress and as a film director. Streisand struggled briefly as an actress and nightclub singer in New York in the early '60s before landing her first part in a Broadway show, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, in 1962. The cast album for that show and a subsequent appearance on a studio revival of Pins and Needles were her first recordings. Signed to Columbia Records, she released her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, in 1963. It became a Top Ten, gold-selling record, turning Streisand into one of the best-selling recording artists of the early '60s. But despite three successful albums by early 1964, Streisand turned her back on potentially lucrative concert bookings in favor of a starring role in the Broadway show Funny Girl, in which she appeared for more than two years. "People" from that show became her first Top Ten single, and the People album her first chart-topping LP. She turned to television in 1965 with My Name Is Barbra, the first of five network specials. In 1967, Streisand went to Hollywood to film Funny Girl, for which she would win an Academy Award. But by 1970, with her second and third films flops and her recording career flagging in the face of rock, she seemed consigned to Las Vegas before turning 30. Instead, she returned to hit-making with a Top Ten cover of Laura Nyro's "Stoney End" and a successful non-singing performance in the comedy The Owl and the Pussycat. In the 1970s, Streisand successfully married her musical and film acting interests, first in The Way We Were, a hit film with a theme song that became her first number one single; and then with A Star Is Born, which featured her second number one single, "Evergreen," a song she co-wrote. From that point on, every album she released sold at least a million copies. In the late '70s, she found recording success in collaboration: her duet with Neil Diamond, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," hit number one; as did "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," a dance record sung with Donna Summer. She had her biggest selling album in 1980 with Guilty, which was written and produced by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and contained the number one hit "Woman in Love." In 1983, Streisand's first directorial effort, Yentl, became a successful film with a Top Ten soundtrack album. In 1985, The Broadway Album returned her to the top of the charts. 1991 saw the release of Just for the Record..., a boxed set retrospective, and her second film as a director, The Prince of Tides. Streisand returned to the concert stage in 1994, resulting in the Top Ten, million-selling album The Concert. In 1996, she directed her third film, The Mirror Has Two Faces; and in 1999 she released A Love Like Ours. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide