This post will catch me up for the couple that I missed. And since I've already done one serious blog post today, this is just a fun one :)

I'm a Barry Manilow fan. For real.

The first time I listened to a Barry Manilow album, it was for a joke. But the joke was on me, because I loved it! I promptly stole all of my parents' LPs and picked up some more at op shops. I bought and read his autobiography. I got one of my LPs *signed* by Barry himself at Westfield Doncaster. And I went to one of his concerts back in 1996. I have the t-shirt to prove it. :)

Mandy was Barry Manilow's first big hit, back in 1974. I was just going to pick one video from YouTube ... but I ended up with three different versions of him performing Mandy. Because they're all so different!

This one is from 1975. See the sequins sparkle! Barry preferred to arrange music than perform it (he was Bette Midler's musical director in the early 70s), so it's interesting to observe that he is a little bit shy here :)



By 1978 though, it was a different story. He was a mega-star, and he knew it. Watch him bedazzle and work that audience!



And here he is in more recent years. The video is undated, but his outfit is very similar to what he wore during the mid-90s, when I saw him perform live. He's a confident performer, and he knows that all those middle-aged women in the audience (and me!) adore him :)