But Barbara Joan Streisand, the granddaughter of Jewish emigrants from Galicia, painted it on them. In the end, she changed the ideal of female beauty. She held in her arms the greatest elegance of her time. And it attracted incredible crowds of fans to cinemas and concert halls.
An unexpected phenomenon
When Barbra Streisand looks back on her six-decade career, she can’t help but smile. Let’s just recap it: to date, she has sold 150 million albums, making her one of the most successful singers in the history of American music.
According to the Billboard magazine, she is also the best singer in history.
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At home on the shelf, she has two Oscars, ten Grammy Awards (including Lifetime Achievement Awards), five Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globes, and is adorned with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But what is all this against the eternally sold-out halls! When Barbra goes on tour, the tickets are sold out in an instant. The army of its supporters will then make each performance an unforgettable affair with a forest of lit candles (or mobile phones now). Anyone who has experienced this knows that this imperfectly perfect fixture is – in a word – a phenomenon.
The girl next door
Few people would bet on her at first, but that changed as soon as she made the first demos. “She had the most amazing voice I’ve ever heard,” said her boyfriend at the time, who was helping her make work recordings. The youth from her block already knew that Barbra could. Not only did she intonate wonderfully – she also managed to give the melody swing and depth.
Unfortunately, her own mother was one of the people who discouraged her from becoming a well-known actress (and a singer in the background). Paradoxically, this forced Barbra to harden even more. Streisand was determined to face the world, for example. She repeatedly sent various good souls to the grove, who advised her to go for surgery on her not completely bland nose. She slept with acquaintances and did not stop tempting fate until she established herself: first in clubs and then on the stage, where she soon attracted attention with her sense of humor.
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The 1960s had its fixed icons: the ideal beauty was the attractive Brigitte Bardot, and as her counterpart, the fashionable catwalks were slimmed by the extra-slim Twiggy. Streisand has created an image of a girl next door – a funny friend who can say something and who the boy falls in love with, doesn’t even know how.
That makes sense!
At the age of twenty-one, Barbra signed a contract with the Columbia Music Company. She differed from the other rising stars in that she wanted to have control over her albums. When she was told that her first record would be called Sweet And Saucy Streisand, she simply said: NO.
“Call it Barbra Streisand’s Album,” she said. “People will see me on TV, they’ll go to the elf shop and they’ll want just that, so give it to them, common sense tells me,” she explained her original strategy to stunted producers.
Barbra won three Grammy Awards for her debut record in 1963! And when The Second Barbra Streisand Album was released that summer, critics wrote that it was the greatest young talent since Elvis Presley.
What’s next, Doctor?
At the same time, Streisand conquered Broadway. The lead role in the musical Funny Girl then accompanied her throughout the “golden sixties”. She portrayed her in the West End of London in 1966 and in film in 1968.
But this pretty ugly comedian with a sensitive soul did not receive real appreciation until 1969. At that time, she appeared on the silver screen in the filmed version of the musical Hello, Dolly! Dolly Levi’s matchmaking job suited her – and when she sang the title song with Louis Armstrong at the end, the audience took her hand.
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In the following decade, the fame of this unlikely star only grew. It began with the romantic comedy What’s Next, Doctor ?, in which the charming Barbra confused the distracted professor Ryan O’Neal. And then came the insidious attack on women’s handkerchiefs – the film drama Such We Were Directed by Sydney Pollack, in which Robert Redford himself fell in love with Streisand.
Who laughs last
Along with the title track, it was a hit. From now on, no one laughed at Barbra’s puffy mouth and her distinctive features. In other words, to paraphrase a statement relating to Bob Dylan (also a descendant of Jewish emigrants): While others ran to meet their audience, Barbra let the audience come to her.
By the way, the aforementioned Bob Dylan recently revealed that he composed his famous song Lay Lady Lay with the idea of Barbara Streisand. He wanted her to sing. However, as always, she had her own plans.
After shining alongside Kris Kristofferson in the film novel The Star Was Born, she embarked on a series of hit albums on the border of pop, jazz, chanson and classical music. She showed that she could do anything: from long, captivating humming to tense sexy hoarseness. Sweetness balanced with self-irony. By its normality, it paved the way for the dignity of the crowds of ordinary people.
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