TOactress, singer, producer, director, activist, diva. There are many categories with which Barbra Streisand it is commonly defined, in fact it is impossible to find a single word that fully synthesizes sixty years of career. Six decades in which Babs has received any prize and conquered the summit of Olympus of the most loved stars of all time.
Today, at the age of 80 years old, has thinned out public appearances, but has no intention of retiring. The last one album, Release me 2was released last August and confirmed an important record: she is the only woman to have had at least one record in the charts every decade from 1960 to today.
Barbra Streisand: from zero to Woman in love
A dazzling musical career, which began when Barbra was about 20 years old. The encounter with music, however, came many years earlier. When he, still thirteen, he sang in the streets of Brooklyn and whoever knew that girl with the singular voice. A voice inherited from the mother, which to dreams of glory he has always preferred concreteness.
Nonetheless, Barbra continues to sing, to seek that recognition, but acting comes before singing.
At the age of 13 he attends Anne Frank’s diary, a Broadway play with Susan Strasberg. It is love at first sight. The sacred fire of art begins to make its way And decides that she will become an actress. A necessary need, perhaps to find a soft way out of it difficult everyday life.
The family harmony of the Streisand house had been destroyed by death of the fatherwhen Barbra was only one year old. «I wanted to be an actress. I think she represented my escape from reality “he explained in a recent interview with Zane Lowe.
Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Barbra, 2015. (Getty Images)
From that moment, he tries with all his might to make his dream come true, but without success. The no and the doors in the face do not stop herbecause the years in Brooklyn, spent between family economic difficulties and conflicts with her mother, had already strengthened her. In those years, Barbra learns to dream, to hope for a better life in which she can be recognizedbut above all learn to get around the obstacle.
“I became a singer because I couldn’t find work as an actress. I knew I had a beautiful voice because when I was little in Brooklyn I was known for being the one with the beautiful voice and without a father. In a certain sense I was unique. “
“Music opened the way for me to become an actress.” At the end tenacity has rewarded it. Thanks not only to her talent, but also to the way she has always looked at life. «I have always believed in chance and fate, but above all in willpower. When they ask me: how did you know you were going to be famous? I answer: because I wanted it“. A woman all in one piece, who managed to make her biggest dream come true, following a different, equally successful path.
Barbra Streisand at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017. (Getty Images)
Over 150 million records sold and 2 Oscars
The debut in the recording world is in 1963 with The Barbra Streisand Album and it is immediately a riot of recognition. Between these, two Grammy Awards and a gold record. A powerful debut, which marks the beginning of an unstoppable career and that has seen her become one of the most loved singers in the world. Up to now, she has recorded more than 50 albums, for a total of over 150 million copies sold. Besides, she won 10 Grammy Awards. To these awards, however, must be added those obtained as an actress.
Yes, because if you had to choose an adjective to indicate Streisand, perhaps it would be multifaceted. Although the big opportunity did not come immediately, she was able to resist and persist, demonstrating her own caliber even in the sector that he had chosen as a fallback.
The triumph in music, intact, makes even the cinema notice her. The debut comes in 1968 with Funny Girlwhich is worth a Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Not bad for a newcomer who dreamed of doing the same job as Anna Magnani, one of his inspiring muses.
Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand in 2015. (Getty Images)
The big screen continues to cast her and Barbra Streisand stars in 19 films. Among these, as well Funny girl, Hello, Dolly! And How we werein which he reads next to Robert Redford. Still, Funny Lady And A star is bornwith which he wins the second Oscar for the song Evergreen.
In 1983 he made his debut as director with Yentlan experience he repeated in 1991 with The prince of the tides and in 1996 with L‘love it has two facesin which he stars opposite Jeff Bridges and Lauren Bacall.
In 2004 and 2010 it is the turn of the comedies Will you introduce me to yours? And Meet the monsterswhile in 2012 he returned to the cinema with I’m leaving with mom. In addition to the two Oscars and the two Grammys, in his sixty-year career he has also collected 5 Emmys, a Tony Award and 11 Golden Globes.
Barbra Streisand in 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Getty Images)
The loves, the tributes and the political commitment
A long-lasting and successful career, which went hand in hand with one private life just as intense. In 1967 she gives birth son Jamesborn of love with the first husband Elliott Gould. She was subsequently linked to Jon Peters, Ryan O’Neal, Andre Agassi and Omar Sharif. In 1998, after two years of engagement, she married James Brolin.
They are different the freebies that cinema and music have dedicated to Barbra Streisand. Among these, the single of the same name by American DJs Duck Sauce, released in 2010. Recently, however, it was the subject of a quote in Licorice PizzaPaul Thomas Anderson’s latest film in which Bradley Cooper plays ex-boyfriend Jon Peters.
Barbra Streisand with the famous Arnold Scaasi dress worn for the evening in which she won the first Oscar for “Funny Girl”. (Ap)
Among his suitors, one name stands out among all. That of the Prince Charles. Their meeting dates back to the mid-1970s and it is said that the heir to the throne of England was not indifferent to the artist’s charisma.
“If I had played my cards”Streisand revealed, “I would have become the first Jewish princess”. In addition to being a showbiz star, she is also a fervent LGBT activist and supporter of the American Democratic Party.
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