Barry Manilow's 15 MINUTES Debuts at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 and #2 on Independent Chart

Manilow's First Original Album in 10 Years

LOS ANGELES, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- GRAMMY®, Tony®, and Emmy® Award-winning recording artist Barry Manilowtoday celebrates the chart success of his new original album 15 MINUTES which entered the Billboard Top 200 at #7. 15 MINUTES is Manilow's 37th charting album, and his 6th Top 10 debut in the last 10 years. The album's single "Bring On Tomorrow" has entered the Top 40 chart making it Manilow's 47th Top 40 hit and is enjoying extensive radio play.

Billboard professes "In a pop culture landscape dominated by Twitter, an unrelenting gossip news cycle and TMZ cameras, '15 MINUTES' feels right on time," and "is striking." The New Yorker states that Manilow's "indisputable pop talents" are on full display. The Daily News singles out "'Work the Room,' 'He's a Star' and 'Trainwreck'" as "excellent pop songs."

"Barry made an incredible album with vocals as great as ever. The debut today is evidence that great music does well and will continue to do well for a long time to come.  Fontana is very proud for the opportunity to work with him and his outstanding staff," stated Ron Spaulding, President of Fontana.

Manilow debuted material from his new album during a special QVC® Presents Q Sessions Live broadcast on Thursday, May 26th at 8 PM (ET), followed by a Memorial Day Weekend Manilow Special on SIRIUS/XM.  Also, in advance of release week, Manilow performed on The Joy Behar Show, CBS The Talk, Tavis Smiley, Extra, and Lopez Tonight. Release week, he appeared on The Gayle King Show, CNN Showbiz Tonight and performed his new single "Bring On Tomorrow" on Good Morning America.

Inspired by the Andy Warhol quote that "In the future, everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes," this exciting guitar-driven pop album explores the perils and pinnacles of fame's double-edged sword. 15 MINUTES, produced by Manilow and Michael Lloyd is a captivating tale of someone who achieves fame, blows it and begins again. 15 MINUTES was released by STILETTO Entertainment and distributed by Fontana in association with the Universal Music Group as part of a multi-product partnership. www.15MinutesAlbum.com

With worldwide record sales exceeding 80 million, Barry Manilow is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records); with no less than 25 consecutive top 40 hits to his credit between 1975 and 1983, on the Billboard Hot 100. Manilow has worked on over 40 albums over the course of his career as a singer, songwriter, arranger and producer.

SOURCE STILETTO Entertainment

15 Minutes Shines!

15 Minutes Shines!

It is a rare and special treat when a musical legend like Barry Manilow releases an album of all original material. Barry's millions of fans have been waiting for original material, and finally 15 Minutes is here! Of course, the 15 Minutes concept was inspired by Andy Warhol's iconic statement that "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." In addition, the very appropriate tag line for 15 Minutes is "Fame...Can You Take It?" Barry's long tenure with Arista and Clive Davis has ended, and 15 Minutes is released on his own label (Stiletto Entertainment.) Now having the artistic and creative freedom to make a gem of an album like 15 Minutes, each song is an important part of telling the story of a young man who seeks fame, gets it, loses it, and then wants to get it back again. There is no doubt 15 Minutes is definitely guitar and acoustic driven, however, the songs do range from more traditional sounding ballad most often associated with Barry Manilow like "Bring On Tomorrow" to rock/guitar driven songs like "Work The Room" and "Now It's For Real." One of the things that makes this album so amazing and brilliant is how all these songs blend and work together. This is definitely a different sounding Barry Manilow, which shows how versatile his musical talent is, and that he can do pop, rock, jazz, swing, Broadway show tunes, Big Bands, Sinatra, etc., and do them all very well indeed. The ups and downs of fame are also addressed in 15 Minutes with songs like "Winner Go Down." "He's A Star" (which was originally recorded as "She's A Star" from Barry's "Tryin' To Get The Feeling" album) works perfectly on 15 Minutes with a new arrangement that gives it more muscle for a male singer. There is also "Letter From A Fan/So Heavy, So High," with a great performance by Nataly Dawn of "Pomplamoose." "Letter from A Fan" starts out innocent and becomes haunting, and the best description of this song is that it is really about a fan in general, who goes too far, and becomes (for the lack of a better term) obsessed with the singer. Barry's fabulous performance of "So Heavy, So High" is infused with "Letter From A Fan" and tells the artist's point of view about such fans. Other favorites are "Wine Song", "Slept Through The End Of The World" and "Trainwreck." From beginning to end, 15 Minutes is a pleasure to listen to, and you may want to get up and dance to "Everything's Gonna Be All Right." with it's infectious disco-inspired beat. In conclusion, Barry's voice has never sounded better, and I believe 15 Minutes proves why he is such a powerful musical force. Yes, he really does write the songs the whole world sing because Barry is not just a singer. He is a singer, composer, arranger, producer, recording artist and concert entertainer extraordinaire! Barry and his team of incredibly talented people have created a musical work of art, and I strongly believe 15 Minutes is definitely a Grammy contender! I highly recommend you listen to 15 Minutes yourself, and go on an amazing musical journey with Barry through all the ups and downs of fame.

Music Man

Music Man

By Laurie Wheeler

Sweet music man I hope you know

You don’t just have a gift for making music

You have a gift for lifting hearts and raising spirits

Your beautiful music is the soundtrack of my life and the lives of all your friends around the world

Through all life’s ups and downs, your music has always been there

Giving us so much hope, joy and inspiration

I hope you realize how many lives and hearts you have touched all around the world

Yes, you really do write the songs that make the whole world sing because you aren’t just a singer

You are a singer, composer, arranger, producer, recording artist and concert entertainer extraordinaire!

You put your heart and soul into every word and every note

How can we begin to thank you for all the music and all the years?

How can we begin to tell you how much you and the music means to us?

Hans Christian Andersen said “Where words fail, music speaks” and that, my friend, says it all…Forever and a day!

Happy Birthday to a sweet, kind, generous, talented and gorgeous man we all know and love as the one and only Barry Manilow!