welcome to our latest episode of being. a series where i spent time with people of influence and try to find out what it is like to be them. tonight, barry manilow. the 78-year-old icon is breaking records in las vegas and he is out with a new musical here in new york city. it is called harmony. he calls it his proudest achievement. i spoke with manilow about fame, criticism, and how he keeps it fresh out of all of these decades on the stage. what it's like to be barry manilow. you are a singer and a sunriser. you are a composer. you have been a household name for 50 years. you are about to break elvis presley's record here at the westgate in las vegas. what is it like to be barry manilow? >> i am just a regular guy. you say all those things it's like you keep forgetting i do those things but i consider myself a working musician. that's why am. i have a great personal life. i love my partner and my dogs. i love making music. so when you remind me there is this other part, barry manilow i have to keep remembering that is a part of me also. if mandy hadn't happened all those years ago i probably would be one of the guys in the band. this thing that happened. it was totally unexpected. i had no desire to do it. i never went after becoming a performer or a singer or anything of the public eye. it was totally a surprise. >> reporter: what happened was sudden stardom. when he released mandy in 1974. it became his first gold single. clive davis came to you with a song named mandy. >> i found the love song in this rock 'n roll song. because i knew i couldn't do that. it's i tried the rock 'n roll thing but clive davis came down and heard my rock 'n roll verse and just like the original and he said, what's that? and i said it's the thing you just gave me. she thought it was terrible. but in the afternoon in order to learn the song i played it slowly. i found the love song in it. and he told me to do it. so i did the piano in the vocal. that's it. one take. it's a very honest reading of that song. >> reporter: manilow may not have went looking for fame but when fame found him anyway. >> my life exploded into 1 million pieces. it was the best of times and the worst of times. i was not prepared for it. i don't think anybody is prepared for fame. good luck to all the young people. because i was not young when it happened. i was like 29. and i had already conducted at carnegie hall and i had already done arrangements for singers. i was in the world of being a musician. so in this hit, this, interviews and performances, i, it just, i didn't know, i did know how to handle it. thank goodness i did not go on the drugs. but i can easily understand how that happens young people. it throws you. it absolutely throws you. especially for me. i do not expect most people, most young people want it. i can't wait to get on stage. i can't wait to have a hit. it was not in my mind to have anything to happen like that. after mandy came out i was hoping it would go away so i could go back to my regular life. but it didn't. >> reporter: because you kept making hits. >> yeah. because, yeah. it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. yeah. >> reporter: you said, fame got to me. i turned into a person that i didn't like. >> i did. >> reporter: how is that? >> a couple of years, i was a brat. it was early on. it was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. i, i didn't stay a brat for very long. i did not like myself. that is not who i am. >> reporter: how did barry manilow the brat manifests itself? >> i was rude to people. i have apologized. i did not like myself when i was doing that. >> reporter: but the fact you caught yourself and put a stop to it. >> yeah. well there was this word that kept coming up. gratitude. it may have been around, it just kept hitting me in the face. i was having a fantastic life. only i wasn't enjoying it. it was just a big job. >> reporter: for manilow popular success is not come with positive reviews. at the beginning the critics were pretty tough on you. >> yes. that would be i guess. it was rough. it was rough. i look back at these days and i don't know how i actually got through it. they were trying to annihilate me. they do not want me on that stage. >> reporter: what was there criticism? >> they put down all the songs that i was singing. they put down my demeanor. they put on my clothes. they put down my face. they just hated me. but it wasn't just one critic. it was all of them. >> reporter: that must've been really tough. >> yeah. it was. but i believed what i was doing. because i heard what the audience wanted. they were screaming. they were screaming at the end of i am your child. and i believed in what i was doing. i knew i wasn't really good at what i was doing but i think i was getting better. i was getting relaxed and i was comfortable behind the piano. i would read the reviews, don't ask me why i would do that. >> reporter: that's what i was going to ask. did you stop reading them eventually? >> it's easy to say it but it's not easy to stop reading them. i would go to self-pity for a couple of hours and then get dressed and go to reversal and do the show that night. what else am i going to do? run away and hide? everything changed. 10 years of being beaten up on every tv show and every album. don't ask me how i got through it. i just believed in the music. my band loved it. the audience seemed to love it. my family loved it. >> reporter: even just recently i'm sure you saw what happened in new zealand. the government thought they were going to punish protesters by playing your music. the protesters embraced it. >> that has happened before. they have done that before. they usually sing along with it. it doesn't work for them. it usually backfires. >> reporter: in fact, love or hate to love him has been a cultural touchstone for decades. from the breakfast club in 1985 to will and grace in 2003. even in family guy in 2008. and his fans, or zealous. >> do you like the term fan a low? >> i thought it was a put down at first but people come over to me and say how proud they are and it went from being a snide putdown, but it is turned into a complement. these people are telling me they like what i do. i have come to embrace it. >> reporter: do you want to go play music? coming up, how does he write the songs everyone sings? manilow tells me how he did. never be afraid of your strength, because your body is capable of amazing things. own your strength, and see how far it takes you. tonal. be your strongest. 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(ted koppel) if we can't find them, we can't help them. help us help them. visit copdsos.org. being barry manilow means making tunes people cannot get out of their heads. >> reporter: can you boil down what your songwriting processes? >> i usually write when i have a good lyric to write to. i put the lyric on the piano. like copacabana, bruce and i decided, we went down to rio. my wonderful lyricist friend. we were on the beach and there were copacabana ashtrays and tells. he called me and said, what you want the song to be about? and i said make it like an mgm musical. they sent me the lyric, her name was lola, she is a showgirl. you have to be a bad composer not to be able to find the melody to that. anybody could've written that. so i put the melody to that wonderful lyric. >> reporter: something like that, did you start out, did you play around? >> i just put the lyric on the piano. i just played it. sometimes they come back fast. what a lyric is that good it just sings at me. >> reporter: and you said sometimes they come that fast. what happens with a dog? >> they don't work. sometimes i just work on it and work on it. i go back to it. i think the listener can hear the struggle. because they have never worked. those songs that i struggle with. but the ones that come quickly, most of the time they work. >> reporter: i know you are very collaborative with you writing partners. when you start from scratch. lyrics and the music. how does that work? >> the hard part is coming up with the idea. what are we saying? what we want to write? that is what we all pace around the room. but once we finally get the idea that it is fun to write the song, then it all starts to come out. what about this quarter that melody? as long as we know why we are writing or what we are writing, but i'm not really good at just writing a song. i've never been good at just writing a song and taking it out of the air. i have to know why i'm writing it and what are we saying in the song. then i can do it. >> reporter: when you listen to music now, what do you do? >> i don't. i don't listen to music. i never have. i don't listen to pop radio. it's too hard. i really have to go through a lot of stuff that i'm not crazy about in order to hear something that i like. i'm a melody guy. i love a good melody. and the melody seems to have taken a nosedive. >> reporter: even now? the lyric when i'm climbing up the stairs. >> that is marty, my old high school friend. >> reporter: can you play that? >> it's a nice one. there is a nice chorus. >> reporter: it's so simple and it says so much. >> that's another way of keeping it simple. say so much. just write that one down. >> reporter: can i ask you a couple questions about jingles? >> okay. i am stuck on band-aids because they are stuck on me. i'm so proud of that. >> you should be. >> state farm is there. >> reporter: does that just come to you? when the advertising company came to you and they said they need something for band-aid, how does that work? >> they give you a lyric and you write it. >> give me a jingle for cnn. this is cnn. james earl jones. >> i would need a lyric. >> you are hired. >> reporter: coming up, a secret he had to keep from his fans. >> you were worried it would end your career? >> and 75? are you kidding? i booked our hotel on kayak. it's flexible if we need to cancel. cancel. i haven't left the house in years. nothing will stop me from vacation. no canceling. 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>> yes. can you feel his presence here? anybody want to hear copacabana? >> reporter: a far cry from where barry pincus grew up from what he calls the brooklyn slums raised by his mother edna and his grandparents. they barely scraped by. >> i come from a rough section of brooklyn called williamsburg . >> reporter: did you feel the struggle? did that impact you? >> i did. i will never forget the moment when i asked edna for something and she opened her purse and she said, there is no money here. there was the first time i realized, i can't even get a stick of gum. >> reporter: how did you think that impacted you? how has that stuck with you? >> it was reality that hit me. it's roomy. when you are young you feel secure surrounded by adults. that was deep. knowing that they were struggling to survive. >> reporter: how did you become interested in music? >> i was never not interested in music. in my family, as poor as they were, they did know what to do with me. they knew i was musical. the first thing they did was shove an accordion in my hand. you couldn't get out of brooklyn unless he played the accordion. >> reporter: in fact his first musical gig was producing for his mother. >> reporter: did she live to see your success? >> yes she did. she was very proud. she was. she had the cold with the sign- on that said, barry's mother. >> no she didn't? >> no. she was a good singer. she should've made it. but i got in the way. she was a good singer. i learned to play the piano and i would do her arrangements. and they were great. she sounded better and i loved doing it. >> reporter: he moved to manhattan and began arranging music for other artists. including an undiscovered singer named bette midler. >> i got this phone call from this yenta on the phone. she said she was bette midler and she came over. and we did not get along. we didn't get along. she was abrasive. i couldn't wait for her to leave. but i took the job. and i played for her that saturday night. and i had never seen anything like it. in my life. i had never seen talent like that. she was funny. she could sing anything. she didn't give me any hint doing our rehearsals that she was even capable of that. and the audience was crazy for her. i was crazy for her. i was speechless at the end. i was breaking piano keys playing so hard for her. >> reporter: when you look in the mirror, do you still see the kid from brooklyn? >> know. i see a guy come up i'm just a guy. i'm a musician. i see a musician. i see a guy aging. i'm happy i have a gig here. i love working with the band that i'm happy. still like to music. >> reporter: for most people they live their lives and they are regular people. and it's hard to understand what it is like to be as famous as you are. >> i don't think like that. am i that famous? >> you are pretty famous. >> i'm serious. i don't see that. i have a very small world. that i live in. >> reporter: that probably keeps you healthy. in every way. >> maybe. honestly, if you asked my friends, i have as many friends as you do. and as everybody watching this. and i love them. and i have my very normal and a normal life. >> reporter: it was only a few years ago that manilow revealed he was and married to his longtime manager and romantic partner of more than 40 years, gary keefe. >> everybody knew i was . everybody knew gary and i were a couple. the band, i even think the audience must've known. they must've known i was a man and gary was my partner. so doing this people magazine thing it was no big deal for me. my family knew. everybody knew. what is the big deal? so it really was not a big deal. what did i do it? i thought they would do it anyway and i just wanted to make sure. >> you said you thought it would end your career if people knew? >> and 75? are you kidding? when mandy came out, i would have no career at that point. no. i'm happy about that. too bad. all of us in 1975 could not be who we really were. and i couldn't. it stunk. not to be able to say who you are and not to be able to be who you are. it still stinks and some portion of the globe. it is still awful not to be who you are. that's quite a sense. would you like that? would you like to live like that? >> no. >> it's a terrible thing to do. i'm so glad that it is beginning to ease up. i hit the jackpot when i met gary. i really did. we have been together for 43 years. this valentine's day he sent me flowers. i can't say anymore. >> making their american debut, the comedian hominis. >> reporter: after decades, project manilow calls his proudest moment as a songwriter is opening in new york city. and i need a lawn. quick. the fast way to bring it up to speed. is scotts turf builder rapid grass. rapid grass is a revolutionary mix of seed and fertilizer that will change the way you grow grass. it grows two times faster than seed alone for full, green grass in just weeks. after growing grass this fast, everything else just seems... slow. it's lawn season. let's get to the yard. download the scotts my lawn app today for your personalized lawn plan. inner voice (furniture maker): i'm rubbing the arms of my chair... ...admiring the craft and detail i've put into it. that way i try to convince myself that i'm in control of the business side of my business. intuit quickbooks makes it easy for you to get a complete view of your business. so you can sit back and... ...relax. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the ihop rewards program is here, and it's delicious. join the international bank of pancakes and start earning pancoins toward free food. only from ihop. you're probably thinking that these two are in some sort of lover's quarrel. no, no, no. they're both invested... in green energy. and also each other. digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop. what would you like the power to do? >> reporter: being barry manilow means writing the music that other people sing. off-broadway in new york the revival of his beloved musical, harmony. written by manilow and his longtime collaborator, bruce sussman, harmony tells the story of a group of german singers. some jewish, some not, who hit it big in the 1920s and 30s. they were comedians? >> they were comedians. the marx brothers. they invented this wild combination of things where they were sophisticated with musical harmonies and they were funny. these six brilliantly talented young men not only found musical harmony but they found personal harmony. even in their relationships. a jewish fellow marries a gentile woman. a gentile member of the group marries a gentile. there was stark contrast to what was happening in the world around them. >> we don't know them in america but there were so famous. the stories, is even more weird because of what happened to them, they just disappeared. all the records were just destroyed. all the movies, 12 movies were burned. they just annihilated them. they are being so tremendously popular around the world. >> reporter: it's a story the writing partners have been working on for more than 20 years. they met 50 years ago and plan to be like rogers and hammerstein. >> we started out wanting to write for the stage. in this part career was an annoying distraction. >> mandy. >> that song. >> reporter: to be fair, you might've been upset about mandy. but you nudged that popstar status along with the song called copacabana. >> copacabana was an ice cream sundae. it was frothy and fun to do and stylistic. but this, this is, we have to put ourselves in the head of 1920s and 1930s germany. >> reporter: harmonies relevant now is chilling. with war raging in ukraine, innocent lives disrupted by hate. during this musical now, with everything going on, not just in the world, but with anti- semitism on the rise. >> unprecedented levels on the rise. >> i think one of the many joys about doing this show now is that it seems to be resonating more than ever. that is remarkable after everything we have been through. it is landing at this time. >> it sounds very current. >> it sounds current. it's interesting to see the reaction. >> reporter: as musicians are doing a project like this, you wanted to be relevant but given the subject matter, you do not want it to be relevant. >> right. he does something that i envy because i can't do it. he dreams melodies. >> reporter: do you really? >> he dreams melodies. he will call me up at ungodly hours of the morning and say, i dreamt the melody for blah blah blah. and i say, oh my god, that is exactly right. >> i run to the piano when i record it before it goes away. >> reporter: barry, you have said without a doubt this is the one piece of work that you want to beaver member four. >> yes. >> why? >> this is the kind of broadway musical that i always wanted to write. it has every style of music is the always loved. it's not one style. you would think it was going to be all ballots. it's not. every song is totally different than the one before it. and i just loved, loved doing it. >> this is the barry i want everyone to know about. >> thank you. coming up next. barry manilow takes the stage. nicorette knows, quitting smoking is freaking hard. you get advice like: just stop. go for a run. go for 10 runs! run a marathon. instead, start small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette. if your moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks... choose stelara® from the start... and move toward relief after the first dose... with injections every two months. stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. feel unstoppable. ask your doctor how lasting remission can start with stelara®. janssen can help you explore cost support options. panera chefs have crafted a masterpiece... succulent, seared chicken... a secret aioli... clean ingredients... in a buttery brioche roll. made fresh, to leave you... speechless. panera's new chef's chicken sandwiches. $1 delivery fee on our app. ♪ (drum roll) ♪ ♪ (energetic music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (camera shutters) the all-new lx 600. ready for any arena. ♪ ♪ welcome to your world. your why. what drives you? what do you want to leave behind? what do you want to give back? what do you want to be remembered for? that's your why. it's your purpose, and we will work with you every step of the way to achieve it. at pnc private bank, we'll help you take care of the how. so tell us - what's your why? ♪ being barry manilow means giving the audience the best show of their lives night after night. you are about to break elvis's record. 600 shows. what does that mean to you? >> it's great. i love it. it doesn't feel like 600 shows. the scope for 1000. we might. >> reporter: when you started performing you didn't think you were very good at it. >> i wasn't. i didn't think so, i wasn't. i did know what i was doing. >> reporter: how did you learn? >> the audience let me. night after night. it was all because they allowed me to do it. and i try to make every time i sing i try to make them different every time. the only way to make them different is the action has to be, she can't smile without you, now i have to know where she is or where gary is or where grandpa is. on every song. and then they become really full. and they never get boring. if every singer did what i was doing, they would never retire. it's thrilling every night. >> reporter: so it helps the audience connect you and you to connect to them? >> it does. you would think i would actually start to think about chinese food. most people do. i don't. because i am in a scene. every night a different scene eye makeup. i sing to a different person every night. it's always very specific. and that's why i think people resonate with it. >> reporter: it's like theater. musical theater. >> reporter: it is. and most pop singers don't know that. so they just sing it and they close her eyes. and if you close your eyes when you sing you leave the audience out. i never close my eyes. i am singing to somebody. would you think everybody would fill it? sinatra never closed his eyes. he was an auto. >> what was most surprising to see is how hard he still worked for every show, every melody, every note. ♪ even now when i come shining through ♪ >> is it true you don't warm up your voice? is that true? >> i don't. never had a singing lesson. don't consider myself a singer, but a musician. >> no me, me, me happening in the dressing room? >> no, only when i lose my voice, after three or four nights, nothing comes out. then it comes back. i don't know. >> amazing singers and musicians. >> if you only knew. >> been together so long. >> nobody ever leaves me, proud to say. nobody ever leaves. >> says a lot. >> been with me for i can't even. they love it, i love them. it's really a family. i'm only child, these are my brothers and sisters. really are. >> when did you start with him? >> 1978. ♪ >> rehearsal every day because some piece of something he wants to fix. and you know, you want to be mad, can't be mad at somebody that cares, you know what i mean? he cares. >> super intention about the music he's writing and about his performance, moment to moment, it's like acting class, he's always in the moment. ♪ and i write the songs ♪ >> always wants to keep it fresh for the audience, a lot of these songs he's got to do "mandy" every night and "i write the songs" every night. but for him, i'd love a chord change here, change the rhythm here. i don't know if the audience is aware. >> keeps it fresh for you guys. >> and for him. >> one way manilow is keeping it fresh? >> jigsaw stuff. >> working in new number that plays on tiktok fame. ♪ dancing in the aisles ♪ >> wouldn't be a vegas show or barry manilow one without a little -- a lot of kitsch. >> want to show you my favorite thing. i mean, you can't top it. >> no. haven't even that. >> would you like the towel? or a boua? >> everyone with yellow feathers in their hair. >> of course. ♪ lola with yellow feathers in her hair ♪ >> diehard fanilows, the sense of nostalgia is big part of the appeal. >> i loved you my whole life. >> thank you. >> my wife loves you. >> nice to meet you. can you take a picture? thank you. >> all right. ♪ oh, mandy when you came and you gave without taking ♪ ♪ but i sent you away oh, mandy, you kissed me and stopped me ♪ ♪ from shaking and i need you today oh, mandy ♪ >> must just be such a high to be able to be up here, sing songs that people can sing back to you. they know every word, and you just make them feel good. >> it's only reason i keep doing it. when that happened, i was playing the gershwin theater in new york, and -- they put the lights on the audience for some reason and i saw them for first time, i really understood that for all of that time, i thought it was about me. you know? am i handsome enough, am i singing in tune? will they like this, that? am i cute enough? funny enough? that moment it flipped over when i saw who they were. and how happy they were. it wasn't about me, it was like an epiphany. it's about them! ♪ and i write the songs ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm the latest hashtag challenge. and everyone on social media is trying me. i'm trending so hard that “hashtag common sense” can't keep up. this is going to get tens and tens of views. ♪ ♪ ( car crashing ) ♪ ♪ but if you don't have the right auto insurance coverage, you could be left to pay for this... yourself. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate for a quote today. frank is a fan of fast. he's a fast talker. a fast walker. thanks, gary. and for unexpected heartburn... frank is a fan of pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc can take one to four days to fully work. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast. here we go... remember, mom's a kayak denier, so please don't bring it up. bring what up, kayak? excuse me? do the research, todd. listen to me, kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to find you great deals on flights, cars and hotels. they're lying to you! who's they? kayak? arr! open your eyes! compare hundreds of travel sites at once. kayak. search one and done. over the past hour you heard from the one and only barry manilow on what it's like to be him. i'll bring you more of these stories on future episodes of "being," i'm dana bash in new york, thanks so much for watching. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello, welcome to viewers in the united states and around the world, i'm live in lviv ukraine. clock ticking down for the fighters in mariupol, moscow demanding they lay down weapons and leave in six hours and lives will be spared, russia in control of the city. >> live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta. north korea te