Bette Midler

Performer: Bette Midler
Artist: Barry Manilow; Ralph MacDonald; Grady Tate
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel includes: Bette Midler (vocals); David Spinozza, Hugh McCracken (guitar); Barry Manilow (piano, percussion); Ken Ascher, Don Grolnick (keyboards); Kenneth Bichel (synthesizer); Milt Hinton, Will Lee (bass); Grady Tate, Bernard Purdie (drums); Ralph MacDonald, Arif Mardin (percussion). Recorded at Atlantic Studios, New York, New York. All tracks have been digitally remastered. A cross between Cleo Laine, Ethel Merman, and Laura Nyro, Bette Midler's eccentric performances blending jazz, soul, and pop with Broadway elan rose to the level of phenomenon in the early 1970s. Her striking 1973 self-titled debut captures just hints of her electric, versatile self, but even that makes for one impassioned record. She opens on a pair of breathtaking, timeless versions of Johnny Mercer-related standards, opening with "Skylark" (with a gentle operatic sound hinting at her million-selling singles years later). That softness quickly gives way to a vaudeville-esque craziness, including the flirty "Breaking Up Somebody's Home," her trademark gospel-tinged version of Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," and ending on the Philly-soul-meets-African-drum inspired take on Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher."

Honolulu-born Bette Midler's flamboyant stage persona, born in the 1970s (though she had been singing professionally in the 1960s), is what makes people take notice, but the self-proclaimed Divine Miss M is more than a singing comedienne. In addition to being a skilled TV and film actress, she's also a canny interpreter of pop and novelty songs in a multitude of genres, some ranging back as far as the Jazz Age. She's tackled everything from the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" to an album's worth of Rosemary Clooney-associated tunes with equal aplomb, and has made a splash on the silver screen many times (THE ROSE, SCENES FROM A MALL, BEACHES, and numerous others).

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.5