grow and to reach a much larger audience. However, as with everything else in the world, with growth comes change.
5
ENTER: THE DIVINE MISS M
Bette Midler’s past is populated with dozens and dozens of friends, acquaintances, musicians, employees, background singers, and assistants. A few of the key people in her life have remained loyal to her, with mutually beneficial results. There are several more who crossed paths with Bette, worked with her for a time, contributed to her success, and afterward went off on their own.
Pianist Billy Cunningham was the first to make his exit. Playing piano at the Continental Baths wasn’t paying him very much money, so when a higher-paying gig came along, he moved on. Before he left, he suggested a replacement. According to one of Bette’s former employees, Cunningham was friends with another unknown piano player who had found some degree of success writing jingles for television commercials. At the time, the other pianist had hit it big with a jingle for MacDonald’s hamburgers and was doing some vocal coaching on the side. The other pianist’s name was Barry Manilow.
“He [Billy] had to give up the gig,” says the former Midler employee, “so he asked Barry if he’d be interested in filling in for him. So Barry said, ‘Do I have to take my clothes off?’ And Billy said, ‘No, no!’ Barry said, ‘All right,’ and Billy said, ‘You’ll be hearing from Bette Midler, this singer.’ So, Bette calls up and the first thing she says is that she wants two rehearsals, which no one had ever done. So Barry said, ‘Well, all right, fine.’ She comes to see him in his apartment, which was on Twenty-Seventh Street on the East Side at that time. Barry said, ‘It washate at first sight,’ and he said that she ‘walked through the rehearsals.’ But he did the gig. He said, when she did ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo,’ he suddenly couldn’t restrain himself from laughing, and he completely went mad for her—she brought down the house” ( 35 ).
“Afterwards Bette said to Barry, ‘Do you want to be my musical director?’ And he said, ‘No, but I’ll work with you until you can find a musical director.’ Of course, she never found a musical director, at that time, so their relationship developed as it went along” ( 35 ).
According to Barry, he had his doubts about their chemistry onstage. However, the first time they performed together at the Continental Baths, somehow magic was created. “I played and she sang. But then we did it in front of an audience. She came downstairs in this turban and an outfit that could have come from my grandmother’s closet. She was a tornado of energy and talent. I was six feet away, and this vision was one of the thunderbolts in my life” ( 20 ).
Manilow later recounted, “Somehow it seemed like Bette and I were not going to get along. We could not understand what the other was into. But of course, later we worked together on the stage act and in the studio, and we connected beautifully. She chose the tunes, I arranged them” ( 25 ).
It was during this same era that Bette met a lifelong friend, Buzzy Linhart—and not long afterward, his writing partner, Moogy Klingman. Through them, she was given one of the most significant songs of her career: “Friends.” Linhart was known as a folk and rock singer, and Klingman had worked with Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. On Carly Simon’s successful debut album, Linhart contributed his song “The Love’s Still Growing,” and Klingman contributed “Just a Sinner.”
“I co-wrote ‘Friends’ with Buzzy Linhart in 1970,” recalls Klingman. “When we brought it to my publisher, he wanted to get Tiny Tim to do it. He was all excited about Tiny Tim using it as his follow-up to ‘Tip-Toe through the Tulips.’ We thought Tiny Tim was going to do it” ( 36 ).
That was before Buzzy met Bette. By a twist of fate, Buzzy Linhart and Bette Midler were both asked to portray the lead characters
5
ENTER: THE DIVINE MISS M
Bette Midler’s past is populated with dozens and dozens of friends, acquaintances, musicians, employees, background singers, and assistants. A few of the key people in her life have remained loyal to her, with mutually beneficial results. There are several more who crossed paths with Bette, worked with her for a time, contributed to her success, and afterward went off on their own.
Pianist Billy Cunningham was the first to make his exit. Playing piano at the Continental Baths wasn’t paying him very much money, so when a higher-paying gig came along, he moved on. Before he left, he suggested a replacement. According to one of Bette’s former employees, Cunningham was friends with another unknown piano player who had found some degree of success writing jingles for television commercials. At the time, the other pianist had hit it big with a jingle for MacDonald’s hamburgers and was doing some vocal coaching on the side. The other pianist’s name was Barry Manilow.
“He [Billy] had to give up the gig,” says the former Midler employee, “so he asked Barry if he’d be interested in filling in for him. So Barry said, ‘Do I have to take my clothes off?’ And Billy said, ‘No, no!’ Barry said, ‘All right,’ and Billy said, ‘You’ll be hearing from Bette Midler, this singer.’ So, Bette calls up and the first thing she says is that she wants two rehearsals, which no one had ever done. So Barry said, ‘Well, all right, fine.’ She comes to see him in his apartment, which was on Twenty-Seventh Street on the East Side at that time. Barry said, ‘It washate at first sight,’ and he said that she ‘walked through the rehearsals.’ But he did the gig. He said, when she did ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo,’ he suddenly couldn’t restrain himself from laughing, and he completely went mad for her—she brought down the house” ( 35 ).
“Afterwards Bette said to Barry, ‘Do you want to be my musical director?’ And he said, ‘No, but I’ll work with you until you can find a musical director.’ Of course, she never found a musical director, at that time, so their relationship developed as it went along” ( 35 ).
According to Barry, he had his doubts about their chemistry onstage. However, the first time they performed together at the Continental Baths, somehow magic was created. “I played and she sang. But then we did it in front of an audience. She came downstairs in this turban and an outfit that could have come from my grandmother’s closet. She was a tornado of energy and talent. I was six feet away, and this vision was one of the thunderbolts in my life” ( 20 ).
Manilow later recounted, “Somehow it seemed like Bette and I were not going to get along. We could not understand what the other was into. But of course, later we worked together on the stage act and in the studio, and we connected beautifully. She chose the tunes, I arranged them” ( 25 ).
It was during this same era that Bette met a lifelong friend, Buzzy Linhart—and not long afterward, his writing partner, Moogy Klingman. Through them, she was given one of the most significant songs of her career: “Friends.” Linhart was known as a folk and rock singer, and Klingman had worked with Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. On Carly Simon’s successful debut album, Linhart contributed his song “The Love’s Still Growing,” and Klingman contributed “Just a Sinner.”
“I co-wrote ‘Friends’ with Buzzy Linhart in 1970,” recalls Klingman. “When we brought it to my publisher, he wanted to get Tiny Tim to do it. He was all excited about Tiny Tim using it as his follow-up to ‘Tip-Toe through the Tulips.’ We thought Tiny Tim was going to do it” ( 36 ).
That was before Buzzy met Bette. By a twist of fate, Buzzy Linhart and Bette Midler were both asked to portray the lead characters
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