Barbra Streisand: A Tribute

Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl.

In honor of “The Greatest Star’s” 59th Birthday April 24th I figured it was the perfect time to write a tribute to the most amazing career in show business history. Love her or hate her this fact is undisputable. If you don’t agree read on...

She is the only person to ever win a Grammy for her first album, Emmy for her first television special and Academy Award for her first movie. She also was given a special Tony award as star of the decade for the sixties.

She has won more Best Pop Vocal Performance Grammy awards than any other female singer; five, including three straight wins in 1963, 1964 and 1965. She also remains to this day the youngest person to win the prestigious Album of the Year Grammy which she won with her very first album when she was 21 years old.

Barbra is also the only person, male or female, to win Oscars for both acting and composing. She received these for Funny Girl and Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star is Born) respectively. During the seventies she was both the biggest female box-office star and the biggest selling female album artist of the decade. To put that in perspective it would be like Julia Roberts and Mariah Carey being the same person during the nineties.

When it comes to Golden Globe awards she continues to reign supreme having received 11 of them. More than any other person. This includes the highest honor they give, the Cecil B. De Mille lifetime achievement award. Oh yeah, and she is still the only woman to win a Golden Globe for directing a movie, for Yentl which,by the way, she also produced, starred in and sang every song. And just this year she became only the fifth woman ever to have the AFI’s lifetime achievement award bestowed upon her.

Barbra Streisand in Meet the Fockers.

In the field of music she has had even greater success. Having amassed more gold albums than anyone except Elvis Presley. As of this writing she has 43 gold, 27 platinum and 13 multi-platinum albums. In addition she rules the Billboard album chart with more top 40, top ten and number one albums than any other female singer. Not to mention the fact that she is the only artist to place number one albums in the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. Not even The Rolling Stones have done that.

Finally she is also the live performer who has been able to demand the highest ticket prices ever for a concert appearance. The top price at her last concerts was a mere 2,500 dollars. Even the cheap seats went for 325. Which is more than most performers can charge for front row seating. This is even more amazing when you figure that this woman sings mostly show tunes at a time when they are not exactly the most popular style of music.

Still not convinced? Well then you never will be. However I speak for her legions of adoring fans when I say Happy Birthday Barbra and many more!!!