"Manilow Sings Sinatra" Album Premiere Party
Supper Club
New York, NY
November 11, 1998

Hi Everyone,

This episode is a very special one to me.

Nobody has ever seen it. I’ve kept it in my vault ever since the night we recorded it.

Clive and I decided to do a CD in tribute to the great Frank Sinatra. He had passed the year before. Who didn’t love his talent?

For me, not only was it his unique style of singing that I admired, but it was his arrangers that I learned from: Don Costa, Nelson Riddle, Neil Hefti, etc. I was in awe of their arranging styles.

So when I began doing the arrangements for this album, I tried to pay tribute to their styles of arranging.

When we recorded the album, Phil Ramone, my co-producer, hired the best musicians in L.A. Some of them actually played with Sinatra.

The great orchestrator/arrangers Patrick Williams. Johnny Mandel (who worked with Sinatra for years) and Doug Besterman did the session and I tell you, it was an incredible experience for me to sing live, with their charts being played by a 56 piece swinging orchestra.

When we decided to debut the album for one-night-only in the intimate Supper Club in New York, I couldn’t wait. Only I came down with bronchitis the day before!

Bolstered with medicine and shots by the best ear, nose and throat specialists in New York, I actually got through the show.

But my illness didn’t stop me from having one of the times of my life.

Hope you all enjoy this rare video.

-Barry