By 1978, Barry Manilow was already one of the biggest names in American popular music. Songs such as “Mandy,” “Could It Be Magic,” “I Write the Songs,” “Looks Like We Made It” and “Can’t Smile Without You” had transformed the Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter into one of the defining pop performers of the decade. But across the Atlantic, something new was beginning to happen. Britain was discovering Barry Manilow — and a memorable BBC television special captured the moment when that relationship truly took off.
Barry Manilow Comes to Britain
Manilow arrived in Britain at an especially remarkable point in his career. His 1978 album Even Now had produced another collection of hits, including “Can’t Smile Without You,” “Even Now,” “Somewhere in the Night” and a rather unusual story-song called “Copacabana (At the Copa).”
His popularity in America was firmly established, but Britain was still relatively new territory.
That changed quickly.
Manilow was initially booked for two performances at the legendary London Palladium. Both sold out. Four additional performances were added — and those sold out as well.
Clearly, Britain had caught Manilow fever.
British impresario Robert Patterson and his young assistant Andrew Miller recognized what was happening and approached the BBC with the idea of capturing Manilow on television. The result was an ambitious concert presentation filmed at London’s Royal Albert Hall and turned into a two-part BBC television special.
It was an ideal setting for Manilow.
The grandeur of the Royal Albert Hall matched the scale of his music: sweeping arrangements, dramatic piano playing, romantic ballads and enormous finales designed to make the person sitting in the last row feel as though the song were being sung directly to them.
Manilow at His Late-1970s Peak
Watching footage from the 1978 BBC special today is like opening a time capsule from Manilow’s imperial period.
There are no decades of nostalgia attached to the songs yet. These aren’t beloved oldies being revisited by a veteran entertainer. Many were current or relatively recent hits being performed by an artist in the middle of his first extraordinary run of success.
That makes the concert particularly fascinating.
Manilow was still establishing the performance style that would become instantly recognizable: seated at the piano one moment, commanding the stage the next, moving easily between intimate ballads and enormous theatrical production numbers.
His musical-theater instincts are everywhere.
Even a three- or four-minute pop song becomes a miniature stage production. Manilow understood dynamics exceptionally well — start small, build the emotion, bring in the orchestra and background singers, and then give the audience the kind of ending that practically demands an ovation.
Few performers of the era were as unapologetically theatrical about pop music.
“Mandy” and “Could It Be Magic”
Among the special’s most memorable moments is Manilow performing two songs forever associated with his rise to fame: “Mandy” and “Could It Be Magic.”
“Mandy” had been his breakthrough American hit in 1974 and remains one of his signature recordings. By 1978, hearing those opening piano notes immediately identified the man sitting behind the keyboard.
“Could It Be Magic,” meanwhile, demonstrated something slightly different. Inspired musically by Frédéric Chopin, the song revealed Manilow’s ability to blur the boundaries between classical influences, Broadway-style drama and contemporary pop.
In the BBC performance, the songs showcase exactly why Manilow connected so strongly with audiences. He wasn't simply singing romantic songs. He performed them as emotional stories.
“Can’t Smile Without You”
Few songs better demonstrate the relationship Manilow developed with his audience than “Can’t Smile Without You.”
Released as a single in 1978, the song became another major hit and eventually one of his most recognizable concert standards. Its simple sentiment was almost tailor-made for audience participation.
And that communal quality became an essential part of the Manilow concert experience. His audiences weren't passive observers. They sang, clapped and became part of the performance.
For a performer whose critics sometimes dismissed his music as overly sentimental, the response of actual audiences told a very different story. People connected with these songs — deeply and enthusiastically.
Welcome to the “Copacabana”
And then there is “Copacabana.”
If much of Manilow's catalog proved he could write and perform emotional ballads, “Copacabana (At the Copa)” demonstrated his flair for pure musical theater.
The song tells the tragic story of showgirl Lola, bartender Tony and mysterious Rico against the glamorous backdrop of New York nightlife. Rather than simply standing at a microphone and singing it, Manilow could treat “Copacabana” like the miniature musical it essentially was.
The 1978 BBC performance captures the song while it was still new.
That is especially fun to watch today because “Copacabana” would eventually become one of Manilow's most famous recordings, win him the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and inspire the 1985 television musical Copacabana.
But here, audiences were seeing the phenomenon near its beginning.
The feathers, Latin rhythms, disco influence, melodrama and irresistible chorus made it completely different from the piano ballads for which Manilow had become famous.
It also proved that Barry Manilow could put on a show.
More Than a Singer at a Piano
That may be the greatest takeaway from revisiting the BBC special.
Manilow is sometimes remembered primarily as the king of the enormous romantic ballad. Certainly, he could sit behind a piano and wring every possible ounce of emotion from a melody.
But his concerts reveal a much broader entertainer.
There is Broadway in Barry Manilow. There is cabaret. There is old-school Las Vegas. There is pop, jazz, orchestration, comedy and even a touch of disco.
He was part singer-songwriter and part traditional showman.
The BBC special allowed British viewers who might have known only one or two Manilow records to see the complete package.
The Beginning of a British Love Affair
Perhaps the most important legacy of Barry Manilow's 1978 BBC appearances has little to do with any individual song.
They helped establish a relationship with British audiences that would endure for decades.
The rapid expansion of his first British dates — from two sold-out London Palladium shows to six — had already demonstrated the demand. Bringing that excitement to television dramatically expanded his reach.
Suddenly, Manilow wasn't simply the American singer whose records occasionally appeared on British radio. Viewers could see the personality, musicianship and theatricality behind them.
The BBC special effectively introduced Britain to Barry Manilow the entertainer.
And Britain liked what it saw.
A Snapshot of Barry Manilow in 1978
The special is particularly valuable today because of the year in which it was recorded.
1978 was arguably one of the most important years of Manilow's career.
Even Now was a major success. “Can’t Smile Without You” became another signature ballad. “Copacabana” showed an entirely different side of him. His second American television special aired on ABC in February, while his concert performances were increasingly becoming major television events.
Manilow wasn't looking back on his greatest hits.
He was creating them.
That distinction gives the BBC footage an energy that later retrospective concerts simply cannot reproduce. The hairstyles, costumes and arrangements unmistakably belong to the late 1970s, but the performances demonstrate why the songs survived long after the fashions changed.
When Barry Met Britain
Nearly half a century later, Barry Manilow's 1978 BBC special remains more than a vintage television curiosity.
It captures a performer at precisely the moment when enormous American success was becoming international stardom.
There is also something refreshingly sincere about it. Manilow never seemed embarrassed by melody, romance or theatrical excess. If a song needed a huge orchestra, he gave it one. If a finale needed to become bigger, he made it bigger. And if a heartbreaking lyric demanded one more dramatic key change — well, Barry Manilow was certainly not going to stand in its way.
The Royal Albert Hall performances helped begin what would become a decades-long love affair between Manilow and his British fans.
In 1978, however, all of that history was still ahead.
The BBC simply turned on its cameras and captured Barry Manilow doing what he did best: sitting down at a piano, standing beneath the spotlight and turning a room full of strangers into an audience that felt like old friends.
Mandy/Could It Be Magic
Can't Smile Without You
Copacabana
I Write The Songs
