1960s: Beginnings

Following graduation, Manilow enrolled at the New York College of Music and The Juilliard School, while working in the mailroom at CBS to pay his expenses. At CBS in 1964, the 21-year-old Manilow met Bro Herrod, a director, who asked him to arrange some public domain songs for a musical adaptation of the melodrama, The Drunkard. Instead, he wrote an entire original score. The musical became a success and ran Off-Broadway for eight years at the 13th Street Theatre in New York.

Also in 1964, Manilow married his high school sweetheart, Susan Deixler. However, Manilow's devotion to his musical interests caused tension in the marriage. When he was 22, he sought advice about whether to take up music full-time from a column in Playboy magazine, which published his letter in its December, 1965 issue and recommended that he go sow your notes. On January 6, 1966, Manilow and Deixler signed the annulment decree she filed after he asked for a divorce.

Manilow earned money by working as a pianist, producer and arranger. Manilow has said of that time that he played piano for anybody: If the check cleared, I was there.[citation needed]

Manilow worked as a commercial jingle writer/singer, an activity that continued well into the 1970s. He penned many of the jingles that he performed, including those for Bowlene Toilet Cleaner, State Farm Insurance, Stridex acne cleanser and Band-Aid, amongst others. His singing-only credits included Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi, Jack in the Box, Dr Pepper, and the famed McDonald's You Deserve a Break Today campaign. Manilow won two Clio Awards in 1976 for his work for Tab and Band-Aid.

By 1967, Manilow was the musical director for the WCBS-TV series Callback. He next conducted and arranged for Ed Sullivan's production company, arranging a new theme for The Late Show, while still writing, producing and singing his radio and television jingles. At the same time, he and Jeanne Lucas performed as a duo for a two-season run at New York's Upstairs at the Downstairs club.