1970s: Success

Manilow's association with Bette Midler began at the Continental Baths in New York City[citation needed]. He accompanied her and other artists on the piano from 1970 to 1971, and Midler chose Manilow to assist with the production of her first two albums, The Divine Miss M (1972) and Bette Midler (1973), and act as her musical director on the The Divine Miss M tour. Altogether, Manilow worked with Midler for four years, from 1971 to 1975.

In 1973, Bell Records released Manilow's first album, Barry Manilow I, which offered an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop and guitar-driven rock music. The album included a song that Manilow had composed for the 1972 war drama Parades. Among the songs in the album were Friends, Cloudburst, and Could It Be Magic. Bette Midler permitted Manilow to sing three of the songs in that album during intermission in her show.

As a result of a corporate takeover, Bell Records, along with other labels, was merged into a new entity named Arista Records, under the leadership of Clive Davis, who seized the opportunity to drop many artists. However, after seeing Manilow perform as the opening act at a Dionne Warwick concert, he was convinced that he had a winner on his hands, and a mentorship lasting decades resulted.

The partnership began to bear fruit in 1974, with the release of Manilow's second album, Barry Manilow II, on both Bell and Arista, which contained the breakthrough number-one hit, Mandy. Ironically, Manilow had not wanted to record Mandy, as he hadn't written it — but the song was included at the insistence of Clive Davis.

Following the success of Barry Manilow II, the first Bell release was re-mixed and re-issued as Barry Manilow I.

When Manilow went on his first tour, he included as part of his show A Very Strange Medley, a sampling of some of the commercial jingles that he had written or sung.

Beginning with Manilow's March 22, 1975 appearance on American Bandstand to promote Barry Manilow II (where he sang Mandy and It's A Miracle), a productive friendship with Dick Clark started. Numerous appearances by Manilow on Clark's productions of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, singing his original seasonal favorite It's Just Another New Year's Eve, American Bandstand anniversary shows, American Music Awards performances and his 1985 television movie Copacabana are among their projects together.

Mandy was the start of a string of hit singles and albums that lasted through the rest of the 1970s to the early 1980s, coming from the multi-platinum and multi-hit albums Tryin' to Get the Feeling, This One's for You, Even Now and One Voice.

Despite being a solid songwriter in his own right, Manilow has had great success with songs by others. Among the hits which he did not write are Mandy, Tryin’ to Get the Feeling Again, Weekend in New England, Looks Like We Made It, Can't Smile Without You and Ready to Take a Chance Again. I Write The Songs, for example, was written by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys. According to album liner notes, Manilow did, however, co-produce them with Ron Dante and arrange them.

Manilow's breakthrough in Britain came with the release of Manilow Magic - The Best Of Barry Manilow, also known as Greatest Hits. On its initial release, the was accompanied by a large television advertising campaign, but the album was only available by mail order on the Teledisc label.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ABC aired four variety television specials starring and executive produced by Manilow. The Barry Manilow Special with Penny Marshall as his guest premiered on March 2, 1977 to an audience of 37 million. The breakthrough special was nominated for four Emmys and won in the category of Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special.

The Second Barry Manilow Special in 1978, with Ray Charles as his guest, was also nominated for four Emmys.

Manilow's Ready To Take a Chance Again and Copacabana originated in the film Foul Play. Ready To Take A Chance Again was nominated that year for the Best Original Song. Copacabana would later take the form of a musical television movie starring Manilow and three musical plays.

On February 11, 1979, a concert from Manilow's sold-out dates at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California was aired on HBO's series Standing Room Only, which was the first pay-television show to seriously challenge network primetime specials in the ratings. From the same tour in 1978, a one-hour special from Manilow's sold out concert at Royal Albert Hall aired in England.

On May 23, 1979, ABC aired The Third Barry Manilow Special, with John Denver as his guest. This special was nominated for two Emmy awards and won for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. Also in 1979, Manilow produced Dionne Warwick's comeback album Dionne. The Arista album was her first to go platinum and spawned I'll Never Love This Way Again and Deja Vu. He also scored a top ten hit of his own in the Fall of 1979 with the song Ships from the Album One Voice.