‘When I wanted to get love from my mother, she just gave me food’. How Barbra Streisand proved to the world that a poor girl with a non-standard look can also become a ‘star’

Barbara Streisand has changed the world of music. The singer’s albums have sold millions of copies, and her success has been compared to a fame of Elvis Presley.

But few know that before becoming famous, Barbara had to endure many hardships and even mockery.

Her father was a teacher, mother worked at the school as a secretary. It was at school that her parents got acquainted.

Before becoming a secretary, Barbra’s mother wanted to become a professional singer, but she could not fulfill her dream.

Barbra’s father died of an illness at the age of 34, when the girl was less than a year and a half old.

The family lived in hopeless poverty. Due to low paid work, the mother was not able to fully support her child. He worked tirelessly to pay the bills and spent little time with her daughter.

Streisand once confessed.

‘When I wanted to get love from my mother, she just gave me food’.

At school, Barbara was curious, but she was always popular for her lack of discipline. During those years she fell in love with Bobby Fischer, who later became a chess genius.

In her free time, the future singer liked to sit on the bench in front of her house and sing, she was considered a ‘girl with a good voice’.

The first stage was when she was 15 years old, being part in a play, and already at the age of 16 she started living alone, doing any job. She worked as a telephone operator, restaurant cashier and etc.

The mother was terrified of her daughter’s lifestyle and begged her to give up attempts to break into show business. But Barbara really wanted to prove to her mother that she was going to be a star.

Music career

Streisand began professional music career in the 1960s. And in 1962 she had small participation in the Broadway show.

The applause of the audience did not stop for a long time. At that time the girl was constantly told that she was too ugly, she could not become famous, she had to change her nose.

‘Why did nose surgery?’ I had no money, I do not trust plastic surgeons. And, in general, I have always thought that my nose perfectly fills my face,’ confessed Barbra.

At the age of 18, she changed his name to Barbra, explaining that she did not like the name Barbara, but did not want to give it up altogether.

At the age of 21, Barbra signed with Columbia Records.

‘I had the opportunity to choose the material independently. The label pressured me several times to try to get me to sing songs I did not like.

‘But I reminded them of that point and insisted that I sing songs that were very important to me,’ the singer recalled.

Streisand’s debut album became a bestseller in the country. And after the release of the second album, she was called ‘the most promising person after Elvis Presley’.

Around the same time, she married actor Eliot Gould. Three years later, their son, Jason, was born, and five years later, the couple divorced. To the question why they separated, Eliot answered: ‘she has become more powerful than we are.’

Barbra made her film debut at the age of 26, playing the main character in ‘Funny Girl’. For this film, Barbra won the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming one of the few actors to receive this award for the first movie.

Streisand continued her acting, next roles were not so big and great. However, in 1976, she won a second Oscar for her work on the film ‘The Star Was Born’, becoming the first female composer to receive this award.

In the late 1970s, she was recognized as the most successful singer in the United States. Only Elvis Presley The The Beatles managed to sell more albums. From 1969 to 1972, Barbara played for clubs in Las Vegas, but then stopped working.

In 1993, after a long hiatus, Streisand announced full-scale concerts. Tickets sold out in just one hour. Their cost ranged from $ 50 to $ 1,500, making Barbra the highest paid concert performer in history.

Love relationships

After the concert tours, Barbra focused on acting and directing. At that time, a romance began between her and her future second husband, James Brolin, and before that she met many famous people, Richard Gere’s Andre Agassi, who was 28 years younger than her.

Barbara met James Brolin in 1996, and two years later they officially got married. The couple is still together, their happy marriage has been going on for almost a quarter of a century.

For millions of people, this woman has become an example of how to succeed without having a model exterior և favorable starting conditions.

Billboard magazine named the singer the best modern performer. She has dozens of awards: 2 ‘Oscars’, 10 ‘Grammys’, 5 ‘Emmys’ և 9 ‘Golden Globes’.

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