Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ICONS
Two years after confirming that he is gay, Barry Manilow sits backstage after his Vegas show and tells of his joy at being able to call Garry Kief, the man he fell for in 1978 and married in 2014, his husband.
Manilow, 75, says: “It’s absolutely wonderful. I went through many, many years when I couldn’t do that. It would have killed my career. Immediately.”
In the years between starting a relationship with Garry, also his manager, and introducing him to the world as his husband, Manilow did all he could to hide his sexuality.
He says: “As soon as the word got out my career would have been over.
“It was stupid then but it was true. Everybody knew it, we had to watch out for making a mistake. Not that everybody didn’t know, people are very smart.
“I thought I wasn’t hiding anything, but I was also not publicising it. If I publicised it, especially in the 70s and 80s – no way.
“When I started, I knew I was gay, I had a hit record and I was on the cover of Teen Beat magazine. Now what do I do? I guess it became OK a couple of years ago.”
Since he came out to People magazine in 2017, he says the reaction of his fans has been positive, with “not one note” of negativity.
He says: “I knew they would be OK with it. All they ever cared about was my happiness. I think they were thrilled I had someone in my life like Garry.”
HPERFORMING
e met Garry, then a TV executive, in 1978 and “knew that was it” from the start. They married at their 53-acre Palm Springs estate in April 2014 in a low-key, private ceremony.
Manilow also credits Garry with rescuing him from a desperate financial situation. He says: “I was screwed over in the beginning. I was an idiot from Brooklyn who never got any money.
“You hear this over and over from young people, they get hit records, become millionaires and don’t know what to do with it. I hired somebody I trusted and shouldn’t have.
“Suddenly I had $11,000 in the bank. That was it, after I Write The Songs and Mandy and all that touring.” Garry took over as manager and president of Barry Manilow Productions, roles he still holds today.
Manilow says: “Thank God I met Garry because he’s such a