LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Bette Midler
built 243 days ago
Bette Midler was a local hit as a bathhouse and cabaret singer in New York in the early 1970s. (As her website puts it, "Bawdy humor, revealing costumes and a distinctive voice made for an act that was poignant, tacky, and altogether fabulous.") Her 1972 album, The Divine Miss M, included the hit single "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and won her both a Grammy as best new artist and a national following. In 1979 she became a star in the movies as well, earning an Oscar nomination for her performance as a Janis Joplin-like singer in The Rose; the soundtrack album was a hit as well. After a few less-successful films she starred in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986, with Nick Nolte) and Beaches (1988). She continued to tour, known for her elaborate, high-energy stage productions and her loyal following. Her other films include Hocus Pocus (1993, with Sarah Jessica Parker), The First Wives' Club (1996, with Diane Keaton) and Drowning Mona (2000, with Neve Campbell).
Source:
Bette Midler (born December 1, 1945) is a singer, actress and comedienne. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, she majored in drama at the University of Hawaii, but got her start singing in gay bathhouses in New York City where, among others, she became friends with Barry Manilow, who was her piano accompanist. He produced her first major album, The Divine Miss M (... the name by which she is know to her fans.)
Source:
One of the world's best-loved and most versatile entertainers, Bette Midler has garnered accolades in all quarters of show business. She's earned four Grammy Awards including Song of the Year (1989: "Wind Beneath My Wings", 1990: "From A Distance") and Record of the Year (1989: "Wind Beneath My Wings"); two Academy Award nominations, three Emmy Awards, one Tony Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and nine American Comedy Awards.
Source:
Synopsis: Bette Midler stars as Stella Claire, a working class, fun-loving barmaid in northern New York State. A brief affair with handsome Stephen Dallas (Stephen Collins) produces a daughter, Jenny (Trini Alvarado), who Stella insists upon raising alone, despite Dallas' marriage offer. As the years passRead More
Source:
Bette Midler counts singing as only one of her talents; at times, since 1972, when she first came to national recognition, it has seemed to be the least of her talents. Still, she has managed to score a number of major hits in a roller-coaster career as a recording artist. Born in Paterson, NJ, and raised in Hawaii, Midler early on showed an interest in singing and acting, and by the '60s she had moved to New York and gotten a role in the long-running Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof. Midler developed a nightclub act that included comedy and singing of a variety of kinds of material, including show tunes, pop hits, and even a takeoff on the Andrews Sisters, and appeared with increasing frequency in New York with her accompanist, Barry Manilow. She was signed to Atlantic Records and released The Divine Miss M (1972), which went gold and included a Top Ten single cover of the Andrews Sisters' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Bette Midler (1973) was similarly successful.
Source:
Bette Midler was born and raised in Honolulu, where the Midlers were the only Jewish family in a mostly-Samoan neighborhood. In the mid-60s, Midler moved to New York, with hopes of becoming a Broadway star. She was the second actress to play Zero Mostel's daughter Tzeitel in the first Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. Midler's film debut came as the Virgin Mary in The Greatest Story Ever Overtold, a satire of Christianity made in 1971, and renamed The Divine Mr. J a few years later, to capitalize on Midler's growing fame. She ... lent her voice to a very low-budget musical comedy called Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers, starring legendary female impersonator Holly Woodlawn.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Bette Midler