Barbra Streisand Biography
Successful music and film celebrity Babra Streisand is not widely known by her birth name Barbara Joan Streisand. She was born to staunch-Jewish parents Emmanuel and Diana Streisand on April 24th 1942. Her road to pop success begun with an active childhood involvement in school plays and musicals, it was unclear where she had gotten the keen interest in arts since her family had no record of musicians or film stars for generations. Still Babra kept on with her love despite being the only one in the family to pursue an alien career.
In 1943 the family was hit hard by Emmanuel’s loss in a longstanding battle with a brain tumour. Being the eldest Barbra was to take on a role in watching over her siblings as a teenager. Life was hard for the family and she had to seek grants to enable her attend school part-time and the rest of the time she watched over the house when Diana Streisand was at work. Babra was able to get education at the Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn and later the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club. Her time was shared between school and night clubs where she sang to eager crowds for money.
At school Babra took part in almost all the school productions and she gained a reputation for excellent role performance. She was encouraged by teachers to take up classes in acting but being a child worker just to be able to feed herself she could not afford the luxury of a coach so she became self-taught on the ropes of acting and singing.
In the early 60’s Babra took on television sets with a role in ‘A Sleepin Bee’, a film that received great success thanks to the actress’ outstanding performance. She was also featured in ‘Funny Girl’, a theatre production that also got full audiences during the premiers.
Her acting career is estimated at close to 100 million dollars and is one of the most awarded artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. After numerous roles on television and Broadway and 65 known albums in circulation she has been honoured extensively in the Academy, Emmy, Tony, Oscar, Grammy and golden Glove Awards throughout her career.
The Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA rated her one of the greatest success in the history of entertainment. Her albums have either gone Gold or Platinum.
On screen she has worked in ‘One Voice’, ‘The Belle of 14th Street’, ‘A Happening in Central Park’, ‘Color Me Babra’ and ‘My Name is Babra’.
Albums credited to the singer include ‘The Barbra Streisand Album’, ‘The Second Barbra Streisand Album’, ‘Funny Girl’, ‘: A Christmas Album’ and ‘What About Today?’. She is the only living artist to have a record 65 albums to her name.
She continues to donate extensively towards health foundations, perhaps as a way to get over the death of her father to a complicated brain malfunction. Her humanitarian goes as far as supporting of victims of the AIDS pandemic in third world countries, she campaigns for HIV testing and the use of condoms for safe sex.
Her music blends pop, contemporary and Broadway styles.
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