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| Birth Name(s) : Bette Midler |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
Martin von Haselberg (1984-) |
| Profession:
Musician |
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Full Bette Midler Biography
Bette Davis Midler (born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress and comedienne, also known to her fans as The Divine Miss M. She is named after the actress Bette Davis although Davis pronounced her first name in two syllables, and Midler uses one. During her career, she has won four Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards. She is currently scheduled to succeed Celine Dion as the headliner at Caesars Palace, beginning February 20, 2008.
Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Ruth (née Schindel), a seamstress and housewife, and Fred Midler, a house painter who painted for the Navy while in Hawaii. Her parents were from New Jersey and moved to Honolulu shortly before Midler was born. Midler's family was one of the few Jewish families in a mostly Asian neighborhood. She was raised in nearby Aiea and attended Radford High School in Honolulu. She majored in drama at the University of Hawaii, and earned money in the film Hawaii (released in 1966) as an extra, playing a seasick passenger.
In 1965, she relocated to New York City after using the money she got for playing an extra, and landed her first professional onstage role in Tom Eyen's Off-Off-Broadway plays in 1965, Miss Nefertiti Regrets and Cinderella Revisited, a children's play by day and an adult show by night. From 1966 to 1969 she played the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway; during this period her sister Judith, visiting New York to see her perform, was killed by a taxi cab.
In 1970, Midler began singing the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album, The Divine Miss M in 1973.
She has won four Grammy Awards including the 1973 Best New Artist and the prestigious Record of the Year in 1989 for the # 1 hit "Wind Beneath My Wings", the theme from Beaches. Her rendition of the 1990 "From a Distance" also earned her a Grammy and is another of her most popular songs. When the American Film Institute announced "The 100 years of the Greatest Songs" on June 22, 2004, two of her hits were selected by the board: "Wind Beneath My Wings" (#44) and "The Rose" (#83).
After a long-standing feud with Barry Manilow, the two joined forces for the first time in twenty years in 2003 to record "Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook." Of the project, Barry said he had a dream that he was recording with Bette again, so he called her up with the idea and she agreed that it was due time to work together again. They got Columbia Records on board and the album was an instant success, going gold in only a few short weeks. The album was one of her best-selling albums in 20 years, and was nominated for a Grammy the following year.
In 2003–2004 Midler toured her new show Kiss My Brass to sell-out crowds around the United States. In early 2005, Kiss My Brass was equally successful in Australia. After the success of her last album, Columbia Records considered releasing a live album, but it never came to pass. Instead, Bette joined forces again with Barry Manilow for another tribute album, Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook. Released in October 2005, the album sold 55,000 copies the first week of release and debuted at #10.
Midler has guest-starred on The Simpsons in the episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled". Midler is first seen traversing a highway picking up trash when she is approached by Bart and Lisa with a request for Midler to appear on a show to revive Krusty's dying career. She appeared on Seinfeld in the episode "The Understudy," which was the season finale of that show's sixth season. She also appeared on The Nanny in the aptly titled episode "You Bette Your Life".
Midler married Martin von Haselberg (Harry Kipper of her opening act the Kipper Kids) on December 16, 1984 in a chapel in Las Vegas. They had a daughter, Sophie Frederica Alohilani von Haselberg, on November 14, 1986.
In 1999, the city planned to auction 114 community gardens for commercial development. Midler led a coalition of greening organizations to save them. NYRP took ownership of 60 of the most neglected plots. Today Midler and her organization work with local volunteers and community groups to ensure that these gardens are kept safe, clean and vibrant. In 2003, Midler opened Swindler Cove Park, a new five-acre public park on the Harlem River shore featuring specially designed educational facilities and the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, the first community rowing facility to be built on the Harlem River in more than 100 years. The organization offers free in-school and after-school environmental education programming to students from high-poverty Title I schools. The NYRP has been around for almost 11 years now, making New York a better and cleaner place.
from Songs for the New Depression
- 1976 "Strangers in the Night" US AC: 45
- 1976 "Old Cape Cod" US AC: 36
from The Rose soundtrack
- 1980 "When a Man Loves a Woman" US Pop: 35
- 1980 "The Rose" US Pop: 3, US AC: 1 (gold)
from No Frills
- 1983 "All I Need to Know" US Pop: 77; US AC: 39
- 1983 "Favourite Waste of Time" US Pop: 78
- 1984 "Beast of Burden" US Pop: 71
from For the Boys soundtrack
- 1991 "Every Road Leads Back to You" US Pop: 78; US AC: 15
- 1992 "In My Life" US AC: 20
from Bathhouse Betty
- 1998 "My One True Friend" US AC: 16, UK 58
- 1999 "I'm Beautiful" Dance Club Play: 1; US Pop: 60 |
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