Bette Midler : still divine / Mark Bego ; introduction by Rita Coolidge.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bego, Mark.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Midler, Bette.

Singers--United States--Biography.

Singers.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xv, 398 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Cooper Square Press edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Cooper Square Press, 2002.

Summary:

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1945, as a member of the only Jewish family in a Polynesian neighborhood, Bette Midler moved to New York in the 1960s to try her luck in show-biz. She soon developed a hugely popular nightclub act that included show tunes, pop hits, and comedy. She entered the Billboard Top Ten in 1972 with her cover of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," and snapped up an Oscar nomination and a Grammy for her contributions to the 1979 film The Rose. Since then, she has starred in movies such as Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, Big Business, Get Shorty, Beaches, The First Wives Club, and For the Boys, for which she earned a second Academy Award nomination. Besides gold albums and sold-out shows, she has recorded hits like "Do You Want To Dance?" "Beast of Burden," "Miss Otis Regrets," "When a Man Loves a Woman," "One for My Baby," "From a Distance," and the number-one "Wind beneath My Wings." The most comprehensive biography available, Bette Midler brings the dynamic redhead to vivid life. Grounding his research in dozens of firsthand interviews with Midler's friends and associates (including Barry Manilow). New York Times best-selling celebrity biographer and pop culture critic Mark Bego herein explores Midler's consistently gutsy -- and often headline-grabbing -- personal and professional choices.

Never content to rely on past successes, Midler has been involved with musical theater (the smash Divine Madness); charity work (U.S.A. for Africa); conservation (founder of the New York Restoration Project); stand-up (the record Mud Will Be Flung Tonight); television (her short-lived sitcom Bette); and even film production (her very successful company All Girl Productions). From her beginnings as a chorus member in Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof through her very eventful life during the early years of the twenty-first century, Bette Midler is an indispensable portrait of the Divine Miss M -- in public and private.

Contents:

Bette Midler: the ultimate diva

Aloha, Honolulu

From pineapples to the Big Apple

Steaming up the continental baths

Enter: the divine Miss M

Higher and higher

Instant stardom, instant breakdown

Clams on the half shell

The new depression

The bumpy road back to the top

Everything comes up roses

Totally jinxed

Ready to begin again

Her outrageous fortune

A divine new plateau

From a distance

Bette of roses

First wives club

Isn't she great?

Bette TV

Experience the divine.

Notes:

Includes rev. and expanded portion of Bette Midler: outrageously divine, 1987.

Includes bibliographical references (page [326]), discography (pages [327]-345), filmography (pages [346]-359), and index.

ISBN:

0815412320

OCLC:

50006559