Synopsis

Barry Manilow continues his songwriter's insight into the Great American Songbook. This week he celebrates the composer and lyricist Jerry Herman.

Gerald Herman was born in New York in 1931 and raised in Jersey. Self-taught as a musician, he studied drama at the University of Miami, where he began writing for revue. His first big success on Broadway came with 1961's Milk and Honey, which picked up Grammy and Tony nominations, but it was Hello, Dolly! that really launched him into the big time.

Opening in 1964, Hello, Dolly! ran for ran for 2,844 performances and became Broadway's longest-running musical. It won ten Tony awards, including Best Composer and Lyricist, while the 1969 film adaptation picked up three Oscars. Herman's later works include Mame, Mack and Mabel, and La Cage Aux Folles, while subsequent accolades include the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein Awards, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Tony Awards' Lifetime Achievement Award, and a 2010 Kennedy Center Honor.