''15 Minutes'' is the twenty-eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. It was released on June 14, 2011, by Stiletto Entertainment

Background

The album was the first independent release of Manilow's career, through his Stiletto Entertainment label (distributed by Fontana/

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

). In interviews around the time of the release, Manilow said that his long-time friend and mentor, Clive Davis, had told him that he could not sell an album of Manilow performing any new Manilow songs now, given the string of great albums covering other artists' songs Manilow released in the 1990s and 2000s. But Manilow thought he could still be relevant as a songwriter too. This led to his second departure from Arista and the decision to go independent. The majority of the songs were co-written with longtime lyricist Enoch Anderson, with one song, "Wine Song," co-written with another longtime lyricist, Adrienne Anderson.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Manilow "not only rides a tightly wound drum loop on "Work the Room", but he also raps, a development nearly as disconcerting as the cuss he slips into its chorus." ''15 Minutes'' offers something "unexpected", he added. At the end of his review, Erlewine noted that Manilow is "trying hard to deliver serious, sharply crafted pop, and even if the album doesn't entirely work, it's hard not to give him considerable credit for his ambition."

Awards

''15 Minutes'' won Manilow a Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

nomination in 2012.

Commercial performance

The album debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart at its peak position of number 7, his first studio album of mostly original songs to crack the Top 10 since 1979's '' One Voice''. It also debuted on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

at its peak of number 20. In Canada, the album reached number 36 on the Canadian Albums Chart.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:15 Minutes (Barry Manilow Album) 2011 albums Barry Manilow albums Rock operas Concept albums