Barbra Streisand on the Duets That Define Her: ‘I Like Drama'

New York Times

3 days ago

To Barbra Streisand, a duet isn't just a song. 'It's a dramatic process,' she said. 'It's wondering who is this guy in the song? Who is this girl? What's happening with them?'
Figuring that out plays straight into Streisand's core identity as an artist. 'I'm an actress first,' she added. 'I like drama.'
Small wonder she has performed character-driven duets so often, so creatively and with such commercial success. In October 1963, following the release of Streisand's debut album, Judy Garland invited her to appear in an episode of her TV show; their joint performance all but anointed the younger as her vocal heir.
In the decades since, many of her highest-charting songs have been duets, starting in 1978 with Neil Diamond on their death-of-a-love ballad, 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers,' followed the next year by her diva-off with Donna Summer on 'No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).' Both shot straight to No. 1. In the early 1980s, she scored two Top 10 Billboard hits with Barry Gibb, chased by a dalliance with Bryan Adams
In 2014, Streisand issued an entire album of double billings titled 'Partners,' which teamed her with stars from the quick (John Mayer on 'Come Rain or Come Shine') to the dead (Elvis Presley via a vocal sample from the singer's 1956 recording of 'Love Me Tender'). Both that album, and its follow-up, 'Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway,' scaled Billboard's peak.
Next week, Streisand, 83, will release a sequel, 'The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two,' featuring contemporaries of different musical sensibilities, like Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan, as well as younger voices including Hozier and Sam Smith.
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