The Greatest Songs of the Fifties is an album by American singer Barry Manilow, released in the United States on January 31, 2006. A significant album for Manilow, it finds the Brooklyn-born crooner taking on songs that were popular in his youth. The project also marked Manilow's return to his former label, Arista, with the company's founder, Clive Davis, setting the singer up with 1950s pop classics much in the way that he steered Rod Stewart in the direction of jazzy standards in his successful The Great American Songbook project.
The album was a hit in the United States. It entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1, giving him the second chart-topping album of his career. His only other No. 1 album was Barry Manilow Live, in 1977. This is also the highest-debuting album of his career, selling over 150,000 copies in its opening week and besting the No. 3 opening of Ultimate Manilow in 2002.
Steve Baxter, Bryant Byers, Craig Gosnell, Charles Loper and Chauncey Welsch – trombone
Wayne Bergeron, Charles Davis, Chris Gray, Warren Leuning, Larry Lunetta and Larry McGuire – trumpet
Mark Adams, Jim Atkinson, Steve Becknell, Paul Klintworth, Danielle Ondarza and Brad Warnaar – French horn
Strings
Larry Corbett, Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, Stephanie Fife, Rowena Hammill, Paula Hochhalter, John Krovoza, Christina Soule and David Speltz – celli
Marcia Dickstein and Gayle Levant – harp
Caroline Buckman, Ken Burward-Hoy, Miguel Ferguson, Sam Formicola, Carrie Holzman, Rodney Hurtz, Kazi Pitelka, Harry Shirinian and Ray Tischer – viola
Brian Benning, Charlie Bisharat, Rebecca Bunnell, Ron Clark, Kevin Connolly, Mario DeLeon, Yvette Devereaux, Assa Drori, Ronald Folsom, Armen Garabedian, Neel Hammond, Johanna Krejci, Liane Mautner, Cynthia Moussas, Jennifer Munday, Alyssa Park, Barbra Porter, Tereza Stanislav, David Stenske, Yan To, Olivia Tsui, Irina Voloshina, Jennifer Walton, Dynell Weber, Margaret Wooten and Shari Zippert – violin
