Marilyn Michaels
Encyclopedia
Marilyn Michaels is an American comedic actress, impressionist and singer. She auditioned for and won an RCA
recording contract, singing the follow-up song to Ray Peterson
's "Tell Laura I Love Her", entitled, "Tell Tommy I Miss Him". She later won contracts with Warner Bros. Records
and ABC Paramount.
and attended the High School of Music and Art as a music major, but in her sophomore year she switched to art. Michaels began her career singing with her mother, Fraydele Oysher, when she was seven. At the age of 15 she was soloist in her father's choir, the late Metropolitan Opera
basso, Harold Sternberg. The cantor was her uncle, Moishe Oysher. In 1961 she changed her name to Toni Michaels.
She began singing in Catskills Resorts
and clubs, starring at the world famous Copa
, and made her first television appearances on such shows as The Hollywood Palace
, The Ed Sullivan Show
and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
She caught the eye of composer Jule Styne
and was chosen to play the role of Fannie Brice in the national touring company of Funny Girl
, while Barbra Streisand
was still playing it on Broadway. She was later a repertory player in ABC
televisions' The Kopycats. Her character portrayals, impressions and singing have been on The Love Boat
, Regis and Kathie Lee, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
, The Today Show, 'The Dean Martin Show
, The Red Skelton Show
, The Jonathan Winters Show, The Ed Sullivan Show
, Sullivan On Broadway Special, Name of the Game
(with Sammy Davis Jr.), The Flip Wilson Show
, The Mike Douglas Show
, The Merv Griffin Show
, The Howard Stern Show, and The Hollywood Squares.
She has appeared with Don Rickles
in Las Vegas
and at the Westbury Music Fair
, and starred with Rich Little
in the National Campaign for Diet 7UP. That was followed with a Playboy
pictorial, Prime Mime, in August 1982. It featured Marilyn as six different characters, Dolly Parton
, Bo Derek
, Barbra Streisand
, Lily Tomlin
, Julie Andrews
and Bette Midler
.
In 1991, Marilyn starred in the hit show, Catskills On Broadway. She followed with her own Radio Show, The Broadway Hour and her own musical show at Harrah's in Atlantic City, Broadway Ballyhoo. Known as a "triple threat performer" she has hosted the comedy stand up, Girls Night Out for Lifetime
, CNBC
's Talk Live and the WLIW Awards in Excellence Gala.
She won a Soap Opera Digest Award for her guest appearance on the soaper, One Life to Live
. Her rendition of Donna Summer
and Barbra Streisand
singing via split screen on an NBC Award show has become a cult favorite. She has appeared with the Philadelphia and Long Island Symphonies, as well narrator with multiple personalities in the Emmy winning Reading Rainbow
for PBS
(Gregory the Terrible Eater) and the audio book, Frankly Scarlett, I Do Give A Damn (Harper Collins)
She sings in six languages and has guest starred on the PBS
special Another Mitzvah, as well as performed in concert at Town Hall, The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, and theaters throughout the US
and England
.
Great Female Singers 11
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
recording contract, singing the follow-up song to Ray Peterson
Ray Peterson
Ray Peterson was an American pop music singer who was best remembered for singing "Tell Laura I Love Her" and "Corrine, Corrina" in the 1960s.-Career:...
's "Tell Laura I Love Her", entitled, "Tell Tommy I Miss Him". She later won contracts with Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
and ABC Paramount.
Career
Marilyn Sternberg was born in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and attended the High School of Music and Art as a music major, but in her sophomore year she switched to art. Michaels began her career singing with her mother, Fraydele Oysher, when she was seven. At the age of 15 she was soloist in her father's choir, the late Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
basso, Harold Sternberg. The cantor was her uncle, Moishe Oysher. In 1961 she changed her name to Toni Michaels.
She began singing in Catskills Resorts
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
and clubs, starring at the world famous Copa
Copacabana (nightclub)
The Copacabana is a famous New York City nightclub. Many entertainers, among them Danny Thomas, Pat Cooper and the comedy team of Martin and Lewis, made their debuts at the Copacabana. The 1978 Barry Manilow song "Copacabana" is named after, and is about the nightclub. Part of the 2003 Yerba...
, and made her first television appearances on such shows as The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. It began as a mid-season replacement for the short-lived Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months...
, The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
She caught the eye of composer Jule Styne
Jule Styne
Jule Styne was a British-born American songwriter especially famous for a series of Broadway musicals, which included several very well known and frequently revived shows.-Early life:...
and was chosen to play the role of Fannie Brice in the national touring company of Funny Girl
Funny Girl
Funny Girl is a musical with a book by Isobel Lennart, music by Jule Styne, and lyrics by Bob Merrill. The semi-biographical plot is based on the life and career of Broadway, film star and comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein...
, while Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
was still playing it on Broadway. She was later a repertory player in ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
televisions' The Kopycats. Her character portrayals, impressions and singing have been on The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
, Regis and Kathie Lee, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous is a television series that aired in syndication from 1984 to 1995. The show featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes and business moguls....
, The Today Show, 'The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
, The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as...
, The Jonathan Winters Show, The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, Sullivan On Broadway Special, Name of the Game
Name of the Game
"Name of the Game" is the first single to come from Tweekend, The Crystal Method's second studio album. Despite the massive popularity of the song, The Crystal Method almost never plays it live. The track features guitars by Tom Morello, vocals by Ryan "Ryu" Maginn, and scratching by DJ Swamp; it...
(with Sammy Davis Jr.), The Flip Wilson Show
The Flip Wilson Show
The Flip Wilson Show is a variety show that aired in the U.S. on NBC from September 17, 1970 to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs starring a black person in the title role to become highly successful with a...
, The Mike Douglas Show
The Mike Douglas Show
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that aired in syndication from 1961 to 1982, distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations.The program featured light banter with...
, The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
, The Howard Stern Show, and The Hollywood Squares.
She has appeared with Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and at the Westbury Music Fair
Westbury Music Fair
The NYCB Theater at Westbury is an entertainment venue located in Westbury, New York constructed in theater in the round style with seating for 3,000 that was originally developed as a means to present top performers and productions of popular theatrical musicals at a series of venues located in...
, and starred with Rich Little
Rich Little
Richard Caruthers "Rich" Little is a Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor. He has long been known throughout the world as a top impersonator of famous people, resulting in his nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices"....
in the National Campaign for Diet 7UP. That was followed with a Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
pictorial, Prime Mime, in August 1982. It featured Marilyn as six different characters, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, Bo Derek
Bo Derek
Mary Cathleen Collins , better known as Bo Derek, is an American film and television actress, model, and sex symbol, known for her role as Jenny Hanley in the 1979 comedy film 10. However, Derek's film career soon faltered; her later films, including, Bolero and Ghosts Can't Do It , were poorly...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
, Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
and Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
.
In 1991, Marilyn starred in the hit show, Catskills On Broadway. She followed with her own Radio Show, The Broadway Hour and her own musical show at Harrah's in Atlantic City, Broadway Ballyhoo. Known as a "triple threat performer" she has hosted the comedy stand up, Girls Night Out for Lifetime
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
, CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
's Talk Live and the WLIW Awards in Excellence Gala.
She won a Soap Opera Digest Award for her guest appearance on the soaper, One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
. Her rendition of Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
and Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
singing via split screen on an NBC Award show has become a cult favorite. She has appeared with the Philadelphia and Long Island Symphonies, as well narrator with multiple personalities in the Emmy winning Reading Rainbow
Reading Rainbow
Reading Rainbow is an American children's television series aired by PBS from June 6, 1983 until November 10, 2006 that encouraged reading among children. The award-winning public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including scores of Emmy Awards, many for "Outstanding Children's...
for PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(Gregory the Terrible Eater) and the audio book, Frankly Scarlett, I Do Give A Damn (Harper Collins)
She sings in six languages and has guest starred on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
special Another Mitzvah, as well as performed in concert at Town Hall, The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, and theaters throughout the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Personal life
Marilyn was married to Isaac Robbins, an interior designer, in 1968, They divorced in 1970. In 1982, she married surgeon Dr. Peter Wilk, they have one son, Mark Edward. They divorced in 2001. She married retired attorney, Steven B. Portnoff on October 2, 2008.Awards
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Commercials and endorsements
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Recordings
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External links
- Marilyn Michaels official website
- Marilyn Michaels on Youtube.com
- Marilyn Michaels on Amazon.com CD's and memorabilia
- Marilyn Michaels on ITUNES
Great Female Singers 11