Marty Erlichman, Barbra Streisand's Longtime Manager, Dies at 97
Marty Erlichman, the manager who guided Barbra Streisand's career for more than six decades, died on Oct. 31. He was 97. A press release announcing his death was issued on Nov. 1, and Billboard reported that his death was due to age-related causes.
A manager handles an artist's business and day-to-day career decisions, from contracts to which projects to take on. Erlichman held that role for Streisand from 1961, when she was still early in her career. He had first seen her when she was 19, opening for the comedian Phil Leeds at the Bon Soir nightclub in Greenwich Village, New York. Later he helped secure her first recording contract with Columbia Records.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on Sept. 13, 1929, Erlichman attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He moved into television and film as well as music. He won an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award as executive producer of Barbra: The Concert, the 1994 HBO special, according to Billboard. An executive producer oversees the money and the overall shape of a production rather than the day-to-day filming.
His client list stretched well beyond Streisand. Billboard listed The Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Chevy Chase, George Foreman and Bob Crewe among his management clients. The New York Times, in its own obituary, also named Joan Rivers as one of his clients. On the film side, he produced For Pete's Sake (1974), Coma (1978) and Breathless (1983).
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Miko Mayama Erlichman, and his son, J.J. Erlichman. Survivors also include J.J.'s wife, Talia, and four grandchildren. The family plans a private service to honour his life.
For a reader who follows the music business mainly through the charts, the story is a reminder of how much of it runs on long working relationships. A manager who stays with one artist for sixty years is rare in an industry where careers and labels change quickly. Erlichman's career spanned folk, pop, comedy and film, and the people he worked with ranged from famous names to performers still building their first audiences.
