Barry Manilow walked back onto the stage of the International Theater at Westgate Las Vegas on Thursday, October 15, with something to get off his chest. A week earlier, he had cut one show short after two songs and canceled the next night entirely. In the days that followed, a report made the rounds claiming the singer had collapsed in the wings.
Manilow, who is 83, told his audience he had read that report himself. His reaction was blunt, and his explanation of what actually happened that night was the first time fans heard it from him directly. Here is how the weekend unfolded, and what the man behind “Mandy” says really took him off the stage.
What Went Wrong During Barry Manilow’s Vegas Comeback Weekend?
The weekend was supposed to be a celebration. According to Rolling Stone, Manilow’s return show on Thursday, October 8, went off without a problem. It was his first time back at the Westgate after a six-week break.
Friday, October 9, was different. Scott Roeben of Vital Vegas reported that Manilow sang “It’s a Miracle” and “I’m Your Man” and then left the stage. Billboard reported that he told the crowd, “Talk amongst yourselves,” before he went. His band played on for a few more songs, but he never came back. A voice over the sound system finally told the audience that the show was over “due to circumstances beyond our control.”
Saturday’s show on October 10 was canceled. Representatives for Manilow and the resort gave Variety a short statement, which Rolling Stone and others repeated. It said, “Barry got hit with bronchitis and had to cancel his Friday and Saturday shows.”
That was not the first rough night of the year. On August 20, Manilow left the Westgate stage after about 40 minutes, and the stoppage was blamed on technical difficulties. Two more shows were then canceled over what his team called “technical and vocal problems.” In late August, he announced a break, explaining that “we were pushing a little too hard,” as reported by WSOC. Earlier in 2026 he had also postponed and later canceled a concert in Lexington, Kentucky. To understand why every canceled show draws so much worry, you have to go back to last December.
How Did A Spot On His Lung Change Barry Manilow’s Year?
On December 22, 2025, Manilow told fans he had early-stage lung cancer. He had gone through six weeks of bronchitis, followed by a five-week relapse, according to Rolling Stone. An MRI ordered afterward found a cancerous spot on his left lung. He called it lucky that doctors had caught it “so early.”
Surgeons removed part of his left lung in December. Wikipedia and Vital Vegas both note that he had smoked since he was nine years old. He quit at 39. Doctors did not believe the cancer had spread, and he did not need chemotherapy or radiation.
The recovery was slower than he hoped. In March, he told fans, as reported by Fox News, “It’s been a long ride, and since I have no patience, it’s been agony.” He said he still could not sing more than three songs in a row before he had to stop. He also shared his surgeon’s warning: “Barry, you won’t be ready to do a 90-minute show. Your lungs aren’t ready yet.”
His Westgate return was pushed back from February several times while he healed. He did make it out on the road this summer for his farewell tour, The Last Concerts, according to Rolling Stone. Through every postponement, one person has been at his side for nearly half a century.
Who Has Stood Beside Barry Manilow Since 1978?
Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus in Brooklyn on June 17, 1943, which makes him 83 today. Before the hits, he wrote and sang commercial jingles for State Farm and Band-Aid. In 1971, he was Bette Midler’s piano player at the Continental Baths in New York. He went on to produce her first albums, including The Divine Miss M.
“Mandy” became his first No. 1 single in January 1975. “I Write the Songs” followed it to the top, and “Copacabana (At the Copa)” won him the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. He has sold more than 85 million records as a solo artist. In September 2023 he played his 637th show at the Westgate, passing the 636 Elvis Presley played at the same venue. “What’s [really] great is being in the same sentence as Elvis Presley,” he told Entertainment Tonight.
Garry Kief came into his life in 1978 and later became his manager. The two married privately at their Palm Springs home in April 2014, according to Entertainment Tonight. The news did not come out until 2015, when their friend Suzanne Somers mentioned the wedding. Manilow spoke publicly about being gay for the first time in a 2017 interview with People.
“Without Garry, I don’t know whether it would have been as much fun or as beautiful as it has been for me,” he told Entertainment Tonight. That support has carried him through a hard year. So when a story claimed he had collapsed backstage, Manilow decided to answer it himself.
What Did Barry Manilow Say Really Happened?
Back at the Westgate on October 15, Manilow told the crowd how he first saw the rumor. “I was reading the papers, and I read ‘singer collapses in the wings,'” he said, according to Parade. “I said, ‘Who can that be?’ So I read a little bit more, and it’s me!”
He dismissed the story with a word we will leave out here. Then he added, “That didn’t even happen at all, but I loved it.” In a video obtained by Perez Hilton, he got straight to the point: “What happened was it was bronchitis.”
He also explained why he tried to sing at all. “You know that you cannot sing with bronchitis, and I thought, well, I’ll give it a try, and it didn’t work, and we had to cancel the show,” he said, as quoted by Parade. Leaving fans without a show clearly stayed with him. “Oy, the Jewish guilt,” he joked. He told the audience he was feeling fine now and thanked them for giving him another chance.
Parade reported that his Westgate calendar includes two weekends in November and three in December. According to Rolling Stone, the residency is booked through April 2027.
