Bette Midler
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	BIRTHDAY: December 1, 1945 BIGGEST SINGLE: "The Rose" (1980) BIGGEST LP: Beaches soundtrack (1988) GRAMMY AWARDS: 3 "When it stops being a good time, that's when I'll throw in the towel." - Bette Midler, 1995

As Bette Midler begins life as a woman in her 50's, she is showing no signs of slowing down or losing popularity. With platinum records, an Academy Award nomination, multiple Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, and an Emmy Award, Bette has a show-biz career few performers can ever achieve and one that many young hopefuls dream of - including a young girl in Hawaii in the 1950s. Bette Midler was born on December 1, 1945, in New Jersey and was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Even in her childhood, Bette stood out from the rest of her peers as the Jewish, white girl who dreamed of being an actress in a tropical paradise. Bette was named by her parents after Bette Davis, but was soon on her way to becoming known as "The Divine Miss M." Bette studied drama at the University of Hawaii, and at the age of 20, she moved to the mainland after being cast as an extra in the film, Hawaii. Bette's move to New York prompted her stage debut as Tzeitel in Broadway's Fiddler On The Roof for three years. Bette also began performing at the Continental Baths for audiences of gay men and quickly became a legendary sensation with gay audiences.

After signing with Atlantic Records, Bette released The Divine Miss M. The LP was produced by Barry Manilow, who use to play with her while their stars rose and contained the favorites "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Friends," "Do You Want To Dance."

Bette won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

The Divine Miss M was certified gold.

Bette released Bette Midler.

Bette Midler was certified gold.

Bette released Songs For The New Depression.

Bette released Live At Last and Broken Blossom.

Bette released Thighs And Whispers.

Bette opened on Broadway in Divine Madness.

Bette became an author with A View From A Broad, a memoir of her European tour.

Bette had her first starring role in the movies with The Rose. The role won her praise from the critics, increased appeal with music fans, another Grammy Award, an Academy Award nomination, and two Golden Globe Awards. The soundtrack to The Rose gave Bette pop radio success with the #1 title track and a rousing live rendition of "When A Man Loves A Woman."

# 17 Singles Artist of the Year

Bette hit the Top 40 with "When A Man Loves A Woman."

Bette hit the Top 40 with "The Rose."
The Rose soundtrack was certified gold.

Divine Madness was released.

Bette hit the Top 10 and #1 for a week with "The Rose."
The Rose soundtrack was certified platinum.

The single "The Rose" was certified gold.

Bette hit the Top 40 with "My Mother's Eyes."
Midler topped the Billboard Year-End Charts with the Top Soundtrack (The Rose).

# 158 Singles Artist of the Year

Bette won a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance - Female ("The Rose") and was nominated for Record of the Year ("The Rose").

Bette could be seen in the film Jinxed.

Bette appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.

# 167 Singles Artist of the Year

Bette released No Frills which included her version of the Rolling Stones', "Beast Of Burden" (which was nominated for 3 MTV Video Music Awards in '84). The LP also contained the favorites "Your My Favorite Waste Of Time" and "Only In Miami."
Bette embarked the "De Tour" into 1993.

# 193 Singles Artist of the Year

The video for "Beast Of Burden" was nominated for 3 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best Choreography, and Best Stage Performance Video.

Bette released a comedy LP, Mud Will Be Flung Tonight.

Bette could be seen in the film Down And Out In Beverly Hills.

Bette could be seen in the film Ruthless People.

Bette could be seen in the film Outrageous Fortune.

Bette could be seen in the film Big Business.

Bette started her own production company called All-Girl Productions. The first endeavor of the company was the hit Beaches staring Bette and Barbara Hershey. The Beaches soundtrack gave Bette another #1 hit and what has become her swan song in concert, "Wind Beneath My Wings."

# 41 Singles Artist of the Year

The Beaches soundtrack was certified gold.

Bette hit the Top 40 with "Wind Beneath My Wings."

Bette hit the Top 10 with "Wind Beneath My Wings."
The Beaches soundtrack was certified platinum and the single "Wind Beneath My Wings" was certified gold.

Bette hit #1 for a week with "Wind Beneath My Wings."

# 57 Singles Artist of the Year

The Beaches soundtrack was certified 2x platinum and The Divine Miss M was certified platinum.

Bette could be seen in the film Stella.
Bette won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year ("Wind Beneath My Wings") and was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Wind Beneath My Wings").

Bette released Some People's Lives which contained her 3rd #1 hit, "From A Distance" and the cover "Miss Otis Regrets."

Bette hit the Top 40 with "From A Distance."

Some People's Lives was certified gold.
Bette hit the Top 10 with "From A Distance."

Some People's Lives was certified platinum and the single "From A Distance" was certified gold.
Bette hit #1 for a week with "From A Distance."

# 114 Singles Artist of the Year

The single "From A Distance" was certified platinum.

Bette was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance ("From A Distance")
Bette could be seen in the film Scenes From A Mall.

Some People's Lives was certified 2x platinum.

The Beaches soundtrack was certified 3x platinum.

The single "Wind Beneath My Wings" was certified platinum.

Bette could be seen in the film For The Boys.
The For The Boys soundtrack was released with Bette's interpretations of old favorites such as "Stuff Like That," "In My Life," and "For All We Know."

The For The Boys soundtrack was certified gold.

# 185 Singles Artist of the Year

Bette joined Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show for his final show and gave a memorable performance of "One For My Baby."

Bette embarked on her first tour in 10 years, "Experience The Divine," which included a six-week stay at Radio City Musical Hall in New York.

Bette released her greatest collection - Experience The Divine - Bette Midler's Greatest Hits. The package included Bette's memorable rendition of "One For My Baby" that she sang on Johnny Carson's farewell show (the performance that also won Bette an Emmy Award).

Bette could be seen in the film Hocus Pocus.

The soundtrack to the Bette's TV presentation of Gypsy was released.
Experience The Divine - Bette Midler's Greatest Hits was certified gold and The Rose soundtrack was certified 2x platinum.

Bette released Bette of Roses which contained the tracks "To Deserve You," "To Comfort You," and "In This Life." The LP continued Bette's success with pop and adult contemporary fans with a majority of the tracks being ballads.

Bette began the 'New York Restoration Project'.

Bette could be heard on the soundtrack for Oliver And Company with "Perfect Isn't Easy."
Bette of Roses was certified gold.

Experience The Divine - Bette Midler's Greatest Hits was certified platinum.

Bette could be seen in the hit film The First Wives Club.

Bette could be seen in the film That Old Feeling.
Bette contributed the track "Sweet And Low" to the Carnival: Rainforest Foundation Concert compilation to benefit the rainforests.

Bette appeared on HBO with Diva Las Vegas, a live concert performance nominated for 10 Emmy Awards.

Bette won an Emmy Award for Best Performance Variety or Music Program.

Bette's next LP, Bathhouse Betty, was a collection of cover tunes and new ballads with the David Foster tune, "My One True Friend" (also used in the film One True Thing). Bette has said of the LP's title: "I was in my house down in Orange County... I was all by myself and I was nervous because I don't like to be alone... it's kind of scary... somebody knocked on my door and it was a fan... he started shrieking 'Bathhouse Betty! Bathhouse Betty!' and I thought, 'oh my God! How mortifying'... it was pretty scary... but he left me with Bathhouse Betty... he was giving me an homage to my days playing the bathhouse."

Bette signed a deal with Sony Entertainment that would allow her to develop films and television shows including a sitcom starring Bette.
Bathhouse Betty was certified gold.

Bette topped the Billboard Club Play chart for 2 weeks with "I'm Beautiful."

Bette embarked on her 32-city Divine Miss Millennium Tour which had her performing in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve.

Bette could be seen in the film Drowning Mona.

Bette started starring in her first television sitcom, Bette, on CBS, and released a new LP, Bette.

Bette could be seen in the films Isn't She Great and What Woman Want.

Bette's TV show Bette was cancelled. The TV show had started off the season strong, but lost viewers over the past several months.

Bette of Roses was certified platinum.

Bette delivered a moving rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings" at a memorial rally in New York for the victims of the terrorist attack.

Bette teamed up once again up with Barry Manilow on her release - Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook. Bette said the creation of Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook began with a phone call from Barry Manilow who told her he had a dream with Bette singing Rosemary Clooney songs: "The concept was absolutely brilliant. I loved Rosemary. I had a lot of respect for her, and I missed Barry. And those songs are magical."

Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook was certified gold.

Bette kicked off her 'Kiss My Brass' tour in Chicago.

Bette was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook). Bette publicly stated that she hoped she didn't win because the late Rosemary Clooney was also in her category with The Last Concert, and Bette felt she was more deserving. Tony Bennett and k.d. lang ended up with the award for their LP A Wonderful World.