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1[[quoteright:290:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barbra_streisand.jpg]]
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3->''"I've been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good."''
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5Barbra Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942 in New York City, New York) is an American singer, actor, and director.
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7She has had an astonishing ''thirty-three albums'' hit the Top Ten, ten of which went Number One, and is the only singer in history to have a Number One album in six consecutive decades, beginning with ''People'' in 1964 and, as of now, ending with ''Encore!'' in 2016. She defined the adult contemporary music genre during the 1960s and '70s and much of the '80s as well. She has won two [[MediaNotes/AcademyAward Oscars]], ten [[MediaNotes/GrammyAward Grammys]], four [[MediaNotes/EmmyAward Emmys]], an honorary [[MediaNotes/TonyAwardWinners Tony]],[[note]]Which makes her one of the few people to have pulled off an "[[MediaNotes/TheEGOTs EGOT]]" -- winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony -- though the honorary status of her Tony means that her position in that club is debatable.[[/note]] and a Peabody. She was also the first woman to win a [[MediaNotes/GoldenGlobeAward Golden Globe]] for Best Director, was a Kennedy Center Honors honoree and won AFI's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.
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9Streisand made her film debut as Fanny Brice in ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'', a role she originated on Broadway, and for which she split a Best Actress Oscar with Creator/KatharineHepburn (''Film/TheLionInWinter''). She would later give noted performances in ''Film/HelloDolly'', ''Film/OnAClearDayYouCanSeeForever'', ''Film/TheWayWeWere'' (opposite Creator/RobertRedford), the 1976 remake of ''Film/{{A Star Is Born|1976}}'' and ''Film/{{Yentl}}'' (which she also produced and directed).
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11Oh, yes, she's a director as well. Other directing credits include ''Film/TheMirrorHasTwoFaces'' and ''Film/ThePrinceOfTides''.
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13Has taken heat for the shape of her nose over the years such as from ''[[UsefulNotes/AmericanNewspapers New York Times]]'' critic John Simon, who has been waging war on the singer's nose since the 1970s. To her credit, Ms. Streisand refused to undergo cosmetic surgery early in her career, though admittedly not out of a high moral principle; she once famously credited her unique voice to a deviated septum. "If I ever had my nose fixed, it would ruin my career." Barbra's nose was referenced on ''Series/{{Glee}}'', where Kurt uses it to talk Rachel (who is a fan of Streisand) out of getting a nose job.
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15She is also a noted political activist, and was very close friends with former President UsefulNotes/BillClinton (whom she introduced at his first inauguration) and his mother Virginia Dwyer, whom she called at least once a week from when they met to Dwyer's death. She is a famous supporter of liberal causes large and small and is noted for her strong stances on feminism and gay marriage, among other issues.
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17Although the population as a whole either loves her or despises her, she is a pop culture icon and one of the most important celebrities in the past fifty years of American history.
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19Her music is often referenced in media as being [[LGBTFanbase favored by gay men]] -- expect any man listening to or asking for a song by her to [[AmbiguouslyGay have their sexuality questioned]].
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21Streisand is married to Creator/JamesBrolin, and previously was in a relationship with Creator/BarryDennen from 1960-61.
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23TropeNamer for the StreisandEffect, after her failed attempt to censor a picture of her house ([[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Barbrahouse1_5204.png this one to be precise]]). The picture was taken during a geological survey of the California coastline, and was a completely unremarkable entry in a database with thousands of similar pictures. Streisand's legal battle ''made'' it remarkable, and the picture is now plastered all over the Internet with her name next to it.
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25----
26!!Tropes in her music:
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28* AntiLoveSong: "Down With Love" suggests giving it back to "the birds and the bees and the Viennese," while "Love is a Bore" compares it to a number of useless and/or little-desired things.
29-->''Love is a bore\
30Love is a ball game without a score\
31Love is a sail boat without a sail\
32The lock on the candy store''
33* AwardBaitSong: Sang the sweeping "I Finally Found Someone" with Music/BryanAdams for ''Film/TheMirrorHasTwoFaces''. It didn't fail to get Oscar-nominated.
34* DeadSparks: "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" with Music/NeilDiamond. It's about a marriage that's no longer loving.
35-->''You don't bring me flowers\
36You don't sing me love songs\
37You hardly talk to me anymore\
38When I come through the door at the end of the day''
39* FreeHandedPerformer: Her song "Piano Practicing" is about a little girl who wants to be a soprano while her mother wants her to learn the piano. She hates playing it, gives up and becomes a singer, just like Barbra.
40* IWantSong: The aptly titled "All That I Want", where the singer sings about wanting a life of luxury and maybe true love, but that one's optional.
41* LoveNostalgiaSong: In the apty titled "The Way We Were", the singer sings about the way their love used to be.
42* ShoutOut: To the Art/NefertitiBust. In the TV special "Color Me Barbra", Streisand dresses up as Nefertiti as per the look of the bust (so without uraeus and strips) during the song "Where Or When". As she walks around, she passes by a copy of the Nefertiti bust.
43* SoloDuet:
44** On ''Just For The Record'', the last song is "You'll Never Know" which has Streisand duetting with her younger self, from the very first recording she ever made.
45** Also, on her album ''Barbra Joan Streisand'', she sings "One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home" with herself.
46** "Mother and Child", recorded for the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen abandoned]] ConceptAlbum ''Life Cycle of a Woman'', has her singing the parts of both the mother and child.
47** One of her concert specials had her sing a duet with a teenage girl who was portraying a younger version of her, which evolved into a trio when a video recording of Streisand singing in ''Film/{{Yentl}}'' was brought out.

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