As industry ebbs, veteran artists run for covers

updated 12:31 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2007

NEW YORK - Barry Manilow became one of the world’s best-selling artists by making timeless classics out of unknown songs. But these days, he’s more likely to rely on other people’s classics than interpret new material.

And he’s not alone. From Rod Stewart to Aaron Neville to Art Garfunkel — who this month is releasing an album of Rodgers & Hammerstein standards — veteran singers are increasingly turning to cover albums or other gimmicks in order to find chart success in their graying years.

“As much as my true fans love these original albums, they don’t sell as well as the cover albums,” Manilow said in an interview last year as he was promoting “The Greatest Songs of the Sixties,” the follow-up to his surprise platinum success, “The Greatest Songs of the Fifties,” also released in 2006.

“It’s a handful of great artists who can still do it — like Sting can still come up with a great original album and sell, and the same thing with Paul Simon, and the same thing with Prince,” Manilow said. “But there are others who can’t, and I think the record companies want to play it safer.”

It seems to be a winning formula, one that has only grown in popularity in the past couple of decades. Linda Ronstadt “What’s New” album of classics was a huge success, as was Natalie Cole’s Grammy-winning, multiplatinum “Unforgettable: With Love,” featuring her singing along to her father’s ’50s songs. More recently, Rod Stewart has had platinum success with his “Great American Songbook” series of albums.

And pairing Frank Sinatra with contemporary chart-toppers like Bono to sing Ol' Blue Eyes' best-known songs on the 1993 album “Duets” made Sinatra a hitmaker once again and created a formula that is still being replicated today, with great success. Santana’s “Supernatural” paired the veteran guitarist with young hitmakers on new songs and was a multiplatinum, Grammy-winning sensation, as was Ray Charles’ “Genius Loves Company,” which featured the music legend singing classics with a variety of musical guests.

“I think somehow a generation of people are now reaching their mid-40s ... (and) are reminiscing about certain things. There’s something about stuff that’s over 20 years old that ... reminds of you of your good days,” said renowned music producer Phil Ramone, who produced Sinatra’s “Duets” album.

He also produced Charles’ “Genius Loves Company” and most recently worked on a duets album by Tony Bennett and a disc of Gladys Knight singing jazz classics. Ramone credits the success of Sinatra’s “Duets” album with the proliferation of such projects today — especially in a declining music industry hungry for hits.

“Somehow that seemed to trigger something in people,” he said. “I think there was no rush to do new material. ... One success sometimes breeds another. I think it’s been a phenomenal good four or five years, from Rod to other people, who have done an album that may have not been heard, especially if it was new material.”

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