Iconic pop singer Barry Manilow, known for his classics ‘Mandy’ and ‘Copacabana’, has made his first public appearance since a lobectomy to remove lung cancer. The 82-year-old musician was captured on camera smiling in New York City on Friday, April 24, a major milestone in his recovery. It’s the first appearance in public since the surgery in December 2025, four months ago, following his diagnosis with stage 1 lung cancer in November 2025.
How Barry Manilow ‘s diagnosis came to light
The singer shared his health journey with fans in a December 22 statement on his Facebook page, revealing he would be rescheduling his farewell tour after a “cancerous spot” was found in his left lung.“As many of you know I recently went through six weeks of bronchitis followed by a relapse of another five weeks,” he said at the time. “Even though I was over the bronchitis and back on stage, my wonderful doctor ordered an MRI to make sure that everything was OK. The MRI discovered a cancerous spot on my left lung that needs to be removed, it’s pure luck and a great doctor that it was found so early. That’s the good news.”In early January, the Grammy, and Tony winner shared another update on social media, letting fans know he was “Better Today!” alongside a smiling selfie in his hospital gown. The following month, he announced via Instagram that he had a “very depressing visit” to his surgeon and would need to postpone more tour dates because his “lungs weren’t ready yet.”
What Barry Manilow said about his experience
In March, Manilow opened up exclusively to People about the diagnosis and what followed. “You just don’t even think about how fragile life is. And suddenly, you have lung cancer,” he said. “But I’m still here. I’m not all here; there’s part of me that isn’t here, they took out a part of me, and now I’ve got to figure out, ‘What do I do?'”Reflecting on how the cancerous spot was found, he said, “They don’t even know how long I had this thing sitting on me. It could have been years. If it had gone any further, then I would be up s—‘s creek. It just so happened that it hadn’t spread, and boy oh boy, I thought I might be dying.”Though he spent seven days in the ICU after the lobectomy, he recalled little of that time. “I don’t remember it, thank goodness, because it was a nightmare. I’m one of the lucky ones; I don’t have to have chemo, radiation, and all that stuff,” he said.
How the health scare changed Barry Manilow’s perspective
The experience has given Manilow a renewed sense of clarity about his life. “It has really, really made me take stock of my life,” he told the outlet. “This made me stop and think about: Have I done what I wanted to do, and have I made people happy? Have I been a good friend? All of those cornball things that I’ve read for all of my life, I started to think about that, too. It really did stop me in my tracks.”He added, “And the answers are yes. And as a matter of fact, there are more yeses than I ever thought.”Manilow’s 33rd studio album, ‘What a Time’, is set for release on June 5.
