Unforgettable Jingles Barry Manilow Created

May 2024 · 3 minute read

Barry Manilow knows how to tell a story and deliver a memorable melody. It's why the 1978 Grammy Award-winning "Copacabana (At the Copa)" has remained a staple at parties and celebrations and is heralded as a classic, albeit tragic, love song among Fanilows.

But the legendary singer-songwriter is also to thank for some of those ridiculously catchy commercial jingles that will just.not.go.away.

"I learned the most about music working in the jingle industry," he said in 2009 while accepting a CLIO Award for his early work in the field. "It was the best music college I could ever imagine."

Indeed, watching Manilow play several of them by heart on a 2012 episode of Windy City Live shows just how great that "college" was.

In 2022, Dr. Pepper recruited Manilow to be the face of the campaign for the limited-edition Dark Berry flavor, a collaboration recalling his early days of crafting a jingle for the soft drink company.

"I thought it was going to be the commercial that I did years ago," Manilow told PEOPLE, referencing a 1974 advertisement that saw him perform the first-ever Dr. Pepper jingle — "The most original soft drink ever in the whole wide world" — written by Randy Newman.

Before he had the world singing along to '70s hits like "Mandy," "Copacabana" and "Looks Like We Made It," audiences unwittingly have had these ditties stuck in their heads.

From State Farm to Band-Aid, here's a look back on Manilow's biggest commercial jingles.

State Farm: "Like a Good Neighbor"

"I lucked into doing commercials back when I was a starving musician," Manilow told PEOPLE in May 2022. "They have been airing 'State Farm is there' for over 40 years. It's my greatest hit!"

Previously, the showman revealed on Windy City Live in 2012 that he was paid "$500 for that jingle," joking that "the girl who sang it is on her third Rolls-Royce for now."

Manilow added, "You don't get residuals if you write it, so they just buy you out. At that point, $500 meant a lot of money — I was grateful to have it."

Band-Aid: "Stuck on Band-Aid"

Manilow's eternally snappy tune won advertising agency Young & Rubicam a CLIO Award in 1976.

KFC: "Grab a Bucket of Chicken"

In the '80s, Manilow wrote one finger-lickin' good jingle for the fast food chain.

Pepsi: "Feelin' Free"

Long before casting Kendall Jenner, Pepsi used this catchy tune from Manilow to encourage the "Pepsi generation" to feel free.

McDonald's: "You Deserve a Break Today"

"That was the granddaddy of all of them, the first big one," Manilow told WCL — adding that he had only ever eaten at McDonald's once.

However, there was one company that chose not to hire the music icon: American Airlines. In his chat with WCL, Manilow explained that brands give jingle writers the lyrics and ask them to come up with the melody.

"I wrote a really nice melody," he said, adding, "the melody went down, and they said, 'You can't go down on the end of an American Airlines song.' So I lost that one."

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