LOS ANGELES, June 4 ? Veteran singer-songwriter Barry Manilow, recently waking up disoriented in the middle of the night, walked into a wall and broke his nose, knocking himself unconscious, the entertainer disclosed Tuesday.
THE ACCIDENT occurred at his home in the desert resort of Palm Springs, Calif., just after Manilow had returned from a two-week stay in the seaside town of Malibu, where he was producing an upcoming album for his old boss, Bette Midler.
Roused from a sound sleep thinking he was still in Malibu, Manilow got up and ?veered to the left instead of the right and slammed right into the wall,? he said in a statement released by his management company, Stiletto Entertainment.
He passed out for four hours, and though he was not seriously hurt, the 56-year-old performer said the mishap left his nose quiet swollen. His sense of humor remained intact, however.
?I may have to have my nose fixed, and with this nose, it?s going to require major surgery,? he said, referring to his famously prominent profile.
The statement did not make clear exactly when the accident occurred.
Manilow said he intends to finish work on the Midler album ? a tribute to the late Rosemary Clooney ? as well as on his own two-disc live collection, ?Two Nights Live.?
He also is going ahead with plans to begin rehearsals for an original stage musical with Bruce Sussman, ?Harmony,? scheduled to open in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., this fall, with a possible Broadway debut early next year.
Starting out as a pianist, arranger and musical director for Midler in the early 1970s, Manilow became a solo sensation with a string of hits later that decade, including ?Mandy,? ?I Write the Songs,? ?This One?s For You,? ?Can?t Smile Without You? and ?Copacabana.?
