“It was a great idea!” exclaimed Barbra Streisand about recording an album of duets. “Instead of having to look for twelve new songs, my producers felt they could do a good job with revisiting a lot of the standards that I've sung, but with a new twist, you know, as a duet.”
Barbra's album, Partners, was at least two years in the making, with rumors about her duet partners circulating on the internet. For a while, it was rumored Barbra would record with Bette Midler, Lady Gaga and other female singers.
Streisand clarified, though, that it wasn't her intention to exclude women singers from this album. “Everyone we asked was ... busy," Streisand said. “[Beyonce] had her people try to do a track of one of the songs from my movie, A Star is Born, and it just, we didn't have the time to finish it, to get it right,” she said. “We had to release the album. Maybe someday we'll do a duet because she's so great.”
Barbra didn't identify another female duet partner, but she told USA Today, “One didn't like the lyric to a song.”
Streisand also elaborated about Beyonce: “I would love to sing with her ... I'm mad for her, I think she's a spectacular performer.” Streisand added: “I'd love to sing with Rihanna, Adele. But I don't know all the other girls.”
Then, to drive her point home about why the album featured duets with men, Barbra said: “The men were available.”
Streisand revealed more info to Katie Couric on her show in 2013. When asked who she'd like to record with, Barbra replied, “Well, there’s so many people. [Andrea] Bocelli. We’ve been talking about singing together for a long time, but I send him songs, he sends me songs. The twain hasn’t met yet, you know? I like Keith Urban. I like Usher. John Legend. There’s some really good guys around.”
In June of 2014, Streisand acknowledged she had recorded with Lionel Richie in a birthday greeting for him (shown during his concert in Detroit).
Then Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds told Billboard, “It took a long time to get it done, but we're finally, I don't want to say done-done, but we're right there.” Edmonds, co-producing the album with Walter Afanasieff also said, “It's a beautiful, beautiful record. She's singing amazingly well, and it's been a fun project to do.”
Why did Barbra Streisand want to work with Kenny Edmonds? “It started with me loving the album Waiting to Exhale,” Streisand said about the 1995 movie soundtrack album that Babyface wrote and produced. “It was one of the few albums that I liked to listen to over and over again in my car. So when I met Babyface at a party, I said to him I'd love to work with you.”
The other album producer, Walter Afanasieff, stated, “We basically thought that it would be great to take her most famous songs that she's done and try to reinvent them, sort-of, in new arrangements that fit a duet setting.”
PHOTO: Walter Afanasieff, Streisand, and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds in the studio.
