Barbra Streisand is an American singer, actress and director known for her countless pop vocal hits and work on Broadway. Born in Brooklyn to a Jewish-American family, her father died when she was only 15 months old. The resulting financial struggles the family faced inspired Streisand to turn to music as a hobby and a means of escape from hardship. In the early 1960s, she worked as a nightclub singer before landing her first Broadway role in 1962. The performance introduced audiences to Streisand's combination of charm, beauty and serious vocal chops, prompting Columbia Records to sign her within the year. Over the following decades, she balanced a hugely successful career with work in music, theater and film, collecting multiple Grammy, Tony and Oscar awards, while delivering the quintessential renditions of songs such as "The Way We Were," "Woman In Love" and "People." With over 140 million albums sold worldwide, Streisand remains the top-selling female artist of all-time according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
