I was about eight years old when I saw Funny Girl on television.

Gobsmacked.

I wanted to be Fanny Brice. I wanted to join the Ziegfeld Follies. I wanted to speak with a Brooklyn accent.

Normal childhood goals, obviously.

Here’s the performance clip that started this little Barbra memory spiral.

The Barbra years

Barbra Streisand was the first singer who made me understand that a song could be acted as much as sung.

I had every record of hers I could get my hands on. I sang along with her in my bedroom. I listened for where she breathed. I copied her phrasing. I paid attention to the shape of her vowels, the way she held a note, the way she could make one line feel like a whole scene.

I studied everything.

Then, as often happens when you love someone’s voice that much, I had to spend years finding my own.

But first, I had my Barbra years.

Evergreen and my first big tip

When I was a teenager, the Guilty album blew me away. Evergreen became one of those songs that stayed with me. I even recorded it, and that recording played while I walked down the aisle at my first wedding.

Yes. That happened. Gosh, I wish I still had that recording.

Years later, I sang Evergreen at someone else’s wedding while playing the piano. Afterward, the father of the bride came over and handed me a few hundred dollars.

He said he thought it was a live recording of Barbra and couldn’t believe it was me.

My first big tip.

I’ll take it.

Cry Me a River

Cry Me a River was also a Barbra song for me first. I know the song has a long history, and many singers have put their stamp on it, but my first way into it was through her.

So sharing this little clip now feels like opening a small door into a much longer story.

I can still feel the eight-year-old girl who watched Funny Girl on television. I can still feel the teenager singing along to records. I can still feel all those hours in my bedroom trying to understand how a voice could carry that much story.

And then there I was, standing onstage, singing Cry Me a River myself.

Honestly?

It was a dream come true.

I hope I did it justice.

Watch the clip above, and if you enjoy it, you can find more live music and song stories on my YouTube channel.