Pop singer Barry Manilow, known for his classic hits “Mandy” and “Copacabana,” has made his first public appearance since a lobectomy to remove lung cancer. The 82-year-old musician was caught on camera smiling in New York City on Friday, April 24, marking a milestone in his recovery.
It is his first public appearance since surgery in December 2025, four months ago, after he was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer in November 2025.
How Barry Manilow The diagnosis of the disease appeared
The singer shared his health journey with his fans in a Dec. 22 statement on his Facebook page, revealing that he would be rescheduling his farewell tour after discovering a “cancerous spot” in his left lung.“As many of you know, I recently had a six-week period of bronchitis followed by a relapse for another five weeks,” he said at the time.
“Although I recovered from my bronchitis and returned to the stage, my wonderful doctor ordered an MRI to make sure everything was okay. The MRI discovered a cancerous spot in my left lung that had to be removed. It’s pure luck and a great doctor that it was caught early. That’s the good news.”In early January, the Grammy and Tony Award winner shared another update on social media, letting fans know he was “better today!” Along with a smiling selfie in a hospital gown.
The following month, he announced on Instagram that he had a “very frustrating visit” to his surgeon and would need to postpone more tour dates because his “lungs weren’t ready yet.”
What Barry Manilow said about his experience
In March, Manilow spoke exclusively with People magazine about the diagnosis and what followed. “You don’t even think about how fragile life is. And all of a sudden, you get lung cancer,” he said. “But I’m still here. I’m not fully here; there’s a part of me that’s not here. They took a part of me, and now I have to figure out what to do?”“They don’t even know how long this thing has been on top of me,” he said, thinking about how to find the cancerous spot.
It could have been years. If it had gone further, I would have reached the top of the table. “It just so happened that it didn’t catch on, oh boy, oh boy, I thought I might die.”Although he spent seven days in the intensive care unit after the lobectomy, he remembers little of that period. He said: “I don’t remember it, thank God, because it was a nightmare. I’m one of the lucky ones; I don’t need chemotherapy or radiation or all that stuff.”
How health concerns changed Barry Manilow’s perspective
The experience gave Manilow a renewed sense of clarity about his life. “It really made me take stock of my life,” he told the outlet. “That made me stop and think: Did I do what I wanted to do, and did I make people happy? Was I a good friend? All that stuff I’d read my whole life, I started thinking about that too. It really stopped me in my tracks.”He added: “The answer is yes. In fact, there are more answers than I thought.”Manilow’s 33rd studio album, What a Time, is scheduled to be released on June 5.