Barry Manilow Hospitalized

02/02/2004 1:45 AM, E! Online
Marcus Errico

Barry Manilow remains in a Palm Springs hospital Sunday, a day after being rushed to the facility for chest pains.

Manilow's publicist attributes the pains to stress, releasing a statement that says the 57-year-old "I Write the Songs" singer had just returned from New York, where he is engaged in a nasty legal battle over control of his stage musical, Harmony.

The singer, says publicist Jerry J. Sharell, had "endured two of the most grueling days of arbitration," necessitating his trip to the E.R.

Sharell says Manilow will "remain in the hospital under doctor's orders for various procedures and tests to bring his heart rate to normal."

It's been a rough few months for the "Copacabana" crooner. Back in June, he suffered a broken nose after accidentally walking into a wall at his Palm Springs home.

But a bigger blow was delivered in November, when it was announced that Harmony's pre-Broadway tune-up run in Philadelphia had been scuttled.

"Other than the death of my mother, this is probably the most devastating day of my life. Maybe even more so, because it affects so many other people," Manilow told the New York Post at the time.

The abrupt closing put the show's future in doubt--Harmony had been slated to hit the Great White Way later this year--and also pitted Manilow and cowriter Bruce Sussman against producer Mark Schwartz in a lawsuit over the rights to Harmony.

The show, about the real-life Comedian Harmonists sextet, a group of singers in pre-World War II Berlin, received mixed reviews upon its initial tryout run in La Jolla, California, in 1997. The show has since been retooled with an eye for Broadway.

A Grammy, Emmy and Tony winner, Manilow achieved his greatest fame in the 1970s for such syrupy hits as "Mandy," "Can't Smile Without You," "Lonely Together" and "Looks Like We Made It."

He recently produced Bette Midler 's Grammy-nominated album Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook. His next releases, the double-CD 2 Nights Live! and double-DVD Ultimate Manilow!, will be in stores April 6.