Barbra Streisand's Memories hasn't aged well, for all that it was a big seller

Barbra Streisand

Sony

This nostalgia-laced musical throwback seems on the verge of oblivion. But in its day, Memories, which featured previously released material and three freshly recorded songs, achieved what appeared to be indelible success.

The album hosting two of Streisand's biggest hits - You Don't Bring Me Flowers and No More Tears (Enough is Enough) - went platinum five times. In the US charts, Memories reached number 10. In Britain, it hovered in the top spot on the album chart for nine weeks and became the country's bestseller of 1982.

It was certified platinum in Britain before multi-platinum prizes that it would have probably won existed, and was six times platinum in Australia. In 1981, it sold more than 10 million, making it the first compilation album to achieve that benchmark. Plus, it won best album at the 1983 Brit Awards. Not bad for a retread - imagine shifting that many copies of an album now. Heady, halcyon days.

Barbra Streisand - original name Barbara Joan Streisand - was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942. Because her first love was acting, she joined a summer theatre group in Malden Bridge, New York, and studied acting while still at high school. After graduation she headed to Manhattan, where her first break came in 1960 when she sang at a nightclub and won an amateur talent contest and dropped her first name's second "a", because she hated the name Barbara.