Marty Erlichman, the manager who discovered Barbra Streisand, has died aged 97

Marty Erlichman, the entertainment manager who discovered Barbra Streisand and steered her career for more than six decades, died on 31 October 2026. He was 97. His family said the cause was age-related.

"To the world, he was a giant of Hollywood; to us, he was a deeply devoted and loving father, husband, grandfather, and rock," the family said in a statement released on 1 November.

The man behind a 60-year partnership

Martin Lee Erlichman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 13 September 1929 and went to Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. In the early 1960s he saw a teenage Streisand open for a comedian at the Bon Soir nightclub in Greenwich Village and signed on as her manager. Streisand has long described the pairing as a meeting of two kids from the same Brooklyn neighbourhood.

From there he handled the business side of a career that took her from New York club singer to a star of records, stage and film. He worked on her 2000 Millennium Concert and her 2006 to 2007 world tour, and he was an executive producer of the 1994 HBO special Barbra: The Concert, which earned him an Emmy and a Peabody.

In a statement, Streisand said: "Although Marty lived a long and full life, nothing can prepare you for the reality of losing someone so dear. I truly thought he would live forever. In my eyes, he was simply indestructible, always by my side, through everything."

Beyond Streisand

Erlichman's early successes also included managing the Irish folk group The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, a name that helped carry Irish folk to American audiences in the 1960s. His other clients included the producer and songwriter Bob Crewe, the 1960s pop group Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, boxer George Foreman and the actor Chevy Chase.

He also moved into film as a producer. His credits include Streisand's 1974 comedy For Pete's Sake, the 1978 thriller Coma, directed by Michael Crichton, and the 1983 thriller Breathless with Richard Gere.

Erlichman is survived by his wife, Miko Mayama Erlichman, their son J.J., daughter-in-law Talia and four grandchildren.

For a generation of artists, he was the model of what a manager can be: someone who spots a voice early and stays for the whole run.