Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” was the number one song in the U.S. 35 years ago today

January 12: Barry Manilow’s "Mandy" was the number one song in the U.S. 35 years ago today. This monster hit (which, by the way, wasn’t written about a dog) marked both a beginning and an end in Sony music history. The beginning was Barry Manilow’s career as a hitmaker; it was Barry’s first chart placement. For Bell Records, however, it was the end: the last #1 hit and one of the very last releases for that label before its name was changed to Arista.