Barbra & me
R oslyn Kind breezes into the lounge of the Beverly Hilton, clad in a thick leather jacket, scarf, dark trousers and boots. Her blonde shoulder-length hair is untouched by the wintry elements that have enveloped Beverly Hills.
‘Hi, I’m Roslyn,’ the singer-actress says with a friendly smile, putting out a hand. ‘It’s pouring out there! Very un-Californian.’
She keeps her jacket and scarf on and sits down in a plush armchair. I order tea. Nothing for Roslyn (‘call me Roz’). Not even water? ‘I’m good. I just finished lunch.’ It’s 6pm.
I regard her with unashamed curiosity: this is, after all, Barbra Streisand’s little sister and she’s here to do a rare interview. Little has been written about her and when she’s not performing, she keeps a low profile.
Comparisons may be odious, but they’re inevitable. The family resemblance is uncanny, especially when Roslyn laughs, not a polite tinkle but a full-bodied, hearty affair. It’s even more accentuated when she pronounces certain words in her inescapable Brooklyn accent.
But that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Barbra Streisand has more angular, sharper features. Roslyn has a softer appearance, which may be accounted for by the fact that they had different fathers. Streisand has a ferocious ambition; Roslyn is more interested in selffulfilment as an artist.
While she may not be universally known, Roslyn is a sell-out hit in New York and Los Angeles. The petite blonde has a phenomenal voice – ‘to say she is superb would be an understatement’, said The Times during her triumphant engagement at London’s Café Royal a while back. And she has just appeared with Streisand at London’s O2 arena.
It was only the second time she has performed with her sister, but it is the prospect of being with her family on tour for a month that really thrills her, especially planning what they’ll do with their down time. She visited London with Barbra back in 2007 and they had a fabulous time. ‘We went to restaurants, and went shopping and to theatres and did everything, it was great. We were just being sisters. And this time, it’s not only London. We’ll also be in Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne and Tel Aviv. What could be better than to tour those cities with my family?’
For family is Roslyn’s first priority. Roslyn moved out to California in 1973 to be close to Barbra, with whom she often travels, and she is also ‘great-aunt’ to Barbra’s son Jason’s year-old miniature Labradoodle. She’s also just returned from spending several weeks with her brother and his family who live on the East Coast.
‘I’m proud of all my family,’ she says. ‘They’re good hearts, they give back to the community. I would love to hear everybody say that about their family.’ Growing up, she and Barbra were close, although there is a nine-year age difference between them and Barbra left home while Roslyn was not even a teenager.
‘For a while, my big sister had her own life while I was still a kid,’ she remembers. But Roslyn’s talent showed early. She was still at school when she signed her first record deal and on her graduation day she was recording a track for her new album.
‘I always loved to sing,’ she says. ‘When I was about 12, I thought I was going to be a maths teacher, probably because I was the maths teacher’s pet. But I sang in some of the school shows and everyone said “Roz you need to be out there”.’
A child of the British pop invasion, she was greatly influenced by The Beatles, who made their American debut on the Ed Sullivan show, the same programme Roslyn made her screen debut on as a teenager. In fact, while she was filming Funny Girl, Barbra got The Beatles to sign a photograph for her. Roslyn was over the moon with it.
Singers Cilla Black, Petula Clark, and Shirley Bassey also had a huge impact on Roslyn. Especially Bassey.
‘I adored her,’ she reflects dreamily. ‘I remember seeing her live in LA with the gowns and the drama and a lot of what I do has that same feeling. When I do dramatic things, I think I got that part of me from her.’
She fondly recalls the standing ovation Bassey received at the last Academy Awards. ‘Oh my God. I have a thing about the pros, the real pros. I thought it was such a crime that she didn’t become as big in the United States as she should have. But the reception she got at the Oscars. Wow! And then she was followed by my sister. That was incredible. Two of the greats!’
When Roslyn began singing professionally, she was anxious not to be likened to Barbra.
‘My sister was already successful in the business, and I needed to find a different avenue, so I really did the contemporary things a girl my age would do.’
Of course, she was still dogged by comparisons – although she always tried to shrug them off.
‘It’s OK when people say, “she’ll never be her”. I was never trying to be. I’m trying to be Roslyn Kind. My sister showed that it could be done. That I could be what I wanted to be.’
She talks about some of her favourite composers and waxes lyrical about Leslie Bricusse.
‘I remember seeing his movie, Goodbye, Mr Chips, so many times, with Petula Clark singing London Is London…’
She breaks into song and the guests at the next table look over, their faces registering surprised delight. In fact, she is quite the performer – and has worked on stage and television, too.
‘I remember dropping two dress sizes in five days when I did my first sitcom pilot,’ she laughs. ‘That’s how my adrenaline kicked in. I had such a good time. I love acting. But singing on the stage to your audience, one on one, being who you are with them, is priceless.’
She attributes the family’s gift for singing to their grandfather, a cantor in Russia, and their mother – ‘she loved to sing and she had a glorious voice. But she never went after it. She was very shy.’
She rarely speaks of her father, though, who was 57 when she was born. He, like her mother, had been married before – and they separated when Roslyn was four years old.
‘I loved my father and mother, but I knew that there were differences and I wished that there weren’t. People didn’t have therapy at that time to learn how to talk to each other, or to talk to children. Today there’s so much more to be understood about parent-child communication and how it can affect a child.’
But she emerged from the split relatively unscathed and when Diana Streisand Kind [who died in 2002] became ill with Alzheimer’s, Roslyn oversaw her care, living with her and spending most of her time with her.
‘It was very hard. Our mother had always been so vital. But then she’d go somewhere and you knew the moment she was in was not of the here and now. It was heartbreaking. There were even times when she didn’t recognise me.’
Around the same time, Roslyn’s beloved puppy, a saucer-eyed Yorkie named Josh, died. Josh was like her son – ‘my soul mate’. He went everywhere with her, even on stage.
‘He took bows with me in a nightclub,’ she laughs, remembering a lighter moment, ‘a
nd he made his Broadway debut at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Christmas Eve, wearing antlers!’ The loss was so great that she took time away from show business. It was a few years before she finally returned to performing, enticed by her close friend Michael Feinstein, who wouldn’t take no for an answer when he asked her to appear with him at a New Year concert in 2006.
But then Roslyn’s greatest joy comes from bringing pleasure to people. ‘I just want to make people happy. That’s what makes me happy. When somebody says I’ve touched their life, that says so much, and it’s so rewarding.
‘And so I do it, yes, for myself. Because it makes me feel good to make somebody else feel good.’
Now, with her career back on track, there’s just one thing missing – someone to share it with. After an early marriage – ‘he was a good person but it just didn’t work’ – she is now single.
She admits she’d like to be married again, but, at 62 (she doesn’t look a day over 45), she’s still waiting for the right man.
‘It would be nice to have that special someone,’ she says, ‘but I’m not making that my last resort.’
Roslyn Kind is that rare individual in show business. Self-contained, happy, confident in herself. But doesn’t it ever irritate her when people ask about Barbra? She laughs that full-bodied, hearty laugh.
‘I love my sister. I’m proud of my sister. Why would I be irritated? My sister is an icon and everything she has won in life she deserves.
‘Barbra has been a shining example, not only for her little sister – but for everybody our age.’
‘Hi, I’m Roslyn,’ the singer-actress says with a friendly smile, putting out a hand. ‘It’s pouring out there! Very un-Californian.’
She keeps her jacket and scarf on and sits down in a plush armchair. I order tea. Nothing for Roslyn (‘call me Roz’). Not even water? ‘I’m good. I just finished lunch.’ It’s 6pm.
I regard her with unashamed curiosity: this is, after all, Barbra Streisand’s little sister and she’s here to do a rare interview. Little has been written about her and when she’s not performing, she keeps a low profile.
Comparisons may be odious, but they’re inevitable. The family resemblance is uncanny, especially when Roslyn laughs, not a polite tinkle but a full-bodied, hearty affair. It’s even more accentuated when she pronounces certain words in her inescapable Brooklyn accent.
But that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Barbra Streisand has more angular, sharper features. Roslyn has a softer appearance, which may be accounted for by the fact that they had different fathers. Streisand has a ferocious ambition; Roslyn is more interested in selffulfilment as an artist.
While she may not be universally known, Roslyn is a sell-out hit in New York and Los Angeles. The petite blonde has a phenomenal voice – ‘to say she is superb would be an understatement’, said The Times during her triumphant engagement at London’s Café Royal a while back. And she has just appeared with Streisand at London’s O2 arena.
It was only the second time she has performed with her sister, but it is the prospect of being with her family on tour for a month that really thrills her, especially planning what they’ll do with their down time. She visited London with Barbra back in 2007 and they had a fabulous time. ‘We went to restaurants, and went shopping and to theatres and did everything, it was great. We were just being sisters. And this time, it’s not only London. We’ll also be in Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne and Tel Aviv. What could be better than to tour those cities with my family?’
For family is Roslyn’s first priority. Roslyn moved out to California in 1973 to be close to Barbra, with whom she often travels, and she is also ‘great-aunt’ to Barbra’s son Jason’s year-old miniature Labradoodle. She’s also just returned from spending several weeks with her brother and his family who live on the East Coast.
‘I’m proud of all my family,’ she says. ‘They’re good hearts, they give back to the community. I would love to hear everybody say that about their family.’ Growing up, she and Barbra were close, although there is a nine-year age difference between them and Barbra left home while Roslyn was not even a teenager.
‘For a while, my big sister had her own life while I was still a kid,’ she remembers. But Roslyn’s talent showed early. She was still at school when she signed her first record deal and on her graduation day she was recording a track for her new album.
‘I always loved to sing,’ she says. ‘When I was about 12, I thought I was going to be a maths teacher, probably because I was the maths teacher’s pet. But I sang in some of the school shows and everyone said “Roz you need to be out there”.’
A child of the British pop invasion, she was greatly influenced by The Beatles, who made their American debut on the Ed Sullivan show, the same programme Roslyn made her screen debut on as a teenager. In fact, while she was filming Funny Girl, Barbra got The Beatles to sign a photograph for her. Roslyn was over the moon with it.
Singers Cilla Black, Petula Clark, and Shirley Bassey also had a huge impact on Roslyn. Especially Bassey.
‘I adored her,’ she reflects dreamily. ‘I remember seeing her live in LA with the gowns and the drama and a lot of what I do has that same feeling. When I do dramatic things, I think I got that part of me from her.’
She fondly recalls the standing ovation Bassey received at the last Academy Awards. ‘Oh my God. I have a thing about the pros, the real pros. I thought it was such a crime that she didn’t become as big in the United States as she should have. But the reception she got at the Oscars. Wow! And then she was followed by my sister. That was incredible. Two of the greats!’
When Roslyn began singing professionally, she was anxious not to be likened to Barbra.
‘My sister was already successful in the business, and I needed to find a different avenue, so I really did the contemporary things a girl my age would do.’
Of course, she was still dogged by comparisons – although she always tried to shrug them off.
‘It’s OK when people say, “she’ll never be her”. I was never trying to be. I’m trying to be Roslyn Kind. My sister showed that it could be done. That I could be what I wanted to be.’
She talks about some of her favourite composers and waxes lyrical about Leslie Bricusse.
‘I remember seeing his movie, Goodbye, Mr Chips, so many times, with Petula Clark singing London Is London…’
She breaks into song and the guests at the next table look over, their faces registering surprised delight. In fact, she is quite the performer – and has worked on stage and television, too.
‘I remember dropping two dress sizes in five days when I did my first sitcom pilot,’ she laughs. ‘That’s how my adrenaline kicked in. I had such a good time. I love acting. But singing on the stage to your audience, one on one, being who you are with them, is priceless.’
She attributes the family’s gift for singing to their grandfather, a cantor in Russia, and their mother – ‘she loved to sing and she had a glorious voice. But she never went after it. She was very shy.’
She rarely speaks of her father, though, who was 57 when she was born. He, like her mother, had been married before – and they separated when Roslyn was four years old.
‘I loved my father and mother, but I knew that there were differences and I wished that there weren’t. People didn’t have therapy at that time to learn how to talk to each other, or to talk to children. Today there’s so much more to be understood about parent-child communication and how it can affect a child.’
But she emerged from the split relatively unscathed and when Diana Streisand Kind [who died in 2002] became ill with Alzheimer’s, Roslyn oversaw her care, living with her and spending most of her time with her.
‘It was very hard. Our mother had always been so vital. But then she’d go somewhere and you knew the moment she was in was not of the here and now. It was heartbreaking. There were even times when she didn’t recognise me.’
Around the same time, Roslyn’s beloved puppy, a saucer-eyed Yorkie named Josh, died. Josh was like her son – ‘my soul mate’. He went everywhere with her, even on stage.
‘He took bows with me in a nightclub,’ she laughs, remembering a lighter moment, ‘a
nd he made his Broadway debut at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Christmas Eve, wearing antlers!’ The loss was so great that she took time away from show business. It was a few years before she finally returned to performing, enticed by her close friend Michael Feinstein, who wouldn’t take no for an answer when he asked her to appear with him at a New Year concert in 2006.
But then Roslyn’s greatest joy comes from bringing pleasure to people. ‘I just want to make people happy. That’s what makes me happy. When somebody says I’ve touched their life, that says so much, and it’s so rewarding.
‘And so I do it, yes, for myself. Because it makes me feel good to make somebody else feel good.’
Now, with her career back on track, there’s just one thing missing – someone to share it with. After an early marriage – ‘he was a good person but it just didn’t work’ – she is now single.
She admits she’d like to be married again, but, at 62 (she doesn’t look a day over 45), she’s still waiting for the right man.
‘It would be nice to have that special someone,’ she says, ‘but I’m not making that my last resort.’
Roslyn Kind is that rare individual in show business. Self-contained, happy, confident in herself. But doesn’t it ever irritate her when people ask about Barbra? She laughs that full-bodied, hearty laugh.
‘I love my sister. I’m proud of my sister. Why would I be irritated? My sister is an icon and everything she has won in life she deserves.
‘Barbra has been a shining example, not only for her little sister – but for everybody our age.’