The “Copacabana” singer was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer in December and called the situation “a nightmare.”

Barry Manilow discusses undergoing a lobectomy amid lung cancer diagnosis: ‘They took out a part of me’

The "Copacabana" singer was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer in December and called the situation "a nightmare."

By Leigh Blickley

March 24, 2026 11:27 a.m. ET

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Barry Manilow in June 2023. Credit:

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty

Barry Manilow is opening up about undergoing a lobectomy following his stage 1 lung cancer diagnosis.

In an interview published on Tuesday, the 82-year-old singer told PEOPLE that he had the scary surgery — in which an entire lobe of a diseased lung is removed to prevent the spread of illness — four weeks after doctors found a "dot" on his left lung in late 2025.

Manilow spent seven days in the ICU before being discharged following the removal of one of the organ's two lobes.

"I don't remember it, thank goodness, because it was a nightmare," the "Copacabana" singer said of his hospital stay. "I'm one of the lucky ones; I don't have to have chemo, radiation and all that stuff."

Manilow is now cancer-free, but the diagnosis shook him.

Barry Manilow performs onstage in Seattle in July 2025.

Mat Hayward/Getty

"You just don't even think about [how fragile life is]. And suddenly, you have lung cancer," he told PEOPLE. "But I'm still here. I'm not all here; there's part of me that isn't here — they took out a part of me, and now I've got to figure out, 'What do I do?'"

He added, "This really rocked me, but I'm getting stronger, and we'll see if I can make it back."

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Manilow said his cancer journey has made him take stock of his life.

As he told PEOPLE, "This made me stop and think about: 'Have I done what I wanted to do, and have I made people happy? Have I been a good friend?'" All of those cornball things that I've read for all of my life, I started to think about that, too. It really did stop me in my tracks."

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He concluded, "And the answers are yes. And as a matter of fact, there are more yeses than I ever thought."

In March, Manilow released his new single, "Once Before I Go," bringing his run on *Billboard*'s Adult Contemporary charts into its sixth decade. His new album, *What a Time*, is set to be released in June.

He is currently scheduled to resume his ongoing farewell arena tour in April after postponing dates amid his health crisis.

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Source: “EW Celebrity”