Barry Manilow owes men's magazine Playboy for his big break in showbusiness because it was the publication's famous advice column that gave him the impetus to follow his piano-playing dreams.

The crooner was in his early 20s when he was offered a job as a resident piano player in a Virginia hotel, and he didn't know whether it was wise to quit his job at US TV network CBS and chase his dreams.

He recalls, "I had a really nice day job and I had gotten an opportunity to go and play piano out in the middle of the country, but should I quit my day job at CBS to make $75-a-week at the Holiday Inn in Richmond, Indiana. "I didn't know who to ask, so I wrote to the Playboy Advisor... They said, `You're young enough, go sow your wild notes (sic).'"