People Who Need Confidence

Most of my music business college student performers deal with forms of stage fright and imposter syndrome. Even highly successful people can struggle with confidence and anxiety.

In 1967, singer and actress Barbra Streisand forgot the lyrics to a song during a concert in Central Park in front of about 135,000 people. The experience triggered severe stage fright and anxiety. After that night she stopped performing live concerts almost entirely.

For 27 years, despite being one of the most famous performers in the world, she avoided live performances because of the fear of forgetting lyrics again.

Then in 1994, she decided to face the fear directly and returned to the concert stage in Las Vegas and later on a worldwide tour. The tour became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of the decade. Streisand later explained what the experience taught her:

“I had stage fright for 27 years… I just had to face the fear”.

Feel free to share