"Barry Manilow's concert and music will show his gratitude to fans" by Jeffrey Lee Puckett

Barry Manilow has made a living for 40 years by playing songs, which isn’t as obvious as it sounds. Manilow comes from a tradition where songcraft is revered, from his earliest days as Bette Midler’s musical director to a career that now stretches over more than 40 albums. He likes a song where the lyric and melody combine to tell a story, something that doesn’t often happen on today’s pop charts.

People are "making great records, but the engineers and producers are the stars of the records; the songs aren’t anymore," Manilow said in an interview earlier this week. "Even the performers aren’t, because they’ve got nothing to sing so they doodle, they noodle. How many notes can you fit in a bar, you know? It’s not…

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/18/3663758/manilow-concert-is-a-celebration.html

Sunday was Barry Manilow’s 69th birthday, which was evident long before he mentioned it to a crowd of about 5,000 at Starlight Theatre. They serenaded him with "Happy Birthday" and several of the many fans who brought signs to the show expressed birthday greetings. At least one person brought him a gift.

The crowd included many folks who were Manilow’s age and older and many who were half his age and younger. It was also Father’s Day, and throughout the amphitheater families of two and three generations sat and sang along together. Manilow’s gift to them was 90 minutes of songs they’d been listening to for most of their lives. Backed by a band…

http://www.uinterview.com/news/barry-manilow-still-not-100-percent-recovered-from-bursitis-surgery-4767

Music legend Barry Manilow , who celebrated his 69th birthday earlier this month, has not completely recovered from surgery he underwent for bursitis of the hip last December. "I’m still not 100 percent," Manilow told The Kansas City Star. "I’m pretty close -- 85 to 90 percent, but I’m doing great."

Manilow, who started a long series of weekend tours in March, was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital in December to repair…