Barry Manilow Set to Headline PBS's CAPITOL FOURTH

TVGuide.com reports exclusively that Barry Manilow will headline the annual PBS live Fourth of July celebration A CAPITOL FOURTH. The gig marks a return for the superstar who performed at the event four years ago.

Recalled Manilow of his memorable PBS performance of "Let Freedom Ring," "On the last key change, as the song built to the most powerful moment, the most brilliant fireworks shot into the sky and continued until the last note of the song." He continued, "The fireworks were timed precisely and exactly to the beat of the modulation. It was one of the most thrilling moments I can remember." The same number will serve as Manilow's finale at this year's event.

PBS will air the live concert beginning 8/9c. Emmy-winning Dancing With the Star's Tom Bergeron will host the event.

Grammy Award-winning superstar Barry Manilow's hometown concert event, Manilow on Broadway, recently ran its limited Broadway engagement at the St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street).

With worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, success is a benchmark in popular music. Rolling Stone crowned him "a giant among entertainers... the showman of our generation," and Frank Sinatra summed up Manilow best when Ol' Blue Eyes told the British press, "He's next." He currently has 50 Top 40 hits. And now, Manilow is returning to the place where it all began, his hometown, New York City, with a new concert series on Broadway - marking his return to The Great White Way for the first time in more than two decades with Manilow on Broadway.

Manilow's roots remain in his native Brooklyn, where music was an integral part of his life. By the age of seven, he was taking accordion lessons and playing on a neighbor's piano. Choosing a career in music while still in his teens, he attended New York College of Music and the Juilliard School of Music while working in the mailroom at CBS. He subsequently became musical director for a CBS show named "Callback" (the predecessor to "American Idol") which led to a lucrative sideline on New York's advertising jingle circuit.

Since then, Manilow has been ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records), with no less than 25 consecutive Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1975 and 1983. The list includes all-time favorites that Manilow still sings today: "Mandy," "It's A Miracle," "Could It Be Magic," "I Write the Songs," "Tryin' To Get the Feeling Again," "This One's For You," "Weekend In New England," "Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You," "Even Now," and the Grammy Award-winning "Copacabana (At the Copa)." Manilow's Broadway show is destined to be as legendary as the man himself.

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