Legendary pop star Dion returns to Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday, August 3 at 8 pm. Tickets are $59-109.
Dion and his music will always represent a special time and place.a moment when a song could mean so much and a singer could sum up what it means to be young, in love and on top of the world. Yet Dion is more than simply a cherished memory of a more innocent time. A singer, songwriter and performer of extraordinary versatility, range and resonance, Dion is fashioning music as relevant and revealing today as in the heydays of the 50's when, along with a handful of other innovators, he defined rock 'n' roll for a generation.
"I Wonder Why" was Dion's first hit with The Belmonts and over the next two years the group earned a reputation not only for topping the charts but for creating some of the most vital and exciting doo-wop music on the American scene, with songs such as "A Teenager In Love" and "Where Or When."
Dion, venturing out as a solo artist in 1960, racked up a string of #1 hits that many still consider to be the best of era. Over an incredible four year run Dion cut one quintessential rock classic alter another, from the rollicking "Runaround Sue" to the driving "Lovers Who Wander" to the anthemic "The Wanderer" - it was an unparalleled musical feat that elevated him to the top ranks of recording artists.
As the first rock and roll artist ever signed to Columbia Records, he continued his streak with such smashes as "Ruby Baby," "Donna The Prima Donna" and "Drip Drop." When not in the recording studio, he could be found frequenting Greenwich Village, New York, listening to roots music, the blues, folk stylings that were shortly to sweep the music scene. In 1968, Dion had matured as an artist, a more contemplative songwriter and performer and also discovered some hard-won answers and, in the process, found new reasons for living. And singing.
That same year he shot to the top of the charts once again with "Abraham, Martin And John," a song that was as much an anthem for that era as his early hits had been in theirs.
Today Dion's songs grow more important and valuable to his fans, himself and to a new generation of believers. His works being reissued on Sony,
Warner Brothers, Rhino, Ace Records and Capitol.
Mayo Performing Arts Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, presents a wide range of programs that entertain, enrich, and educate the diverse population of the region and enhance the economic vitality of Northern New Jersey. The 2018-2019 season is made possible, in part, by a grant the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support received from the F.M. Kirby Foundation and numerous corporations, foundations and individuals. The Mayo Performing Arts Center has been designated a Major Presenting Organization by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Mayo Performing Arts Center was named 2016 Outstanding Historic Theatre by the League of Historic American Theatres, and is ranked in the top 50 mid-sized performing arts centers by Pollstar Magazine.
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