Hi Everyone,

This month we’ve chosen a very rare video indeed.

It’s called “Barry Manilow’s Magic” and it was taped live at the National Exhibition Centre (the NEC) in Birmingham, England in 1984.

It’s the BBC’s edited version of the Paradise Café Tour and considering they had to cut a two hour show down to one hour, I think they did pretty well.

Boy did this show bring back memories.

I made notes as I watched the show about the people that were a part of that tour.

I still hear from Victor Vanacore. He’s still making music. He was a great Music Director and a great guy.

And Vanessa checks in now and again. She works all the time. Check out Dancing With The Stars and you’ll see Vanessa banging away on her instruments. Boy is she ever talented. How about her playing the violin?

And there’s Dana Robbins! Another great talent and such a beautiful person.

My backup singers during that tour were four talented people. There’s beautiful Muffy Hendricks singing! She’s with me again on this current road show. Ah, Muffy. A tremendous talent and one of the most beautiful souls I’ve ever met.

And Ron Pedley is playing synths for me during that show like he does right now. I don’t know what I would do with Ron Pedley. You know, he was a child prodigy and I got him just as he was deciding what to do with his talent. If you listen to that band, you’ll hear horns and strings and sounds that sound like they’re coming from a huge orchestra, but really, it’s all Ron Pedley!!

Boy am I a lucky guy.

The rest of that band checks in with me all the time.
And then watching the credits roll by really brought back memories.

We lost one of my U.K. producers, Andrew Miller, recently. He was such a great guy and so loyal to me. Danny still promotes my shows in the U.K. Another wonderful guy.

Gary Speakman works in television now and Jed DeFilippis surprised us by appearing one afternoon at Paris Las Vegas as their Technical Director! He was with us for the entire run during the Paris shows. He would cheer us on every night. It was so wonderful being with Jed again.

I see Gary Rivera’s name flash by. He was one of my sound guys. You’ll notice that I don’t have those infernal monitors hanging out of my ears. Well, Gary must have given me such great sound that I didn’t need them and I think I sound pretty good too!

Oh, and there’s Billy Heaslip’s name. He created my lights for that tour. They were beautiful.

And of course, Kevin Carlisle helped me to create the entire show like he did for many of my tours.

How about my hair!! I forgot how long I’d let it grow. Rock n’ Roll!!

They use a lot of audience shots during this show. You might even see yourself or someone you know when they do.

Boy, this show brings back some great memories.

Check this one out, everyone.

I think you’ll like it when I “whip it out!”.

-Barry