My Sister and Barry Manilow

This is a story I'm hoping my sister Anne blogs about at some point, but I wanted to share my memories on my blog, just in case she never gets around to it.

The photo above is of Anne in 1978, the year she was invited and flown to New York City, put up in the St. Regis Hotel and attended a "welcome home to NY" party for Barry Manilow.  A year later, that photo made it into our High School yearbook.   She (and my Father as chaperone) were given limos everywhere they wanted to go, and were treated like real celebrities.   

Anne became a big Barry Manilow fan about the time his 3rd album came out.  That's the one with "I Write the Songs", "Copacabana" and "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" (my favorite).

I'm not sure when the letter writing began, but she eventually wrote many, many letters, always in red envelopes, and would send them to his record label.  She wasn't pouring out her love for him, but was, instead, providing insightful critiques of his music, from her teenaged perspective.   She was also sharing moments of her life.  In fact, she hated the word "fan" and wanted nothing to do with fan clubs or activities.

Eventually, he started writing back.  They were hand-written, usually about a page long, and were very nice.   They were encouraging and thankful, and helped Anne, I'm sure, get through those angst-filled teenage years.

The record company started sending Anne all of Barry's albums for free.  Also, we were given free concert tickets whenever Barry was performing near or in Harrisburg.  We even got to go backstage to meet him afterwards.

Once, when he performed at the Hersheypark Arena, Anne got herself in with the Lebanon Valley College Choir, which was performing "One Voice" and "It's A Miracle" with Barry.  (They recruited a college choir from each city to perform these songs).  When Barry walked on stage to rehearse with the choir, he reportedly said "OK, Where's Anne?" before the rehearsal began. 

During the Three-Mile-Island Nuclear Accident in 1979, Barry sent a telegram to our house, asking if everything was OK, and if he could do anything.  (we lived within the 10-mile radius of the plant).

He sent her flowers that were presented during our high-school graduation, much to Anne's embarrassment and chagrin.  She would have much rather been given these in private, instead of pulled up to the stage with all the students receiving academic awards.  The card read: "Looks Like You Made It".  

Anyway, I was looking through Google Images, and came across a couple of photos from that big party all those years ago in New York City.  They are below:

This is of Barry and Ron Dante, one of his favorite lyricists.  

And this one must have been shot through the limo window as he was arriving or departing the party.  The woman is "Reparata", one of the members of "Lady Flash", his back-up group at the time.  One of the members, Deborah Byrd, is now the featured vocal coach on "American Idol".

The last time I met Barry was with Anne after a concert around 1990, I think.  We actually bought the tickets, since she hadn't heard from him in years.

He was performing at the Opera House.  I told Anne to bring a letter to him in a red envelope. We got the letter in the hands of his personal assistant, who searched the crowd for us after the show, and brought us backstage to chat with Barry. 

It was a nice reunion, but I must say, each time I met him, I was kind of tongue-tied.   Anne had no such problem.

Hope it's OK that I shared this, Anne.  There's much more to tell here, and I hope you do it sometime.  It's a great story.