Local Happenings

The history of Rock N’ Roll would be incomplete without the innumerable contributions of Neil Sedaka. For over fifty years, Neil has written, performed, produced, and inspired countless songs, and his canon of compositions will continue to stand the test of time. In 1964, the direction of American music changed drastically when The Beatles launched The British Invasion. It became very hard for most male solo artists to continue to pursue their career in music. Due to his many talents as a songwriter, Neil was able to prevail, writing hit songs for such artists including Frank Sinatra (The Hungry Years), Elvis Presley (Solitaire), Tom Jones (Puppet Man), The Monkees (When Love Comes Knocking At Your Door), and The Fifth Dimension (Workin’ on a Groovy Thing).

Neil’s journey continued in the UK with the release of his album “Emergence” in 1972. This was the first step of redefining himself as a solo artist. It was Elton John who decided to sign Neil to his up-and-coming record label Rocket Records, and begin to re-introduce Neil to American audiences. The two albums he recorded for the Rocket label, Sedaka’s Back in 1974 and The Hungry Years in 1975, both became top selling albums around the world. His comeback was further heralded by two of his songs co-written with Phil Cody, “Bad Blood” and the quintessential “Laughter in the Rain”, both reaching the #1 position on the music charts. In Rolling Stone magazine, Sedaka was hailed as “the new phenomenon.”

The song “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” was re-released as a ballad in 1975, and made music history when it reached #1 on the charts, becoming the first song recorded in two different versions by the same artist to reach the Number One. During this time, Sedaka also helped to launch the career of the Captain and Tennille with their version of his “Love Will Keep Us Together”, which won a GRAMMY® Award for Record of the Year for this worldwide, number one hit.

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Debbie Reynolds, America’s Sweetheart, continues to revive, renew, and live life to the maximum. This singer, dancer, actress has been entertaining us for over six decades, and is still fresh and light. She always leaves audiences wanting more!

Her early comedic talents first came to light when she auditioned for dramatic roles in school plays and found everyone laughing at her “serious” readings. Failing at that, she had to content herself with doing “everything from the wind machine to the thunder and lightning offstage,” but she never made it to an onstage appearance.

Despite her humble beginnings, through the years Reynolds’ versatility as an actress has won her the respect of her colleagues and the affection of audiences who know her from her countless appearances in movies, stage, and TV. She is best remembered for her roles in Singin’ in the Rain and for her Oscar®-nominated portrayal of The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Simultaneously, Reynolds has appeared in numerous TV shows such as Will & Grace, Perry Mason, and The Love Boat. Her personality took centerstage on such shows as The Hollywood Squares and The Tonight Show with both Johnny Carson and Jack Paar. Stage credits include Irene, The Debbie Reynolds Show, Annie Get Your Gun, Woman of the Year, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Debbie Reynolds’ grip on the American heart is one that will transcend generations. Today, at 78, Debbie Reynolds is, as she has always been, America’s Sweetheart. “This is my 63rd year in show business. And I’m only 52!” says Reynolds.

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“Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.”
— Bob Newhart

Winner of 2 Emmys®, 3 GRAMMYS® , the Mark Twain Prize For Humor, and the Peabody Award, Bob Newhart’s trademark “one-sided telephone conversations” are so well known, that he is the only man in America who could conduct his own interview. In fact, he’s is perhaps the only man in the world who can talk to himself on the phone without people looking at him strangely.

Despite his age, Newhart continues to perform live before sellout audiences all over the country and the world. With routines he creates from today’s newspapers in his unique style, and some of his early classic routines (which audiences demand he perform), Bob Newhart is still garnering critical raves and pleasing audiences at the same time. Newhart cites as one of his major inspirations, American humorist and writer Robert Benchley. Dan Martin of the comedy team Rowan and Martin said Newhart is not a standup comic as such, not a joke teller, but a humorist, comparing Newhart’s work to Mark Twain and Robert Benchley.

Don’t miss Bob Newhart, live, one night only, March 20th, at 7 pm… and laugh out loud as he explores the absurdities of everyday life, as only he could do.

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In the 1950s, thousands of screaming bobbysoxers surrounded the Paramount Theatre in New York, held back only by police barricades, to see their singing idol Tony Bennett. Today those fans, as well as their children and grandchildren, continue to idolize the octogenarian, and all of Bennett’s fans will be able to see him LIVE, at the Sunrise Theatre…in an Exclusive East Coast Florida Appearance!

The son of a grocer and Italian-born immigrant, Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born on August 3, 1926, in the Astoria section of Queens, New York. His boyhood idols included Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, both big influences on Bennett’s easy, natural singing style. Tony sang while waiting tables as a teenager then performed with military bands throughout his overseas Army duty during World War II.

Tony’s big break came in 1949 when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village. As he recalls, “Bob Hope came down to check out my act. He liked my singing so much that after the show he came back to see me in my dressing room and said, ‘Come on kid, you’re going to come to the Paramount and sing with me.’ But first he told me he didn’t care for my stage name (Joe Bari) and asked me what my real name was. I told him, ‘My name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto,’ and he said, ‘We’ll call you Tony Bennett.’ And that’s how it happened. A new Americanized name, the start of a wonderful career and a glorious adventure that has continued for over sixty years.”

His initial fame came via a string of Columbia singles in the early 1950s, including such chart-toppers as “Because of You,” “Rags To Riches” and a cover of Hank Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart.” He has placed two-dozen songs in the Top 40, including “I Wanna Be Around,” “The Good Life,” “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)” and his signature hit, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” which earned him two Grammy Awards.

Tony Bennett is one of a handful of artists to have new albums chart in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and to this day. He introduced a multitude of songs into the Great American Songbook that have since become pop music standards. He has toured the world to sold out audiences, winning rave reviews whenever he performs.

Tony Bennett became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2005, and was named an NEA Jazz Master in January of 2006 and was also named the recipient of Billboard magazine’s elite Century Award, in honor of his outstanding contributions to music. In 2006, Tony’s NBC prime-time special, “Tony Bennett: An American Classic” received 7 Emmy Awards making it the most honored program of that year.

Tony has also authored three books: What My Heart Has Seen, a beautifully bound edition of his paintings published in 1996; The Good Life, his heartfelt autobiography released in 1998; and Tony Bennett In the Studio, a sumptuous salute to his dual career as singer and painter, published in 2007.

With worldwide record sales in the millions, dozens of platinum and gold albums to his credit, fifteen Grammy Awards including the prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Tony Bennett will surely give you a night to remember …only at the Sunrise Theatre.

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