Local Barry Manilow Fan Club To Welcome Singer Home With Special Gift

Nov. 18, 2011 - PRLog -- Barry’s Retro Fans Unlimited-An Online Barry Manilow Fan Club is pleased to announce that they are holding a special Valentine’s Day fund raiser to welcome Barry Manilow “home” when he appears at Radio City Music Hall in February 2012.

The fan club which is based in the NYC area has been working tirelessly on a “once in a lifetime” fund raiser for the past couple of years which has been “IN HONOR OF AND INSPIRED BY” the singer and his own charity the “Manilow Music Project”.  “The Retro Fan Music Project” will concentrate their efforts with all proceeds to benefit the students of “The Academy of Technical Theater and Performing Arts at Grand Street Campus High Schools”.  This is a part of “Enterprise, Business and Technology High School”. One of the “Campus” schools at the Grand Street Campus in Brooklyn happens to be Manilow’s alma mater “Eastern District High School”.  

The fan club which will be celebrating their own 10th anniversary in March 2012 is no stranger to raising funds and awareness in their community. “This is just what we do as a fan club and our charity work has become the cornerstone of our existence these past 10 years” says Sheila Vinson, who is the fan club’s Director. In those 10 years the fan club has raised thousands of dollars, and supported various charities including Aids Walk NYC and United Cerebral Palsy NYC. “This fund raiser is in addition to our supporting our other charities and is only different in the sense that it is our most involved and elaborate to date” says Vinson.

Along with the club’s Charity Coordinator Kimberly Allison and the Project’s Research Coordinator Donna Abrams the ladies embarked on according to them what has been at times a “most profound journey”. The club is holding a special double raffle which will be drawn on Valentine’s Day, and consists of… an AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF “THE BARRY MANILOW ANTHOLOGY SONGBOOK” which is extraordinary in the sense that it IS NOT autographed by the singer himself but by approximately 30 of the original songwriters of many of Manilow’s most beloved hits. “Songwriters and musicians truly are the kindest and most generous people. Though some of the songwriters may not be well known to the general public the songs they signed most definitely are” Ms. Vinson says.  

Included in that list are the likes of David Foster, Richard Marx, Randy Edelman, Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys (who wrote the Manilow hit “I Write The Songs”) and many of Manilow’s own regular collaborators. The songs “Could It Be Magic”; “It’s A Miracle”; “Tryin’ To Get The Feeling”; “Can’t Smile Without You” and yes… “Copacabana” have all been signed. Along with their signatures many songwriters also submitted personal memories, anecdotes and additional material to be raffled off with the book. Every major award is represented in the collection of these signatures including: Grammy; Emmy, Academy Award; Rock and Roll; and Songwriters Hall of Fame winners and inductees. The book itself is considered priceless and therefore each raffle ticket is being sold at the price of 1 for $25 and 6 for $100.

With the current state of the economy and to broaden the appeal the girls also put together a more traditional raffle with those tickets being 1 for $1 and 6 for $5. Included in this raffle are an assortment of items ranging from an autographed CD by Barry Manilow; other memorabilia that is Manilow related; additional items donated by the songwriters and other musicians, and what the girls consider their surprise donation of an “American Bandstand: 50th Anniversary boxed set” donated and autographed by Dick Clark himself. Can it really get any better than that?

Though the fan club has gotten off to a great head start through raffle ticket sales to their fan club members thus far, they feel this is the perfect time to bring the raffle to the masses. In fact the club is offering the rest of the Manilow fan base and the general public the following deal. For every person who purchases raffle tickets in either of the raffles between now and December 31, 2011 it will be a part of the club’s “Double or Nothing” promotion. Therefore the prices would be as follows… 2 for $25 or 12 for $100 for the Anthology Songbook and/or 2 for $1 and 12 for $5 for all the remaining raffle items.

“Barry encouraged us to go out and do our part and that’s what we are doing. He is doing his part in continuing to give the gift of music around the country. We are in turn trying to give the gift of music to the songwriters and Barry Manilows of the future through music. What better time for us to do so than as a welcome home gift of love to Barry when he appears in February at Radio City Music Hall. What better day to draw this raffle than on Valentine’s Day. You can’t write stuff like this” says the club’s Director.

For those interested in purchasing raffle tickets you will be able to do so via money order or by utilizing PayPal by sending an e-mail to RetroFanMusicProject@gmail.com. As the raffle sale progresses there may be other options as well to purchase tickets. A complete list of raffle prizes and details along with the Music Project’s progress will be available on the fan club’s official website at www.barrysretrofansunlimited.com.

Barry’s Retro Fans Unlimited would like to express its deepest gratitude to all of the singers, songwriters, musicians and other individuals who have made this fund raising opportunity come to fruition and for their continued support and enthusiasm. We would also like to say to Barry we hope to make you proud, you will forever have our continued love and support and Barry…THIS ONE’S FOR YOU AND WELCOME HOME!!!

# # #

Barry's Retro Fans Unlimited is an on-line Barry Manilow Fan Club. Charity work has become the cornerstone of Retro Fans with our "1000% Give Back" proposition. We continue with those efforts in the name of Barry Manilow by putting into practice Barry's definition of philanthropy which states...

"The definition of philanthropy is just that you do it because it has to be done; and you do it because you want to do it and you should do it; and I think it ends there. For me is should end there".