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 For
anyone who thinks that New Year’s comes only once a
year, from August 3-5 at the South Point, guests can tie one
on the old oak tree and knock three times on the ceiling in
an uplifting evening of music and laughter that provides a
real bang. The life of the party will be none other than legendary
entertainer Tony Orlando, who wears his many hats -- party,
musical, comedic -- taking the art of audience-pleasing to
the brim.
While the down-to-earth performer is not one to blow his own
horn, he has some things of his own to continue to celebrate.
For Orlando, 2006 proved to be one for the book – not
only did he write one, but he also did sell-out business on
his very first tour of Asia and worked so much that he was
only home 85 days in 12 months.
“The book, published by Thomas Nelson, has done very
well,” says Orlando. “It’s called ‘While
We’re Apart, Tie a Yellow Ribbon” and is a collection
of inspirational thoughts, feelings and sayings written mostly
by me and some by my family and friends. It’s meant
to be sent to someone you love that you’re apart from,
whether that person is in Iraq, away at college or living
in another city or country. All the proceeds are being donated
to the military.”
“As far as my being on the road so much this year, my
career is really about the work I do in live performance at
this point, although I did have a Christmas album with Telma
and Joyce last year that did very well,” he continues,
referring to the women once known to the world as Dawn. “But
this is all I’ve done since I was a kid – it’s
been my life’s work. It’s not a matter of a hit
record or a hit Broadway show or a hit movie – most
performers have their decades and mine was the 70’s.
It’s about something I’ve been doing since I was
15 when I signed with Columbia Records. It’s really
about the hard work and about redefining and reinventing yourself
and taking some risks. Luck opens the door; hard work keeps
it open. And it’s about giving everything you have to
give to an audience like every show you do is your last.”
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In the business now for 46 years, at 16, Orlando had a hit
called “Halfway to Paradise;” by the age of 23,
he was Vice President/General Manager of CBS Records, discovering
the likes of artists such as Barry Manilow and producing Manilow’s
first records. To Orlando, longevity in the business is a
matter of what goes around comes around, meaning that if you
deliver the goods in whatever profession you’re in,
you’ll reap the benefits.
“I learned from the old-school entertainers like Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jerry Lewis that
the ultimate goal is not stardom but rather those two hours
that you spend on stage,” he relates. “Their lives
were spent trying to please an audience and they worried more
about the one guy that was sitting there not responding than
being happy about the standing ovation they just got. They
had a work ethic and a commitment to their audiences like
nothing you had ever seen in your life. Jerry will still come
to my show and offer constructive criticism. And I’m
still learning and growing in other ways -- from the kids
on ‘American Idol,’ or on MTV and even the rappers.
They have much to contribute.”
The key to being a performer, Orlando notes, is to be honest
on stage and take audiences on an emotional journey. In that
respect, he feels very fortunate that his career not only
extended to “The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show” on
network TV and to Broadway, where he starred in “Barnum”
and “Smokey Joe’s Café,” but also
that he has been a Vegas performer for 40 years. His dream
was to become an eclectic entertainer and he says that his
greatest honor was when he received the “All-Around
Best Entertainer” award from the Las Vegas Review-Journal
in 1981 and again 20 years later, in 2002.
“You’ve got to be good to be in Vegas and sustain
in Vegas,” Orlando expresses. “I’ve always
wanted to be good and be a Vegas entertainer.”
Still in all, Orlando maintains that he doesn’t take
success seriously, noting that while it is wonderful and great,
what matters most in the end is family.
“Fame isn’t really fame at all,” he muses.
“It only appears that way from a distance. What really
makes that realization true is when your son or daughter says,
‘That’s not Tony Orlando. That’s my father.”
Definitely music to the ears.
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ADDITIONAL
ARTICLES
BY
BOBBIE KATZ
HERE |
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He's
Still Tying that Yellow Ribbon
