Our next Ken Boxer Live guest is Grammy winner Melissa Manchester, whose powerful vocals and strong, captivating performances have set her apart from her peers from the very beginning.

Who can forget her breathtaking live performances, such as her performance in the YouTube clip below of her super smash hit, “Don’t Cry Out Loud.” If ever a song was written for a performer’s innate abilities, this is one of them. Listen to her vocals seamlessly shift as if a well-heeled flowing hillside pond has given birth to a take-no-prisoners tsunami.

We look forward to a great interview with this true musical giant.

For background we quote extensively from Manchester’s Wikipedia page:

“Manchester was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, to a musical family. Her father was a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera. Her mother was one of the first women to design and found her own clothing firm, Ruth Manchester Ltd.

“Manchester hails from a Jewish background. Manchester started a singing career at an early age. She learned the piano and harpsichord at the Manhattan School of Music, began singing commercial jingles at age 15, and became a staff writer for Chappell Music while attending Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts.

“She studied songwriting at New York University with Paul Simon. Manchester played the Manhattan club scene, where she was discovered by Barry Manilow, who introduced her to Bette Midler. In 1971 she became a member of the Harlettes, the back-up singers for Midler.

“Manchester made a brief speaking appearance as “Yoko Ono” on the 1972 album National Lampoon Radio Dinner, on the track entitled “Magical Misery Tour”, and as the singer in “Deteriorata”.

“Her debut album, Home to Myself, was released in 1973; Manchester co-wrote many of its songs with Carole Bayer Sager. Two years later, Manchester’s album Melissa produced her first top-ten hit, “Midnight Blue”, which enjoyed 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song’s peak position was #6 for the week of August 9, 1975.

“She also performed the song live on Burt Sugarman’s television series Midnight Special in 1974. Manchester appeared with Richie Havens, Melanie, and Frankie Valli as a contributor and performer in the 1977 NBC special documentary “How the Beatles Changed the World”. Manchester collaborated with Kenny Loggins to co-write Loggins’ 1978 hit duet with Stevie Nicks, “Whenever I Call You Friend”. She would later record this for her 1979 Melissa Manchester album.

“She guest-starred on the CBS-TV daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow to teach a main character, who played a singer-songwriter, the essentials of the craft. In 1979, Manchester reached #10 with her version of Peter Allen’s “Don’t Cry Out Loud”,  for which she received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance.”

Join us for a very entertaining evening with Melissa Manchester.

We have limited seating available for audience members. If you would like complimentary tickets to our in-studio broadcast at the TVSB studios in Santa Barbara, please click here. This show tapes on Monday, April 1st. Audience members generally arrive by 6:30 pm and take their seats at 6:45 pm.

(This episode first airs Thursday, 04/04/2019, 10:00 PM, on TVSB-17, and is replayed numerous times throughout the following 14 days. You will find a complete schedule of times here. Additionally, a YouTube link to this episode, available about 24 hours before original airtime, will display immediately below.)