Music of the “Wonder Years” echoes throughout The Villages.
Tony Orlando, Peter “Herman’s Hermits” Noone, Johnny Mathis, “Little” Peggy March and the Beatles all have something in common: nostalgic fans who live here.
The Villages is a hotbed for golden oldies. The old singers and the old songs touch a youthful nerve with people who have aged but never forgot the music of the good old days.
“I have to sing the old songs,” Frankie Avalon told Villages-News.com after playing four sellout shows earlier this year at The Sharon. “That’s what the people who come to see me want to hear.”
More oldie acts are coming.
Tony Orlando plays a soldout Christmas Show at the Sharon on Monday night, while the “Original Jacksons” –Tito, Jackie and Marlon — are there on Thursday.
Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits fame, has a holiday gig on Saturday with Rocky and the Rollers at Savannah Center. Johnny Mathis quickly soldout the Sharon for a show on Jan. 14. Johnny Rivers is at the Sharon on Jan. 26. The Nowhere Band, a Beatles tribute act, plays Savannah on Jan. 11. Peggy March is part of “Rocky’s Lady Legends of Rock and Roll” that plays Savannah on Jan. 27.
And if you feel like traveling, “The Motortown Holiday Spectacular,” with famed Motown acts the Temptations, the Miracles and the Capitols, will perform Dec. 19, 7:30 p.m. at The Clermont Performing Arts Center. For information, call 352-394-4800. Also, “The Golden Boys of Bandstand,” Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and Fabian, perform March 8 at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City. Donny and Marie Osmond also perform there on March 6. For information call 813-754-1996.
It seems that music nostalgia is as common in The Villages as golf carts and palm trees.
“Every generation feels nostalgic about their youth and we are no different,” said Villager and radio personality “DJ” Al Brady. “Our parents related to the war years and the music they grew up on. Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Glenn Miller, The Ink Spots, Judy Garland, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, and all the Big Bands.
“When Elvis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard came on the scene many of our parents had the same reaction to their music as we do to today’s styles of music.”
Maybe that’s part of the music attraction to baby boomers, old music was rebellious back in the day.
“We all relate back to our youth and the events and music we grew up,” said Brady, who hosts shows with Rocky and the Rollers and also is an MC at the Sharon. “We want to relive the good, most memorable parts of our youth.”
So do the artists.
“The artists coming to The Villages still resonate with our generation,” Brady said. “They still are in good voice and bring us back to the days when their charted hits lived on our radios.”
Peggy March, who detests the nickname “Little,” will have to sing “I Will Follow Him” when she performs at Savannah.
“That song is part of my identity and it has a way of touching people,” March told me earlier this year. “I never expected it to last this long. It’s a universal song.”
So is “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” which sold over 3 million records for Tony Orlando back in the mid-1970s.
“I recorded that song on a rainy afternoon in New York City and little did I know that it would take me on an amazing journey…” Orlando states on his Website. “That song allowed me to raise millions of dollars for veterans’ causes. America made that an iconic song, not me. I was just the mailman who delivered the letter.”
Johnny Mathis turned 80 but is still filled with the sounds of his music.
“I’m going to be singing the rest of my life,” he recently told The Oregonian. “I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be able to perform your music for as long as you want to.”
The Nowhere Band plays Savannah on Jan. 11, and it’s the second appearance here for the Beatles Tribute group.
“We know we’re not the Beatles but we appreciate their music and want to play it because so many people grew up with it and still want to hear it,” Donavon Christenson, who plays George in the tribute, told me earlier this year.
“The thing is, this music brings back memories and makes people feel young again,” added Steve Lavalley, who sings as Paul.
Villager John Chipriano summed up the Beatles and nostalgia this way:
“I’m so glad I was young then and grew up with the Beatles music. It will always be a part of my life.”