Grammy Award-winning singer Melissa Manchester is coming to St. Joseph as part of the Missouri Western State University Centennial Art Series. Manchester will sing at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 18 at the historic Missouri Theater in downtown St. Joseph. Tickets are now on sale at www.missouriwestern.edu/centennial-arts or by phone at 816-279-1225. All proceeds will benefit the Missouri Western State University Centennial Capital Campaign.
Melissa Manchester’s extraordinary career began when the native New Yorker signed her first publishing deal at age 17. Soon, she was backing up Bette Midler as a founding member of the Harlettes and studying songwriting with Paul Simon at New York University.
Manchester soon launched a solo career to critical praise and commercial success. Her recording of the Peter Allen/Carole Bayer Sager anthem “Don’t Cry Out Loud” delivered her first Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance in 1979, and she won the award in the same category four years later for “You Should Hear How He Talks About You.” Two of her songs, “Through the Eyes of Love” and “The Promise,” were nominated for Academy Awards in the same year.
Manchester’s songs have been recorded by Roberta Flack, Dusty Springfield, Allison Krauss, Stevie Nicks, Kenny Loggins and Barbara Streisand. She has written songs for major movies and has appeared in films and television.
Earlier this year, she released her first new album in more than a decade, the self-made “You Gotta Love the Life,” with a variety of songs performed with legendary artists such as Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau, Keb’ Mo’, Dionne Warwick, Dave Koz and Joe Sample in one of his last recordings.
Manchester teaches music to students at the University of Southern California and is an honorary artist-in-residence at Citrus College.
Manchester’s appearance is made possible by Steve Craig, benefactor of Missouri Western’s Steven L. Craig School of Business.
Also performing at the June 18 event will be the Griffon Junior Singers, under the direction of Darren Verbick and Ashley Kempt, and the Missouri Western Faculty Jazz Combo.
General admission ticket prices range from $12 to $45. There are also two patron-level packages: the Griffon package for $100 includes premium seating and a pre-concert reception with appetizers by the award-winning chef Eric Borger of Il Lazzarone. The Golden Griffon package for $150 includes premium seating, the pre-concert reception, a post-concert champagne and chocolates party, a signed CD, a “meet and greet” with Manchester and a Golden Griffon lapel pin.
The Centennial Capital Campaign was publicly launched with a celebration of Missouri Western’s Centennial in January. To allow Missouri Western to continue achieving its mission, the Centennial Capital Campaign calls for a $20 million investment to address many of the University’s urgent priorities, including facility, endowment and program needs over the next five years. Proceeds from the June 18 concert will benefit one of the campaign’s priority facility projects – Potter Hall, which houses Missouri Western’s School of Fine Arts.
Earlier in the day, Manchester will be the featured speaker at the YWCA Women of Excellence Awards in St. Joseph. For information on that event, visit ywcasj.org/get-involved/women-of-excellence/.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.