It's that time of year again. Old and some not so old musical stars are out playing the amusement park circuit and now's a great time for everyone to see a good performance at an affordable price. One act that always comes to my mind is Joan Jett, who has for years been out and about, but now with the Runaways movie, she should be getting recognition she painfully deserves. Some local area places that you can see these acts are Hershey Park in Hershey Pa, Dorney Park in Dorneyville Pa, Musikfest in Bethlehem Pa, and the Great Adventure Parks in NJ and Washington, DC.
What follows are just a few of the other performers that caught my eye and will be around this summer:
Jordin Sparks, a pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter and actress from Glendale, Arizona, rose to fame as the winner of the sixth season of American Idol. Sparks won when she was 17 years old, making her the youngest Idol winner. She followed her American Idol victory with the release of her self-titled debut album in 2007, which has gone platinum and has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. Sparks' second single, "No Air", featuring Chris Brown, has more downloads than any American Idol contestant, with about 4 million worldwide.
Also on the circuit, Charles "Chuck" Negron, a singer-songwriter best known as one of the three lead vocalists in Three Dog Night.
A band I remember well, Sawyer Brown, will be out, too. They're a country music band founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by five members of country pop singer Don King's road band. After King retired in 1981, the five members decided to form a band, first choosing the name Savanna before switching to Sawyer Brown, also the name of a road near where they practiced.
Sawyer Brown first gained national attention in 1983 when they participated on Star Search, a former television talent show on which they won the grand prize of $100,000 and a recording contract with Capitol Records (in association with Curb Records).Their first album, also titled Sawyer Brown, was issued in 1985. It included their first Number One single on the Billboard country music charts, titled "Step That Step". The band continued to chart regularly throughout the 1980s.
Check out next month's Newsworthy for a continuation of former stars, out and about.
