Seven Springs to present Beatles album tribute

SEVEN SPRINGS, Pa. - Seven Springs Mountain Resort welcomes Flower Power Concerts' launch of the "It Was 40 Years Ago Today" tour, tribute to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

Todd Rundgren headlines this bill that includes Lou Gramm of Foreigner, Christopher Cross, American Idol star Bo Bice and Denny Laine of the Moody Blues. In addition to each band playing its own hits, the bands will perform Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in its entirety.

"Todd Rundgren did a tour called 'A Walk Down Abbey Road' with us, where he and the other acts performed a selection of Beatles spanning their catalogue," said tour creator and producer Toby Ludwig. "It was a big success, and he was more than happy to come back for this project. All the musicians here have a deep love for the Beatles' music, and it shows in their performances of the material."

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Rundgren began playing guitar as a teenager, going on to found and front The Nazz, the quintessential '60s cult group. In 1969, he left the band to pursue a solo career, recording his debut offering, the acclaimed album Runt. But it was 1972's seminal Something/Anything?, on which he played all the instruments, sang all the vocal parts, and acted as his own producer, that catapulted Rundgren into the superstar limelight. It was followed by such landmark LPs as Hermit of Mink Hollow and A Wizard, A True Star, as well as such hit singles as "I Saw The Light," "Hello, It's Me," "Can We Still Be Friends" and "Bang The Drum."

Powerhouse vocalist and songwriter Lou Gramm exploded onto the international music scene in 1977 with Foreigner's chart topper, "Feels Like The First Time." The stats are impressive - eight top five singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and five top five albums on the Billboard Top Album chart in the U.S alone. Gramm was the vocalist on 20 top 40 singles, which continue to drive sales of nearly 80 million albums worldwide.?Over the course of his career, Christopher Cross has released eight albums, a body of work revealing a steady, focused dedication to artistic growth. The payoff has been eight hit singles, including "Sailing" and "Ride Like The Wind," several world tours, five Grammys and an Oscar. Cross has continued to seek out his fans worldwide by regularly hitting the concert road, never depriving those fans of the early hits.

Born Harold Elwin Bice, Jr. in Huntsville, Ala., Bo Bice spent his youth moving between Georgia, Alabama, Florida and England before returning to Alabama, where he dedicated himself full-time to music. He was managing a guitar shop when he auditioned for "American Idol" on a lark. But he wowed the trio of judges with his rock 'n' roll grit, including an audition version of the Allmans' "Whipping Post" and did the same with the reality show's huge national audience. His latest album, See The Light, is a broad-reaching 10-song set that spans the crunchy, Southern-fried rock of "This Train," "Got Money" and "Whiskey, Women & Time" and emotional ballads such as "Only Words," "Sinner in a Sin" and "I'm Gone." For a few months at the height of the British invasion, Denny Laine was one of the most recognizable voices on the entire British music scene. As the lead singer on the Moody Blues recording of "Go Now," a worldwide multi-million seller, he stood out in a large pack and did so splendidly. His soulful, agonized lead vocal performance, coupled with Mike Pinder's chiming piano, proved irresistible on the radio. In 1971, Denny joined Paul McCartney to found the group known as Wings and would stay with them for a full 10 years until Wings officially disbanded in 1981. Together with Paul and his late wife Linda, they formed the nucleus of the band. With Wings, Laine enjoyed the biggest commercial and critical successes of his career, including co-writing the smash hit "Mull of Kintyre."

The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 15, at the Grey Rocks Amphitheatre. Gates open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available online at www.7springs.com or by calling the Box Office at (866) 703-ROCK (7625). The Box Office is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tickets are priced at $32 for the platinum section and $22 for lawn seating, inclusive of all fees.

Overnight accommodations are available for concert attendees starting at $135 per room plus tax based on double occupancy. Please call (866) 437-1300 to make reservations. Guests will be asked to present their ticket at check-in to receive this special rate.

Seven Springs Mountain Resort, located in Seven Springs, Pa., is the state's largest ski and four-season family resort and was recently rated the No. 1 resort in the mid-Atlantic region by the readers of SKI magazine. The resort is easily accessible from either exit 91 or 110 of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Seven Springs Mountain Resort can accommodate more than 5,000 overnight guests in its renovated 10-story high-rise hotel, nearly 1,000 condominiums and town homes, cabins and chalets.

For more information on Seven Springs, visit www.7springs.com or call (800) 452-2223.