Published On: Mon, Dec 19th, 2016

New Year’s Eve at the Delray Marriott Brings Two Sixties Rock & Roll Legends

As South Floridians prepare to enter a new year, one local concert promoter is turning back the hands of time.  For the fourth year in a row, the Delray Beach Marriott will host a New Year’s Eve party featuring an upscale dining and dancing experience for teenagers of the 1960s and those who appreciate music

Dennis Tufano of the Buckinghams

Dennis Tufano, the original lead singer of the Buckinghams

from the first decade-and-a-half of rock and roll.  “In the sixties, Billboard magazine deemed the Buckinghams ‘the most listened-to band in America’ and crowned the Shirelles ‘the best girl group’ five years in a row,” says event producer Joseph Mirrione.  “A lot of dee-jays will be playing their music on New Year’s Eve, but we’re the only ones in world who have the original singers who made the records.”  Buckinghams’ original lead Dennis Tufano and Shirelles’ original lead Shirley Alston Reeves headline the event, accompanied by full vocal group and live band complete with a 3-piece brass section.  “I’m a little fussy about these things,” laughs Mirrione.  “I want my audience to hear what they heard on the original records, so we have 10 live musicians and singers on stage, mostly flown in from Detroit, L.A. and New York.  The airlines love me.”

Shirley Alston Reeves

Shirley Alston Reeves (center), the original lead singer of the Shirelles

Mirrione has been presenting vintage rock and roll concerts locally and around the country for the last several years under the moniker “Pop, Rock & Doo Wopp.”  At a time when most people in the entertainment industry are trying to tap the next big thing, he says he’d rather bet on nostalgia.  “It’s been a while since most of these songs first hit the charts, but there’s a reason why you continue to hear them – again and again – in commercials, television shows and movies.”  The Shirelles Top 40 hits include “Foolish Little Girl”, “Mama Said”, “Baby It’s You”, “Everybody Loves a Lover”, “Tonight’s the Night” and a pair that went all the way to number one, “Soldier Boy” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”  Tufano’s hits with the Buckinghams include “Hey Baby! They’re Playing Our Song”, “Don’t You Care”, “Susan”, “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” and his own #1 smash “Kind of a Drag.”

Delray Beach Marriott

The Delray Beach Marriott

The Delray Marriott, which boasts 189 rooms and 88 suites, has been a favorite of beach-loving vacationers for years, including Mitt Romney and family, who stayed there in 2012 when Boca Raton hosted the presidential debate.  The annual New Year’s Eve party takes over the entire grand ballroom and features an elevated stage (so that every seat in the room offers sight-lines of the headliners),  an over-sized dance floor and projection screens broadcasting the iconic ball-drop in Times Square.

Tickets for the event, which has sold out 2 out of the last 3 years, are priced at $169 which includes a multi-course buffett, a lavish dessert display, a champagne toast at midnight and all of the live entertainment.  Interested parties should call 1-800-385-8205 or visit www.PopRockDooWopp.com.

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