By Doreen Crowther, Showbusiness Correspondent BERNARD Manning will be among the guest artists taking part in a tribute concert to the legendary bandleader Syd Lawrence who died last year. Manning will be returning to his showbusiness roots as a big band singer. He was once the featured vocalist with Oscar Rabin and his orchestra. The concert at the Palace Theatre, Manchester on February 21, will be attended by many of the band's former musicians and vocalists including Jeff Hooper, Eleanor Keenan , Lorraine Craig, Laura Lovelady and Jan Butler.

It was in 1967 that Syd Lawrence gathered together a hand-picked group of musicians from the Manchester area for his orchestra.

At this stage they were simply a rehearsal band, but by 1968 people were packing the Mersey Hotel on Princess Parkway to hear them.

As the orchestra became more successful, Syd decided to leave the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra with whom he had played as a trumpet for 15 years, to take his own band on the road.

The band went on to feature on radio television and played for hundreds of sell-out concerts.

In the early years, the band mainly featured the music of Glenn Miller, but later the orchestra's repertoire broadened and now includes many original arrangements.

The orchestra is now directed by top trombonist Chris Dean.

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