CONCERTS IN THE PARK GETTING IN GROOVE OF SEASON.Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer WOODLAND HILLS -- John Waite John Waite (born John Charles Waite, 4 July 1952, Lancaster, Lancashire, England) is a rock singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist for the bands The Babys and Bad English, and as a solo artist. , former frontman front·man n. 1. also front man A man who serves as a nominal leader but who lacks real authority. 2. Music A leading singer with a group. for the 1970s British rock British rock and roll, or British rock, was born out of the influence of rock and roll and rhythm and blues from the United States, but added a new drive and urgency, exporting the music back and widening the audience for black R & B in the U.S. band the Babys, got the Warner Ranch Park concert series off to a grooving start Sunday in front of thousands of music fans eager to welcome back the summer ritual. The set list for Waite and his backing band included his 1984 hit ``Missing You,'' a song written from the perspective of someone pretending not to miss a former love. ``He's got a unique sort of soulful soul·ful adj. Full of or expressing deep feeling; profoundly emotional. soul  ful·ly adv. voice for a white guy,'' said Robert Fedor, 45, who makes the weekly concert in the park a summer tradition for him and his family. His 5-year-old daughter, Madison, and her two friends didn't care that the music was a little before their time. They got up and danced while most of the audience was content to groove in the lawn chairs they brought to the outdoor venue. Sitting in front of a pair of blankets covered with crayons and Frisbees, Grace Virata had everything she and her kids needed to start the summer off right. True, summer may not have officially started. But many of the thousands who attended the first show of the Valley Cultural Center's Concerts in the Park series couldn't tell the difference. ``Even though it's so hot it's nice to still come out and be with family and friends,'' said Virata of West Hills, who attended with her two children and another family. The free concerts normally attract about 5,000 people, organizers said. For Dino Dinielli, 29, who had a few beers cooling near his feet, the concert was a chance to regroup re·group v. re·grouped, re·group·ing, re·groups v.tr. To arrange in a new grouping. v.intr. 1. To come back together in a tactical formation, as after a dispersal in a retreat. with three high school buddies. ``We don't get together that often and it gives us a chance to see each other,'' Dinielli said. Opening the concert was Jessica Sands, daughter of 1950s teen idol ? Who are "teen idols?" Teen idols are usually actors or pop singers, but some sports figures have had an appeal to teenagers. The term encapsulates both some of the greatest performers of all time and some of the most inconsequential. Tommy Sands Tommy Sands (born Thomas Adrian Sands, 27 August 1937, Chicago, Illinois) is an American pop music singer and actor. Career Born into a musical family in Chicago, his father was a pianist and his mother a big-band singer. . A former contestant in ``Star Search'' and Miss Washington
The Miss Washington competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Washington in the Miss America pageant. State, Sands said she had a good time singing in front of Sunday's crowd -- the biggest of her career. ``It's my perfect environment,'' Sands said. ``It's family-friendly, it's outdoors and I get to take my shoes off.'' alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com (818) 546-3304 CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- 3 -- color) Above, British rocker John Waite belts out a tune during the Concerts in the Park event at Warner Ranch Park in Woodland Hills on Sunday. Top left, Madison Fedor, 5, of Woodland Hills dances to the music. Below left, Charles Fazio of Encino chills out at the concert with the help of some bubbles. Alex Collins/Special to the Daily News |
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