Singer Tony Orlando Plans: Although next week will be singer Tony Orlando’s final performance, the legendary artist has stated categorically that he is not retiring.

He was set to perform Friday night in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and will have his last concert on March 22 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. He was a member of the trio Tony Orlando & Dawn and sang hits like “Knock Three Times” and “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” from 1970 and 1973, respectively.

But don’t think for a second that Orlando is going to shuffle off to a shuffleboard court.

“I’m not retiring from show business,” Orlando told HuffPost, despite the fact that he turns 80 on April 4. “I’ve done a lot of self-reinvention; now I want to show off my writing chops.”

Among Orlando’s projects are scripts, novels, and a Broadway production, he boasted.

Orlando claims he simply wants to be creative, thus it’s not his primary concern that none of the ideas have been produced.

Along with other veteran performers like Gladys Knight and Elton John, the decision to retire from live concerts comes at a strange moment.

According to Orlando, a mix of demographics and time had a role in the decision-making process.

“I’m 79 years old, about to turn 80, and taking a plane for a performance is a 12-hour, sometimes 24-hour ordeal,” he added. “I’m sick of it!”

Orlando, along with Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson, who were also members of Dawn, were among the most famous people in the early and mid-1970s. Their songs included “Candida,” “Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose,” and, of course, “Tie A Yellow Ribbon,” which became famous as a vigil for soldiers, hostages, and other loved ones who were away.

However, as Orlando pointed out, it took a lot of rethinking before things started to turn around. His first two Top 40 singles, “Bless You” and “Halfway to Paradise,” came in the early 1960s, when he was a teenage idol.

He said that one of the Fab Four was a fan.

“Tony, I remember John Lennon joking to me at the Grammys, ‘And here we thought ‘Bless You’ was funky.'”

Following the failure of his early singing career, Orlando took a job working for Clive Davis in the music industry, where he assisted in the early contract signing of Barry Manilow.

Although Orlando’s involvement was meant to remain under wraps, the band’s debut single “Candida,” released as Dawn, became an enormous smash, and the subsequent single “Knock Three Times” reached No. 1.

After rebranding as Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando, the band had a string of modest hits until their breakthrough single, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” in 1973.

“We originally did that at the Cotton Bowl to welcome home POWs,” Orlando explained.

Various homecomings have since featured the vaudeville-style song, which tells the story of a guy who returns home after “doing his time” and questions whether his loved ones still desire him. One such event was the 1979–1980 Iran hostage crisis.

He informed that during the demonstrations in Hong Kong, individuals are paying tribute to the Israeli-American hostages in Gaza by donning yellow ties. At this very moment, the yellow ribbon is in use in fourteen different nations.

The group shot to fame once the song became a hit. Following that, the band achieved yet another vintage hit with “Sweet Gypsy Rose,” a memorable song about a man’s quest to reunite with his wife, who had left their family to pursue a career in burlesque dancing.

“Sweet Gypsy Rose” peaked at number three, but Orlando isn’t sure if it has what it takes to be a smash now.

“Things aren’t secure anymore,” Orlando declared. There are a lot of things like that today. As a singer, Cyndi Lauper isn’t cut out for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

According to Orlando, Queen created some songs that were similar, but they were greatly respected.

However, the band’s three seasons of a successful variety show on CBS helped bring their Latino lead singer and two Black female backup singers into the mainstream of American popular culture.

Even though there have been reunions, Orlando and Dawn’s star declined in the ’70s and ’80s, and the band disbanded in the ’70s.

Along with his acting career, Orlando has maintained a busy solo career and is an advocate for veterans.