Rock legend to sing again at Las Vegas Strip spectacle

Kenny Loggins watched the national anthem performance at the Super Bowl with acute interest. Loggins has recently written a song with the artist who performed the rendition, Charlie Puth.

Loggins and Michael McDonald co-wrote a song on Puth’s upcoming album, “Whatever’s Clever.” The track is titled “Love in Exile,” a score for Puth, an avowed yacht rock fan, and also for Loggins, who still enjoys meaningful collaborations more than 50 years into his career.

“Charlie is a highly educated musician, which makes him a unique artist for this era,” Loggins says in a phone convo, as he is being honored Sunday at the 30th anniversary of the Keep Memory Alive Power of Love gala at MGM Grand Garden Arena. “It was a rush for me, because each of us brought what we do to the table.”

Loggins might have another hit to add to his lengthy list of chart-breaking songs.

“I’m very curious if my instincts still work with the Charlie Puth thing, because that feels like a record to me, certainly in the ‘80s, it would have been huge,” Loggins says. “We’ll see if, if there’s any of that yacht rock audience that gives a damn.”

Also to be lauded Saturday night is Discovery Land Company founder Michael S. Meldman, with the Community Leadership Award. Chefs Wolfgang Puck and Charlie Palmer, alongside their sons, Byron Lazaroff Puck and Reed Palmer, are creating the night’s menu.

The familial participation embraces the Power of Love sentiment, especially on Valentine’s Day, instilled by co-founders Larry and Camille Ruvo.

The event is the leading fundraiser for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, raising tens of millions of dollars for the clinic in Symphony Park in downtown Las Vegas (pricing and support intel at keepmemoryalive.org).

Loggins is a consistent supporter of the Ruvo Center. In 2021, Loggins appeared in a show-closing cover of “Get Ready” honoring Smokey Robinson and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds.

“That was definitely, quite an event,” Loggins says. “It didn’t cross my mind at the time that I would be up on the other side of the stage. But that’s cool, and I’ll sing some things at the end, the way Smokey did and others have.”

This is an especially busy time in Loggins’ remarkable career. The prolific writer and recording artist is to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 11 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

Loggins joins an honoree list that includes Taylor Swift, Alanis Morissette, and Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss.

“When it comes to awards, you have no control over it, so you think, ‘OK, whatever happens, happens,’” Loggins says. “Then, it happened. And I was like, ‘Let’s go out and get drunk!’ I said to my wife, ‘Let’s go celebrate!’ because it is something worth celebrating, and an honor to be part of that club.”

Loggins is known justifiably as “King of the Soundtrack,” with his conveyor belt of top-selling hits, “I’m Alright” from “Caddyshack,” “Footloose” from the blockbuster of the same name, and “Danger Zone” from both “Top Gun” films. His 1979 classic, “This Is It,” also written with McDonald, was another top-five Billboard hit.

Loggins has enjoyed a Renaissance in recent years with the tidal rise of yacht rock. He’s riding the crest, along with such rock icons as McDonald and the Doobie Brothers, Hall and Oates, Toto, Christopher Cross, Boz Scaggs and Steeley Dan.

“I think it’s a great thing for us, because we had a whole era of rock and roll where we leaned more towards jazz and R&B, and for a while the category of smooth rock came up,” Loggins says. “But smooth rock feels more insulting to me than yacht rock. The guys who started yacht rock came at it from appreciating what we were doing, making fun of it at the same time, they were honoring it.”

But satellite radio and other online avenues created a new classic rock category.

“When Sirius XM picked it up and ran with it, it had huge listenership, and still does,” Loggins says. “It gave us a handle that we didn’t have previously, that allowed people to talk about that era of jazz-inflected rock and roll.”

Loggins has announced he’s done with major tours after “This is It” closed its run in 2023. He most recently headlined Encore Theater at the Wynn in June 2022.

But Loggins is envisioning a return to the stage, maybe in holographic form, with a career-based presentation.

“I’m thinking about a show where I start off as a young version of myself, because I started at 21 years old, and start to tell stories,” Loggins says. “Each image gets a little bit older as you go through the show, so that in the ’70s, the ’80s, I become more and more mature, and I have hits as the music got better as I got older. ‘What a Fool Believes,’ ‘Footloose,’ and ‘Danger Zone,’ and the stuff from my later era, the visual of me and the music, would be really interesting.”

Life in this fast lane

If you think securing 40 VIP meet-and-greet ticket packages for the Eagles at Sphere is easy, try it.

Larry Ruvo did. Of course, he succeeded.

Ruvo is a wizard at engendering support for the clinic that bears his late father’s name. A leading indicator at Saturday’s Power of Love live auction is 20 pairs of VIP, suite tickets for the March 20 — and only that night. No transfers. This is a single auction lot, No. 110, if you’re in the room.

The Eagles are ending their run this year, as Don Henley told “CBS Sunday Morning” over the weekend.

This package includes a pre-show dinner reception at the Sky Lounge, prepared by The Venetian’s all-star chefs, including Puck, Jose Andres and Thomas Keller; a rare photo opportunity with the band (which they will autograph); and a suite for the show. That highfalutin fortress will be fully catered and feature Southern Glazer’s of Nevada sommelier-selected wines, and also bottles of Dom Perignon.

Sphere Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan and entertainment power player Irving Azoff, whose company manages the Eagles, made the donation. You don’t get more VIP than that.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.