Melissa Manchester hasn’t performed in the Village since 2013, but those who have been eagerly awaiting her return are in for a treat.

On Saturday, March 5, Manchester will be at the Performing Arts Center as part of the Champagne Pops series of concerts. She will present her hits – “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” “Whenever I Call You Friend,” “Midnight Blue” and many others – but reworked into a series she calls “RE:VIEW,” after her new album. The songs are accompanied by video.

“Everybody loved her (in 2013) and asked me why I hadn’t brought her back sooner,” said Champagne Pops impresario Millie Brown. Brown books a variety of tribute artists into the Performing Arts Center, but once per season she brings audiences an original performer.

While many may think of Manchester, 71, as the voice of youth – or theirs, at least – she demurs.

“Youth is irrelevant in my music. I prefer to think of it as timeless,” she said in a phone interview last week. Indeed, listening to “Midnight Blue,” for example, anyone can transport themselves into a time and setting of their own choosing.

The daughter of a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera orchestra, Manchester seems to have been born into and for music. At age 15, she began to sing commercial jingles while attending the High School of Performing Arts in New York. Later, she took songwriting classes at New York University from Paul Simon, worked as a staff writer at Chappell Music and made inroads into the city’s club scene.

Today Manchester imparts her musical wisdom and life experience onto students as an adjunct professor at the  USC Thornton School of Music and at master classes she might be invited to teach.

“I teach strategies for staying strong as a performer and a writer,” she said.

Her life experience includes becoming a backup singer for Bette Midler in 1971, thanks to an introduction by a friend from the jingle-singing days, Barry Manilow, whose own career took a stellar turn.

In 1973, Manchester recorded her debut album, “Home to Myself,” and in 1975 she had her first top 10 hit with “Midnight Blue.” Then came the iconic 1978 duet with Stevie Nicks, “Whenever I Call You Friend,” co-written with Kenny Loggins.

In the interview, Manchester said she emphasized making music over producing hits.

“I was never that clever. I was surprised when a song became a hit and when it did not. You don’t know what will connect with an audience. It’s amazing when it does,” she said.

“I was grateful when a song did not get into the top of the charts but still connected with audiences.”

1980 proved triumphant: Manchester became the first recording artist in the history of the Academy Awards to be nominated for two awards for movie themes in a single year: “Through the Eyes of Love” from the  movie “Ice Castles” and “I’ll Never say Good-Bye” from “The Promise.” She performed both at the Oscars’ telecast.

In 1982, she won a Grammy for best female pop vocalist for “You Should Hear How She Talks About You.” She had been nominated for a Grammy earlier for “Don’t Cry Out Loud.”

Manchester also appeared in the TV sitcom “Blossom” and with Midler in “For the Boys.”

Just last year, she was inducted into the Great American Songbook Foundation Hall of Fame.

Manchester’s experiences as singer, songwriter and composer raises the question whether she has favorites among her work.

“They are all favorite songs. I have a feeling of tenderness for all of them,” she said.

Similarly, she describes the joys of her career as a total experience: “All my creativity is joyful; it comes from the same creative impulse emanating from my heart. I enjoy a wonderful life and creative invention.”

So what inspires her to write songs?

“If I hear a turn of phrase, it frequently captures my imagination,” she said. “When I navigate through my own life’s situations, it helps to write songs.”

After five decades in the business, one wonders how Manchester keeps her programs fresh and keeps up her stamina. Before COVID, she did 50 to 70 shows a year.

“The program has endured for 50 years,” she said. “I love what I do and feel humbled and honored by my audiences’ appreciation.

“As for keeping stamina? It’s lots of water and exercise.”

Melissa Manchester will be at the Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. Check with the box office for available tickets; call 949)597-4289. Proof of vaccination required. Mask wearing strongly suggested.