Barry Manilow is back in Vegas with a new hit show, "Ultimate Manilow: The Hits," featuring such signature tunes as "Mandy," "I Write the Songs" and "Copacabana" -- and the legendary crooner gets candid with ET's Jann Carl!

"You know, I never stop; I love it, I just love it," says Barry of performing, adding that even though his new show features lots of Vegas-style trimmings, "It's still very emotional; still one guy singing a lot of songs, you know? It's just beautiful. That's what you do in Las Vegas: You make it look pretty awesome."

The new show at the Las Vegas Hilton features more than 40 of Barry's top 40 hits and follows up on the Grammy winner's three-year sold-out run at the venue.

Barry has to be in great shape for all his onstage theatrics, but this summer, tabloid photos published shots of the singer on the beach appearing thinner than usual -- accompanied by claims that he was dying. He tells Jann that the pictures of his normally thin frame were just misleading.

"What's creepy about it was the idea of someone taking a photo of me … and making up this whole story of me dying and stuff," says Barry. "I got more e-mails and phone calls of concern, even strangers, and that was beautiful that people were that concerned -- even though I had to put everyone's mind at ease. All of my family, my friends, my fans, they saw me in a T-shirt, they said, 'What's the big deal?'"

In between gigs, Barry is spreading good will and the gift of music. Yesterday, Barry launched his Manilow Music Project by giving over 300 instruments to 20 middle schools and high school music departments in the Palm Springs, Coachella Valley and Desert Sands Unified School Districts. The Manilow Music Project is part of Barry's nonprofit Manilow Health and Hope Fund.

For more information on the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope, go to http://www.manilowfund.org.