EXCLUSIVE: Barry Manilow Bravely Battling Back — Cancer-Stricken Crooner Determined To Return To Stage

After beating stage 1 lung cancer, singing icon Barry Manilow is battling to rebuild his strength and bounce back from a scary 26-pound weight loss so he can continue his fabulous live singing career – at the age of 82, RadarOnline.com can reveal

The Copacabana singer, who sold a whopping 85 million records worldwide during his 60-year career, is reportedly busy working out daily at the gym in the Palm Springs home he shares with manager-husband Garry Kief, so he can return to the stage in Las Vegas in July.

Despite his wealth, fame and his first album of mostly new material in nearly 15 years, the 13-track LP titled What a Time, he's still determined to keep performing live at an age when many people are in their rocking chairs.

"Barry loves music as much as anyone I've ever known," said fellow icon Bette Midler, for whom young Manilow played piano in the 1970s.

She noted performing "isn't a job with him – it's a vocation, a calling."

But that calling came to a scary halt in December when the I Write the Songs crooner, a heavy smoker from ages 9 to 39, announced he'd been diagnosed with lung cancer, forcing him to cancel concert dates as he underwent surgery.

"The day before surgery, people are screaming, standing ovation, band sounds great," he recalled. "Next day I'm packing to go to the hospital."

Barry was declared cancer-free and did not need follow-up treatments after docs removed a cancerous spot on his left lung in December.

Now, the rail-thin 6-foot-1 star, who dropped from 154 pounds to 128 during his cancer battle, is working hard to regain his strength and vows he'll return to the stage.