Three of the country’s top music attractions are slated to headline performances at this year’s Napa Town & Country Fair.

Acclaimed for mixing jazz, big band and popular music styles, the Manhattan Transfer — making its wine country debut — will open this year’s fair with a Wednesday night concert on The Napa Valley Register’s Plaza Stage.

Tower of Power, the 10-member horn-based soul band from Oakland, is headlining the evening’s musical efforts on Kids Day, Thursday, Aug. 7, also on the Plaza Stage.

Country music singer Collin Raye is the fair’s musical attraction on Friday night, Aug. 8. The Arkansas native released four consecutive recordings and all four sold more than 1 million copies. His performance is also scheduled on the Plaza Stage.

On Saturday, Queen Nation will present a tribute to the music of the legendary British band, Queen, in a pair of performances at 5:30 and 9 p.m. on the Plaza Stage.

Sunday’s Plaza Stage entertainment features the California and Hawaii state finals of the Colgate Country Showdown talent search at 4 p.m. and the country music of Branded Heart at 7:30.

All Plaza Stage shows are free with the price of admission to the Napa Town & Country Fair. On opening day, seniors 60 and over will be admitted to the fairgrounds for only $3, notes Joe Anderson, fair CEO.

Ticket prices are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors 60 and over, and $5 for juniors aged 6-12. There is no admission charge for children 5 and under.

Wine country debut

Riding a wave of nostalgia in the ‘70s, the Manhattan Transfer resurrected jazz trends from boogie-woogie to bop to vocalese in a slick, slightly commercial setting.

More than three decades ago, Tim Hauser, a former Madison Avenue marketing executive, paid his bills by driving a New York City cab while aspiring to form a harmony vocal quartet sui generis that could

authentically embrace varied musical styles, and still create something wholly unique in the field of American popular song.

Hauser had been in doo-wop groups, folk groups, and even in a short-lived quintet named The Manhattan Transfer, but as the sounds of jazz, R&B, pop, rock ‘n’ roll, salsa and swing poured out of brownstones, Hauser now dreamt of four-part harmonies without limits.

In the fall of 1972, Hauser’s taxi fare was an aspiring young singer named Laurel Massé, who was familiar with the sole album by Hauser’s earlier Manhattan Transfer combo, and was looking to form a group. A few weeks later, another of Hauser’s fares invited him to a party where he met Brooklyn native Janis Siegel; although already in a group, Siegel agreed to help out on some demos and before long she was the third member of The Manhattan Transfer. As Hauser, Massé and Siegel began rehearsing, Massé’s then-boyfriend, who was drumming in a Broadway pit band, introduced Hauser and Siegel to Alan Paul, who was co-starring in the original production of “Grease,” and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 1974 the group began performing regularly throughout New York City at a number of cutting edge cabaret venues. By the end of the year they were the number one live attraction in New York City.

In 1981, The Manhattan Transfer made music history by becoming the first group to win Grammys in both pop and jazz categories in the same year. “Boy From New York City” (a cover of the 1965 hit by The Ad Libs), which broke into the top 10 on the pop charts, won them the award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and “Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)” earned them a Grammy for Best Jazz Performance, Duo or Group. Both of these songs appeared on the group’s fifth album, “Mecca for Moderns.”

East Bay Grease

With almost 40 years of recording and touring experience behind them, Tower of Power still garners reviews praising the outfit as a very contemporary sounding band. Melding jazz, funk, rock and soul in a way no group ever has, the 10-piece outfit is, as a recent Hollywood Reporter review called them, “tighter than a clenched fist.”

Well known in the ‘70s for tunes such as “What is Hip?” and “You’re Still a Young Man,” Tower of Power toured with Sly Stone and Creedence Clearwater Revival, creating traffic jams when they started to headline their own shows. They performed on records with the likes of Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Rod Stewart and Dionne Warwick, and influenced a generation of musicians (including Sting, who has told Emilio Castillo, founder of the group, that he once had a “Tower of Power clone band” before he formed The Police).

Now, Tower of Power is experiencing a renaissance, touring most of every year and packing venues in the United States, Japan and all over Europe with audiences of new and old fans.

It has always been difficult to describe Tower of Power’s music; even band members, when asked, give a myriad of responses.

Says founding member and saxophonist Emilio Castillio, “What Tower of Power plays is urban soul music.” Lead singer Brent Carter calls it “old school funk with new school flavor.” And says former Tower saxophonist Lenny Pickett, now musical director for the Saturday Night Live television band, “Tower of Power is the world’s greatest rhythm and blues band.” In reality, Tower of Power’s horn driven, in-your-face sound is all its own, and verbal descriptions fail.

‘Sweet Memory’

Born to a musical family, Collin Raye was signed to a record deal with Epic Records in 1990. His debut single, “All I Can Be (Is a Sweet Memory),” entered the charts in 1991, reaching a peak of  No. 29 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Raye’s first album, also titled “All I Can Be,” was released soon afterward.

The followup single, a ballad co-written by Skip Ewing and titled ‘Love, Me”, quickly climbed to No. 1 on the country music charts in early 1992, holding the peak position for three weeks; in addition, the single received a Song of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association.

Between 1991 and the present, Raye has charted 30 singles on the U.S. country charts. Four of Raye’s singles have reached No. 1 on the Billboard country music charts — 1992’s “Love, Me” and “In This Life,” 1994’s “My Kind of Girl,” and 1998’s “I Can Still Feel You.” He has also recorded a total of 11 studio albums, including a Christmas album and a compilation of lullabies, in addition to releasing a Greatest Hits compilation, a live album and a live CD/DVD package. His most recent compilation, an EP titled “Selected Hits” was released last year.