From Cancer Patient to Rising Star

Some of the biggest buzz in music circles here centers on cancer survivor Kevin Sharp, whose remake of the R&B hit, Nobody Knows is showing signs of becoming a major country hit.

There already are plans to turn his life story into a TV movie. The likely star: Fred Savage (The Wonder Years), who has been in town talking with Sharp and who turned up at an industry bash with producer David Foster (Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand). Foster told the crowd he met Sharp seven years ago when the singer, diagnosed with bone cancer, asked the Make-A-Wish Foundation to arrange a meeting.

"It was a very emotional moment," Foster says. Sharp later rallied and is in remission. Also meeting Sharp: Barry Manilow, here recording an album in Reba McEntire's new studio. "I'm not a closet Barry Manilow fan; I like the guy," said Sharp, 25, whose debut album is called Measure of a Man. Sharp's Nobody Knows single is now No. 57 on the country chart. "This is just the beginning of what's already an epic story," Savage says.