United Kingdom, March 24 -- Barry Manilow thought he was "dying" after he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

The 82-year-old crooner went public with his diagnosis late last year revealing he needed to postpone his upcoming concert dates so he could undergo surgery to remove a cancerous spot from one of his lungs. Barry has now credited his quick-thinking doctor with saving his life by ordering a scan on his lungs as a precaution after hearing about recent bouts of bronchitis.

Barry told PEOPLE magazine: "If he [the doctor] hadn't done that [ordered the scan], man ... He saved my life, because there's no symptoms for what I had.

"I could go on, nothing hurt - but they found the dot in my lung. They called me and said: 'Could be cancer.' T...