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WHEELING -- Pittsburgh-area legend Donnie Iris and the Cruisers will perform at the Capitol Theatre in Wheeling on Saturday, Oct. 12.
Tickets are on sale now at etix.com.
Considered to be the best screamer in rock and roll, the Pittsburgh icon learned how to sing from his mother and then from Tony Bennett and Marvin Gaye. In 1970, Iris was a member of the Jaggerz and earned a gold record for writing and singing the No. 1 song "The Rapper." In 1978, Iris was asked to join "Wild Cherry" ("Play That Funky Music, White Boy") in the group's waning days. This is when Iris met Mark Avsec, his future collaborator and partner, in "Wild Cherry" who then began discussing plans for a recording project and in 1979 Donnie Iris & The Cruisers were born.
Iris knew of a bass player named Albritton McClain; he also heard about Marty Lee Hoenes, a hot young guitar player who was playing in a band called The Pulse. Iris went to go see both McClain and Hoenes, and after hearing them, invited both to come down to Jeree's Recording Studio to record some tracks for an unknown project. Avsec invited drummer Kevin Valentine to the same session.
Pleasantries all around, within a couple of hours the boys were cutting the tracks for "Agnes," "Ah! Leah!" and the other recordings that would comprise the "Back On The Streets" album.
The song "Ah! Leah!" was passed by every major label. However, in 1980 you could still break new music on the radio. WMMS in Cleveland added the record. WDVE in Pittsburgh added the record. WBCN in Boston added the record. The phones exploded. The single and album were issued by Midwest Records, out of Cleveland, and both began to chart on the Cashbox and Billboard charts. Eventually, Chrysalis and MCA/Universal made overtures to pick up the music -- MCA/Universal prevailed.
"Ah! Leah!" peaked at or around No. 29 in Billboard's Singles Chart, achieved much critical acclaim, and was one of the most played songs in the Album Oriented Radio format in 1980. Iris was christened by a Toronto reviewer after a blazing show at "The El Mocambo" in Toronto as the "new king of cool." Hence, the follow-up album was called "King Cool."
The "King Cool" album was recorded in the "stacked vocals" style that the band pioneered on the first album.
It yielded the songs "Love Is Like A Rock" and "That's The Way Love Ought To Be." It also yielded the song "My Girl," which reached at or near No. 20 on Billboard's Singles Chart.
Beginning in 1980, the band began touring relentlessly, pausing only for bouts of recording. During a three-year stretch, the band headlined shows all over the country and toured with dozens of artists, including Journey, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, The Romantics, Eddie Money, UFO, Nazareth, Ted Nugent, Joan Jett, Hall & Oates and the Michael Stanley Band, to name a few.
In August 2004, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers celebrated their 25th anniversary before 4,000 screaming fans at the Chevy Amphitheater in Pittsburgh.
All three drummers from the band's history -- Kevin Valentine, Tommy Rich and Brice Foster -- were on the stage.
The "Ellwood City" album, three years in the making, was released in May 2006, and Donnie Iris and The Cruisers have been touring ever since.
For tickets and additional information about Saturday's show at the Capitol Theatre, visit online at www.capitoltheatrewheeling.com.