Pittsburgh rocker Donnie Iris, best known for his 1981 No. 29 Billboard Hot 100 new wave hit “Ah! Leah!” and his 1970s Hot 100 No. 2 song “The Rapper” with the group the Jaggerz, has died at 83.
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The news was shared by Donnie Iris & the Cruisers drummer Joe Vitale Jr., who wrote, “Tonight, I have some very sad news to share. Many of you may already know about this, but today my boss and friend Donnie Iris passed away at the age of 83,” in a Facebook post on Monday (Oct. 26). “At the first full show I performed with them in 2021, right before we went on stage, Donnie turned to me and gave me a huge hug. He always had an infectious smile, incredible energy and a wonderous personality. After you meet him, you honestly just love him. You could just sit and talk with him, laugh with him. He was King Cool.” No cause of death had been announced at press time.
A beloved staple of the Pittsburgh music scene, Elwood City native Iris was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2023 shortly after his 80th birthday show, later canceling several shows and continuing to perform until announcing his retirement from the stage earlier this month after a final gig at Citizens Live at The Wylie in Pittsburg on Sept. 28.
“After much thought, and in light of recent health issues, I have made the difficult decision to retire from future concert performances,” Iris wrote on Oct. 9. “Music has given me far more than I could ever put into words. From the earliest days to every chapter of my life, your support has been a constant source of joy and inspiration.”
Dominic Ierace was born on Feb. 28, 1943 in New Castle, Pa., and got his start in grade school singing at weddings and talent contests. The man who would grow up to be dubbed Pittsburgh’s King Cool of Rock and Roll first played with the doo-wop group The Fabutons in high school, then with the R&B/rock cover bands the Tri-Vels and Donnie and the Donnells while at Slippery Rock State College, before dropping out to pursue a music career. He found success pretty quickly with “The Rapper” from his group The Jaggerz, a swinging rock tune about a smooth-talking dude who uses a series of smarmy lines to pick up women at bars. The song he recorded for Gamble Records (formed by future Philly soul legends producers/songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff) for the band’s sophomore album, 1970’s We Went to Different Schools Together, rose all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
After The Jaggerz split a few years later, Iris joined the group Wild Cherry — two years after they scored their most well-known hit, “Play That Funky Music” — to help them in the studio and play live guitar on the road. He performed on their 1979 album Only the Wild Survive, and then split the group with keyboardist Mark Avsec to form Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, which also featured guitarist Marty Lee Hoenes, drummer Kevin Valentine and bassist Albritton McClain.
The group hit pay dirt with their 1980 debut on Midwest Records, Back on the Streets, which featured their breakout hit “Ah! Leah!,” a longing tune about romantic obsession on which he sings, “Leah, it’s been a long time, you’re such a sight/ You’re lookin’ better than a body has a right to/ Don’t you know we’re playin’ with fire?/ But we can’t stop this burnin’ desire.” The album topped out at No. 57 on the Billboard 200 chart and spawned the band’s biggest-ever chart hit, the doo-woppy “My Girl,” which topped out at No. 25.
The group’s follow-up, 1981’s King Cool — which would help give Iris his beloved nickname — reached No. 84 on the chart and would be the last LP from the band to break the top 100 on the album tally; 1982’s The High and Mighty reached No. 180, 1983’s Fortune 410 ran up to No. 127 and 1985’s No Muss… No Fuss reached No. 115. The band, whose sound mixed power pop punch with new wave synths, was dropped by label MCA in 1984, after which they released No Muss on indie HME. Valentine and McClain split just before the LP dropped, setting off decades of revolving lineups centered around Iris and stalwart keyboardist Avsec.
The group charted a few more times in their post-MCA years, including a Nov. 91 Hot 100 slot for the song “Injured in the Game of Love” in 1985, their final significant chart hit; that song also peaked at No. 28 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
Iris released another half dozen albums with the Cruisers through 2010’s studio swan song, the Christmas album Ah! Leluiah! and continued touring with the group in the Pittsburgh area and beyond until his final gig last month.
Listen to some of Iris’ biggest hits below.
