Donnie Iris Of The Jaggerz & Wild Cherry Dead At 83

Donnie Iris, the Pittsburgh musician known for his time in the bands the Jaggerz and Wild Cherry, has passed away. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Iris passed away on Monday after battling bladder cancer for years. Iris was 83.Donnie Iris was born Dominic Ierace, and he grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. His mother had been a big-band singer, and he sang at weddings and entered talent contests as a kid. He fell in love with rock 'n' roll, taught himself guitar and drums, and formed a high-school doo-wop group called the Fabutons. He also formed and led a couple of bands while studying at Slippery Rock State College. In the mid-'60s, he formed the Jaggerz, who started off as a regional cover band before starting to write their own songs and releasing the 1969 debut album Introducing The Jaggerz. Their Iris-written song "The Rapper," a kind of bubblegum folk-rock jam that goes way harder than it has to, became a #2 pop hit in 1970.The Jaggerz had a couple of minor hits after "The Rapper," but the band broke up after the commercial failure of their third album, 1975's Come Again. (The Jaggerz later reunited, but without Donnie Iris.) After the Jaggerz broke up, Iris joined Wild Cherry, the Ohio band who were riding high on the success of their 1976 smash "Play That Funky Music," as a guitarist and backup singer. Iris wasn't involved with "Play That Funky Music," though. Instead, he played on and helped engineer Wild Cherry's third album, 1978's I Love My Music. It was not a success, and Wild Cherry broke up in 1978.Iris formed a new band, Donnie Iris And The Cruisers, with former Wild Cherry keyboardist Mark Avsec. They released their debut album Back On The Streets in 1980, and they scored a #29 hit with "Ah! Leah!," a gleaming example of that era's hard-charging studio-rock. Great song. A year later, they released their follow-up album King Cool, reaching the top 40 with "Love Is Like A Rock" and "My Girl." The Cruisers' later records didn't do as well, and a copyright lawsuit over "Ah! Leah!" further stalled their momentum. But Iris continued to crank out independent records and to perform for big crowds in the Pittsburgh area. He just played his final show last month before announcing his retirement for health reasons a couple of weeks later. Check out some of his work below.