The Philly sound in 1970s soul music, notable performers including Gamble and Huff, The O'Jays, The Stylistics, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin and The Delfonics, is well-known, as are jazz legends like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, and John Coltrane. Philadelphia gave to the musical world diverse singers such as Marian Anderson, Mario Lanza, Solomon Burke, Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp, and the trio performing as The Golden Boys, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and Fabian Forte, who grew up together in the same Philly neighborhood. This city is also the birthplace of American Bandstand, and the home of Cameo-Parkway Records and the famed Philadelphia Orchestra.
James Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.
Pressure Chief is the fifth studio album by American band Cake. It was released on October 5, 2004, pushed back from its original August release date. It was produced by the band and recorded in a converted house in Sacramento. The lead single, "No Phone" peaked at #13 on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The second single "Carbon Monoxide" garnered some airplay but failed to crack the Modern Rock Tracks top 40. The album was the band's second and last record under Columbia Records.
Donnie Iris is an American rock musician known for his work with the Jaggerz and Wild Cherry during the 1970s, and for his solo career beginning in the 1980s with his band, the Cruisers. He wrote the #2 Billboard hit, "The Rapper", with the Jaggerz in 1970 and was a member of Wild Cherry after the group had a #1 hit with "Play That Funky Music." He also achieved fame as a solo artist in the early 1980s with the #29 hit "Ah! Leah!" and the #37 hit "Love Is Like a Rock."
Anthony Lawrence Carey is an American-born, European-based musician, composer, producer, and singer/songwriter. One of his earliest musical experiences was as a keyboardist for Rainbow. After his departure in 1977, he began a solo career, releasing albums under his own name as well under the pseudonym Planet P Project, and producing for and performing with other artists.
The Iron City Houserockers were an American rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, led by the singer and guitarist Joe Grushecky, from 1976 to 1984.
Stackridge were a British rock group which had their greatest success in the early 1970s.
Crack the Sky is an American progressive rock band formed in Weirton, West Virginia, in the early 1970s. In 1975, Rolling Stone declared their first album the "debut album of the year", and in 1978, Rolling Stone Record Guide compared them to Steely Dan. Their first three albums charted on the Billboard 200. In 2015, their debut album was ranked number 47 in the Rolling Stone list of "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time ". The band continues to release albums and perform to a small but devoted fan base to this day.
Joseph Leslie Sample was an American keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, the band which shortened its name to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991.
"School Days" is a rock-and-roll song written and recorded by Chuck Berry and released by Chess Records as a single in March 1957 and on the LP After School Session two months later. It is one of his best-known songs and is often considered a rock-and-roll anthem.
John T. Klemmer is an American saxophonist, composer, songwriter, and arranger.
"Light of Day", sometimes written as "(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day", is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and performed initially by Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox with their fictitious band The Barbusters in the 1987 film Light of Day. The song has since become a staple in Jett's concerts.
Now Appearing at Ole Miss is a live album by B. B. King, recorded in 1979 and released as a double album on MCA Records in 1980. The live recordings were augmented with overdubs, most notably with percussion instruments. This has been criticized by reviewers as making the album stale, and it is widely regarded as B.B. King's weakest 'live' album. One notable feature, is that the album contains the first use of the bass style of playing known as "slap" by Russell Jackson, who would go on to play in the posthumous "B.B. King Experience Band" with another B.B. King band veteran James "Boogaloo" Bolden.
Joe Grushecky is a rock musician in the United States known for his work with the Iron City Houserockers in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and for his works since the late the 1980s with his act Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers; and for his solo career. After his days with the Iron City Houserockers he continued to have moderate success, mainly in the Pittsburgh area.
Gary Scalese was an American rock musician and the lead guitarist on the Iron City Houserockers first album, Love's So Tough. He is credited on Joe Grushecky's Myspace page as "Gary Scalese (R.I.P.)". He died of natural causes at the age of 38 on Friday, August 24, 1990 in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is also credited on two compilation albums, Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers and Outtakes And Demos 1975–2003 for work done during the 1975–1979 period.
Love's So Tough is a studio album by the Iron City Houserockers. Released in 1979, the Iron City Houserocker's first album attempts to capture the presence of what was essentially a Pittsburgh bar band playing to a blue collar crowd every night. While Joe Grushecky's songwriting skills are clearly still developing, his potential is visible in cuts such as "Dance With Me" and "Heroes Are Hard to Find". The general sound of the album is reminiscent of a slightly "harder" Bruce Springsteen, and the heavy use of harmonica would be a distinguishing factor of the Houserockers for several albums to come.
Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive! is a studio album by the Iron City Houserockers. Although well-received critically, commercial success eluded the Iron City Houserockers outside of the rust belt. Among the strongest tracks are the title track, "Don't Let Them Push You Around", "We're Not Dead Yet", the two-part medley of "Old Man Bar" and Junior's Bar", and "Rock Ola" - Grushecky's first truly competent ballad.
Blood on the Bricks is a studio album by the Iron City Houserockers released in 1981. A more restrained album than their previous two efforts, the album was produced by Steve Cropper instead of hard rock producers as on Have a Good Time but Get out Alive!. Among the more popular songs on the album were the title track, along with "Saints and Sinners", and "Be My Friend" which includes a guitar riff in tribute to Van Morrison's "Here Comes the Night"; all of which still feature in Joe Grushecky's modern live performances. Like the band's previous two albums, Blood on the Bricks would be praised by critics but largely ignored by the public. Before their next album the band would change their name to simply "The Houserockers" in an attempt to achieve success outside of their native region.
Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers is a compilation album by the Iron City Houserockers. Released in 1992 under Rhino Records, it was at the time the only Iron City Houserockers material available on compact disc.
American Babylon is an album by Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers, released in 1995. Grushecky supported the album by playing some East Coast and Midwest shows with Bruce Springsteen, his producer.
