Who the Hell Is Donnie Iris?
Two Songs, Forty-Five Years, and a Rock ’n’ Roll Legend Worth Discovering
Rock ’n’ Roll Angel | A Tribute to Donnie Iris (1943–2026)
The Music Gets Older. So Do We.
There is something strange about being a member of Generation X.
In my head, I'm still that girl who could spend hours wandering through a record store, flipping through albums, reading liner notes, and discovering something wonderful hiding between the familiar names.
The music is still there. I hear it in the car, around the house, through my headphones. The same songs that made me dance as a teen still make me dance today.
And then the news comes.
Another musician has passed away.
Suddenly, the years between then and now don't seem quite so imaginary.
Some of these artists were larger-than-life figures. We knew their names, their faces, their bands, their scandals, their stories. We followed them from album to album and decade to decade.
Others were different.
Their music became part of our lives without us ever knowing very much about the people who made it.
Donnie Iris was one of those musicians for me.
Image: Donnie Iris. Source: Spotify
And when I learned that he had passed away on October 26, 2026, at the age of 83, I found myself thinking about two songs, a bowling alley, a 45 record, and a question I probably should have asked a long time ago.
Who the hell is Donnie Iris?
A Bowling Alley, a Strike, and “Ah! Leah!”
Let me take you back to 1980.
I was a young girl who hadn't always had the easiest time socially. Being teased and bullied had been part of my experience, and simply going out to enjoy myself with a friend wasn't something I took for granted.
But one day, a friend who had access to a car and I went bowling.
Nothing particularly extraordinary happened.
And that was what made it so wonderful.
We were just two young people hanging out, having fun, doing something normal.
No drama. No complications. Just a really nice time.
And somewhere in that bowling alley, over the sound of rolling balls, crashing pins, and people enjoying themselves, a song was playing.
“Ah! Leah!”
Oh, I loved that song.
It was everywhere back then. You couldn't turn on the radio without eventually hearing that unmistakable opening, those guitars, those soaring vocals, and that infectious energy.
And there I was, bowling with my friend, when I rolled the ball down the lane and knocked down every single pin.
A strike!
Now, I'm not going to tell you that Donnie Iris changed my life in that bowling alley. He didn't descend from the heavens with a guitar and deliver some profound revelation.
I was just having a good day.
But that's the thing about music.
Sometimes a song becomes attached to a moment so completely that you can't separate the two.
For me, “Ah! Leah!” will always carry a little piece of that bowling alley, that strike, and the simple happiness of being a young girl out having fun.
And all these years later, when that song comes on?
I'm still happy to hear it.
Something New by Donnie Iris
The following year, I remember hearing a DJ announce that he was about to play something new by Donnie Iris.
My reaction?
Who?
I had absolutely no idea who he was talking about.
Then the music started.
And almost immediately, I recognized something.
That sound!
Those vocals!
That unmistakable musical personality!
Oh! I like that guy!
The song was “Love Is Like a Rock,” released in 1981.
And I was hooked.
I bought the 45 and played it constantly.
It became part of what I think of as my garage-band playlist. The collection of songs I wanted to play, sing, and dance to. Music with enough energy to make you imagine yourself performing it.
And “Love Is Like a Rock” had energy to spare.
That guitar riff!
That driving beat!
The rhythm had a little something extra to it. A little swagger. A little funk. A groove that made the song feel as good as it sounded.
Then Donnie's voice came roaring over the top.
What a voice.
Powerful, distinctive, and capable of cutting through those guitars without losing an ounce of musicality.
And those harmonies!
This wasn't just a catchy rock song. There was some serious craftsmanship going on.
Of course, I wasn't sitting around analyzing all of that back then.
I was too busy enjoying myself.
Turn it up. Sing along. Play it again.
That was the entire assignment.
And Donnie Iris understood it perfectly.
The Rock Star Who Looked Like Your Science Teacher
Now, here's where my story gets a little ridiculous.
Because I was a curious kid.
If I loved a musician, I wanted to know everything.
I'd go to Tower Records and other record shops, look through albums, examine the covers, read whatever information I could find, and follow the connections from one artist to another.
I wanted to know who played with whom, where they came from, and what other music they had made.
It was part of the adventure.
But Donnie Iris?
For some inexplicable reason, I never went looking.
I remember seeing a picture of him in a record store.
There he was, wearing glasses and a suit that didn't seem to fit quite right, holding a rock guitar.
He looked a little like Buddy Holly.
Or perhaps the science teacher who might remind you to finish your homework before Friday.
And yet this unassuming-looking man could open his mouth and unleash that enormous rock ’n’ roll voice.
I loved the contrast.
There was something wonderfully unexpected about him.
But I still didn't investigate.
I bought the music, enjoyed the music, and went on with my life.
Forty-five years later, I'm still listening to those songs.
In fact, Donnie Iris shows up in my annual music recap every single year.
Every. Single. Year.
I was listening to him yesterday.
And somehow, until today, I still hadn't really answered that question.
Who the hell is Donnie Iris?
Well, I'll Be Damned. The Jaggerz?
Today, after hearing about his passing, I finally did what young Angel should have done all those years ago.
I went exploring.
And what an adventure it turned out to be.
First, I discovered that Donnie Iris was born Dominic Ierace on February 28, 1943, in western Pennsylvania.
He grew up in Ellwood City, where music was part of his life from an early age. His mother played piano and encouraged his singing. He performed as a child, eventually learned guitar, and began working his way through the local music scene.
And then I discovered the Jaggerz.
Wait a minute.
THE JAGGERZ?
You mean the group behind “The Rapper”?
That wonderfully catchy 1970 hit that climbed all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100?
Not only was Donnie Iris part of the group.
He wrote the song!
Now we're talking.
Here was a musician I had associated almost exclusively with two early-1980s rock songs, and suddenly I was looking at a career that had already produced a major national hit a decade earlier.
And the Jaggerz weren't simply playing the same kind of rock I knew from Donnie Iris and the Cruisers.
Their music drew from rock, pop, rhythm and blues, and soul.
There it was.
Another piece of the musical puzzle.
One of the things I've always loved about studying rock ’n’ roll is discovering how interconnected everything is.
The music doesn't live in tidy little boxes.
Rock borrows from soul. Soul borrows from gospel. Funk finds its way into rock. Rhythm and blues flows through all of it.
And musicians carry those influences with them.
Donnie Iris had been part of that musical conversation long before I ever heard “Ah! Leah!”
How had I missed this?
Wild Cherry? REALLY?
And then came the discovery that made me sit up.
Wild Cherry.
WILD CHERRY?!
Now, anyone who grew up in the 1970s knows “Play That Funky Music.”
That song was practically an invitation to get up and move.
The rhythm. The bass. The guitar. The groove.
And there, in the history of Wild Cherry, was Donnie Iris.
To be clear, he joined the group after its massive 1976 breakthrough with “Play That Funky Music.” He wasn't responsible for recording that hit.
But he did become part of the band's later history, contributing to its final album.
And during that period, he crossed paths with keyboardist and musician Mark Avsec.
That relationship would prove enormously important.
The two would go on to collaborate on the music that introduced Donnie Iris and the Cruisers to a new generation of rock listeners.
Now, I want to be careful here.
I'm not suggesting that Donnie Iris took the sound of Wild Cherry and turned it into “Love Is Like a Rock.”
Music doesn't work quite that neatly.
But knowing about his musical history made me want to go back and listen again.
And when I did, I heard that rhythm.
That groove.
That wonderfully driving, almost funky feeling underneath the rock guitars.
Well, I'll be damned. Listen to that!
It's one of the great pleasures of revisiting music with older ears.
You hear things you didn't necessarily have the experience to recognize when you were young.
Back then, I knew what made me want to move.
Today, I can appreciate a little more of the musical craftsmanship that made it happen.
And suddenly, Donnie Iris was becoming much more interesting than the man I'd seen on a record sleeve.
Donnie Iris and the Cruisers: Now That's Rock ’n’ Roll
By 1980, Donnie Iris and Mark Avsec had begun building something special.
Together with guitarist Marty Lee Hoenes, bassist Albritton McClain, and drummer Kevin Valentine, they created the sound of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers.
Their debut album, Back on the Streets, brought us “Ah! Leah!”
The song reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, introducing a wider audience to Iris's distinctive voice and the group's layered, guitar-driven sound.
And here's another wonderful little piece of rock history.
According to accounts of the song's creation, “Ah! Leah!” began as something very different. Iris and Avsec were working on an anti-war idea before a vocal passage suggested the name Leah and sent the song in a new direction.
Imagine that.
One of the songs I remember most fondly from my teenage years emerged from a completely different creative intention.
That's songwriting for you.
Sometimes the music tells you what the song wants to become.
In 1981, the Cruisers released King Cool, featuring “Love Is Like a Rock.”
It reached No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became another enduring rock-radio favorite.
The group followed with other songs, including “My Girl,” and continued recording and performing beyond those early successes.
But what strikes me most now isn't simply the chart positions.
It's the musicianship.
The arrangements.
The harmonies.
The way those guitars, drums, keyboards, and vocals came together to create something instantly recognizable.
Donnie Iris had one of those voices that didn't need an introduction.
You could hear a few seconds of a song and know who you were listening to.
And the Cruisers gave that voice a tremendous musical foundation.
That's not an accident.
That's talented musicians doing what talented musicians do.
A Rock Star Who Never Really Left
Another thing I discovered today was how much Donnie Iris meant to his home region.
In western Pennsylvania, particularly around Pittsburgh, he wasn't simply remembered as a singer with a couple of national hits.
He was a beloved musical figure who continued performing for generations of fans.
He kept making music.
He kept showing up.
And people kept showing up for him.
Even after facing serious health challenges, he returned to performing in 2024.
On September 28, 2026, he gave what would become his final concert, helping open a new Pittsburgh music venue.
Just days later, he announced his retirement from live performance.
And on October 26, the news came that Donnie Iris had died at 83.
There is something especially poignant about that final chapter.
A musician who had been performing since childhood was still sharing his music with an audience more than seven decades later.
Think about that for a moment.
A lifetime spent making music.
From the Jaggerz to Wild Cherry to the Cruisers.
From local stages to national charts and back to the audiences who loved him.
That's a remarkable career.
And one worthy of recognition.
The Musical Adventure I Should Have Taken Sooner
So here I am.
Forty-five years after buying that 45.
Still listening to “Ah! Leah!”
Still turning up “Love Is Like a Rock.”
Still hearing those guitars, those harmonies, that glorious voice, and that irresistible rhythm.
And today, for the first time, I really went looking for Donnie Iris.
What did I find?
A talented singer.
A songwriter with a No. 2 hit to his credit.
A guitarist whose career crossed several chapters of American popular music.
A musician who moved through rock, soul, rhythm and blues, and the wonderfully funky corners where those sounds meet.
A collaborator who helped create music that has stayed with listeners for decades.
A respected performer with a devoted audience.
A bona fide rock star.
And yes, I have some regrets.
I wish I had spent a little more time exploring Donnie Iris when I was young.
I wish I'd picked up another album, followed another musical connection, and learned a little more about the man behind those songs.
I gave that kind of curiosity to so many other musicians.
He deserved it, too.
He was worth the effort.
And rock ’n’ roll has lost someone significant.
But I'm grateful for the music.
I'm grateful for a happy afternoon in a bowling alley, a strike, and a song playing overhead.
I'm grateful for a 45 record that made me want to sing, dance, and play.
And I'm grateful that, even after all these years, there are still musical discoveries waiting for me.
I just wish this particular adventure hadn't begun with the news of his passing.
So, Donnie Iris, thank you.
For the music.
For the memories.
For that magnificent voice.
And for reminding me that sometimes the artists who become part of our lives have extraordinary stories we've yet to discover.
I'll keep playing those songs.
I'll keep turning up the volume.
And now, when I hear them, I'll know a little more about the remarkable musician behind them.
Rest in peace, Donnie Iris.
Great music lives on.
Rock on.
Sources & Further Reading
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Donnie Iris obituary, October 26, 2026
Ultimate Classic Rock — “Ah! Leah!” Singer Donnie Iris Dead at 83
American Songwriter — The Story and Meaning Behind “Ah! Leah!”
JazzRockSoul — Donnie Iris: Career and Discography
WPXI — Pittsburgh Area Music Legend Donnie Iris Dies at 83
Thanks for taking this trip back with me.
What do you remember? Were you there too, or did this story bring back a memory of your own? I’d love to hear it. Share your stories in the comments, and if this made you smile, laugh, cringe, or turn up an old favorite song, share it with someone who remembers too.
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Until next time...
Keep the memories alive.Keep the stories coming.And whatever you do... turn it up.
— Dr. AY Heath (Angel)
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