March 14, 2025 • 51 mins
Legendary Pittsburgh rocker Jimmie Ross is the voice of The Jaggerz, the band behind the 1970 smash hit The Rapper! From sharing stages with icons to releasing his solo album Full Circle, he’s still bringing the music to life
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yah knows.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is an n video and you are Oh, bless
your heart. This is the Coda Podcast chronicling Pittsburgh music scene,
and welcome in. I'm Johnny Hertwell, your host along with
Andy Pugar. Today we talked to the legendary Pittsburgh rocker
Jimmy Ross. Jimmy Ross, Yes, I can't believe it. This
(00:32):
is so coold. It's cold in here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I would saying it's cool to meet you and finally
talk to you, but yeah, this dude is a little cold.
I'm sorry. Do you need a blanket? No, a space eater?
We have one. Let me figure out what I'm doing
with my headphones. There we go. H this is an
absolute pleasure. It's an honor and uh you know, when
it comes to the you know, the the pantheon of
Pittsburgh music, you're among the greats and it's an absolute pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Going on sixty years. So you're new to this, you're
not just a new guy. Well, all right that that.
You know, a lot of times we start at the beginning.
I mean, when did you discover music? Did you come
from a musical family? Uh no, Actually I started in
high school in a high school band, playing in a
(01:22):
high school band, and I played tuba. No, no, laughing,
but that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But I loved it so much.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I got you know, really got into music in junior
high uh, senior high.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
All So what do you remember what? What do you
what were you listening to? Do you do you remember
listening to the radio? What radio stations were you listening
to it? To listen to Porky Chadwick? Of course, yeah,
not the first time, is it a lot of people?
Oh he was so influential. No, no, so I love
that kind of music that he was playing, you know,
(02:01):
and you kind of balanced that, you know, you kind
of you were you've kind of bridged that, you know,
the doo wop era and that R and B and
the rock and roll and you and the harmonies and
all that special fantastic vocal music that was. That was
that Porky exposed to Pittsburgh right right.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
All the black groups back then, Uh, you know, the
Temptations for tops, That's what I was into, and that's
what the band started doing. Actually with the oldies, well
they weren't oldies back then, they were newies, you know
what I mean. But uh, that's how we got started
doing that kind of music.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
And and so you brought your tuba and like, I'm ready.
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
As matter of fact, I played the tuba on one
of the songs on our first album, on our first album,
on one of the tunes. Yeah, that's funny, that was
fun Where did you do you have your own tuba
or did you have to Like I had my own,
believe it or believe it or not, I'd strap it
to the car and you take off.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Wow, Jim, you've come really far right right, all right?
So when you you're a high school kid, you're listening
to Porky, You're you're into, you know, some of the
songs that that Porky exposed to Pittsburgh. Uh. The next
step is picking up an instrument. And you picked up
the tuba. I don't other than the one song on
(03:23):
that and your first record that you know, that's the
only song. So you know, I've always known you as
a guitarist. So did you pick up the guitar? First?
Bass guitar? Okay, uh, equivalent to the tuba? Uh?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So I played bass and picked up a little band.
Uh in the town where down in Beaver Countie where
I live, the el equippa el equippa.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And you lived in Beaver Falls.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
That right, Okay, So we start doing you know, little
dances and weddings and things like that.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
For wait a minute, you're skipping over. You like, you
pick up a guitar, bass guitar, and next thing you're
playing well naturally.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I'm I'm still listening to Porky and all the all
the songs.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
That I liked, and it must have been pretty good.
You must have picked it up pretty quickly. I did.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I was real, real lucky to do that. And I
never took a lesson to anything like that. But just
listening to the songs and learning how to play the
bass guitar.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
They come naturally. I mean it did, it really did. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
For somebody who can't sing, who can't play an instrument,
and I've said this a thousand times, the fact that
people actually do it is amazing to me. And the
fact that somebody can just pick it up and master
their instrument right away is beyond my comprehension.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I was very lucky, very lucky, and uh, you know,
to to like music so much to stick with the
band at that time in high school and right out
of high school.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
What was the first band's name. The first band was
Sonny and the Victors. Sonny and the Victors.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Then we became the Bellboys actually, and we went to
Pittsburgh and recorded a song called cherry Pie.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
It's the old song.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I don't know who originally did that, but that was
our first time in the studio and that had to
be How were you at this time? Well, it was
nineteen sixty four. I was a senior in high school.
So what are you in nineteen eighteen or something like that. Yeah,
that is so man to me.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's like to pick up an instrument and suddenly he's
playing shows. He's playing weddings and dance halls and things
like that. Now you're in the recording studio and some
of the people that were in those early bands, did
they did any any other of those members follow you
into any other groups? Did they? Did anybody else from
(05:57):
those groups follow.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I don't think so. I don't think so. I was
the only one that kept in music and just went on.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Okay, when did you start writing music?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I really don't write. You know, I've never written a song,
but you you've done so many leads.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Though I know I do a lot of cover tunes,
songs that songs that I like. Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
The songs that we recorded on our first album was
written by a couple of the guys in the band
and actually Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in Philadelphia. They
wrote three or four tunes on our very first album.
And did those records amount to anything?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Did you?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Did you get to maraplay? Well, one was got to
Find My Way Back Home, which was.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
You know, yeah, I think that got to marraorplay.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, maybe just view okay, and it still does, it
still does.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So at what point are right? So tell me your
family situation. You know, they go you like, you know,
you're you're playing in these bands and you're you're this musician.
Are they embracing the fact that you want to do
this as your career.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Well, I'm half Italian and my father was full Italian
and he's one of those guys. Jimmy, you gotta get
a job, I said, Dan, I'm playing six nights a week.
You said, see you play, you don't work. He said,
you say, you play, you gotta get a job, Jimmy.
But after a while he kind of cooled down and Jimmy,
(07:36):
you're still playing. Yeah, you're still playing, right, You better get.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
A job, that's right, You got to get a job.
Oh so, and what was the music scene in Pittsburgh
at that time in the mid sixties, because you know,
by nineteen sixty four, the Beatles have exploited, So now
you're going from the vocal and do op era to
kind of a more of rock and roll scene. So
you did you follow that as well? Well?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
We we, we did follow it. We we loved them.
I love the Beatles. They were fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
We incorporated a lot of their songs in our show
at that time. But still keep in that R and
B flavor, Uh if you will. You know, you know
the Beatles had pretty good harmonies. Oh yeah, absolutely absolutely,
and their songs were great.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah. And so what kind of music were you drawn to?
Like if somebody writes a song, were you interpreting those
songs your own way? Or tell me how about that?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
We had it, We had our certain sounds. We had
definitely had a different sound than all the other bands
that were, you know, working in Pittsburgh area.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Who were your contemporaries at that time?
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Do you remember, uh didn't have any You still don't,
still don't, No, No, you mean the like the Temptations
and people like that.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
No, I meant within Pittsburgh with its.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Burgh, we're Beaver County or wherever.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I'll tell you the truth. We were working so much
and on the road so much. I didn't know any
of the bands that were playing in Pittsburgh at that time.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
You don't get to hear anybody.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
No, no, you don't go out and hear anybody.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So where did you travel to at that time? And
you're in your early twenties now.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, we were in la We did the Tri state
area a lot, played in Florida a few times, and Detroit.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
We were up in Detroit. But we were always working
like six seven days a week. And who are you
working with? Were some of the because a lot of times,
you know, they would have six or seven people on
a bill, and you were amongst those who were some
of your contemporaries. The Supremes were on a show with us,
who are they?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And the Beach Boys were on a show with us.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Again, I don't know who they were.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Let's see, Uh, just so many bj Thomas he was
on the show with us.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So all right, see I'm a huge Beach Boy fan. Yeah,
that was was Brian with them at that time? Yeah?
Oh yeah yeah. And that was.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That was at the stadium. That was a
big show, big show at the Milwaukee Stadium. And how
close to the recording were their performances?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Pretty close, pretty close. Talk about harmony, A harmony was fantastic. Yeah,
it was great. And that was that was like nineteen
seventy too, you know, so they were well established. Oh absolutely, yea.
And okay, when you're opening up for the Beach Boys,
what band is that? Is that? The Jaggers? That was
Jack Jaggers. All right, let's talk to Jaggers. So prior
(10:51):
to forming the Jaggers, who were you with? What what
band were you?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, like I said, I was with the Sonny and
the Victors first and then the Bell Boys and the
Jaggers just formed and one of the guys had to
go to the Navy.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I believe.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So they were looking for another voice and they popped
in on one of my little weddings that I was
doing pretty good voice and I got a call the
next day to come an audition. And they were working
six nights a week at a place called the Club
Natural in Beaver Falls, PA. And So I went down
(11:33):
there in an audition. I think I sang Johnny Be
Good or something like that, and I got a call
in a couple of days saying I got the job.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
So I did you work straight away?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, right away.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Well, well, it took a couple of weeks to learn
all the songs that they were doing, like probably three
one hour sets at that time, that's what they used
to do. That's what a lot of bands used to do,
three sets, four sets, and those songs were like two minutes,
two and a half.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
A lot of songs. That's a lot of songs, and
you have to do that. Yeah, wow, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So I learned those tunes and I started working with
them in two weeks. We worked six nights a week
and at the club, and on Sunday we would go
to a college. So seven days a week we were working.
You know, telling my dad, Dad, I'm working seven days
a week.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
You got a job. Still got to get a job. Well,
what kind of music did you listen to as a family,
What kind of music did your father listen to?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
He listened to country. He loved country music, and there
was always a country station on at the house.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
He loved that. Being Italian. That was kind of weird.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
You know, you'd think you'd listen to Italian music, but no,
he loved country and I got into some country two
years ago, but that's what he liked.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And Italian from al Equippa. Yeah, there's a few of it.
All right. So now you're with the the Jaggers. You're
working well the Ringo Star eight days a week basic
and and had they been signed yet not yet?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
No, No, we were just working our tails off and
then we Joe Rock was a was a manager in Pittsburgh.
He managed the Skyliners Jimmy Boumont and the Skyliners years
ago and he came to see us at a club
that we were playing and we hooked up with Joe. Uh,
(13:38):
he was going to be our manager, and he got
the contract for Gamble and Huff in Philadelphia. So that's
when we went to record in Philly and we did
our first album there and from that album, a song
called Baby I Love You was our very first single.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Then gotta Find My Way Back Home was the second
single from that album. That's the very first that was
That was the very first company.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
That we were with all right, before we get to
the success of the initial success of the Jaggers. Tell
us tell me a little bit about what it was
like you you did a few recordings here in Pittsburgh.
Was a little different going to Philadelphia. Was that there
was a little Was there a little more pressure on
you or the band? You know, you're you're you're really
(14:31):
trying to take that next step. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I didn't feel any pressure, man, I was It was
just so much fun, so much fun to be there
and uh, to be in the same room as Kenny
Gamble and Leon Huff who wrote and produced all those
hit songs for all the big R and B groups.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
It was it was a thrill. Did they give you
any advice? Did they help you produce any of the music?
They said, Jimmy a job, That's what they said. Uh, no,
they did.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
They just were very helpful on a couple of the
tunes that we needed help help with.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And what did they say? What did they you know? What?
What were what were their vision? What did what did
they ultimately do to change that song? What do you remember?
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Huff was a keyboard player, and when we were doing
Baby I Love You, he sat down at the keyboard
and was reading Billboard magazine and the track was running
and it was recording, and every time a certain part
would come up, he would look down at the keyboards
(15:46):
and play these four notes, and then he would look
back at his Billboard magazine and turn the page and
it was still recording, and we're still recording. It was unbelievable.
I mean, we never saw anybody do that. You know,
he was into it, but he wasn't into it, Let's
put it that way.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Was that good or bad?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
That was good and that was good for us because
it's a signature part in that song that he came
up with. What you're looking at Billboard magazine instead of
getting into the song. You know, you just knew what
to play exactly what time. You're in your early twenties
and you're recording and you're you're playing with you know
(16:28):
your you're recording with legends. You know, you were recording
for Legends, and you didn't feel any pressure at all. No,
I really didn't. It was just fun, man, It was fun.
Just couldn't wait to do something, you know, couldn't wait
to go to Philly.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
What kind of uh with the with your bandmates? Was
it kind of a you know, uh, were you all
for one? Were you all kind of did you singlely
have that vision of we.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Were we never had an argument in you know, the
ten years that the Jaggers were together and we were
we were all for one.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
That's very good. Yeah, that's rare.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, I know because a lot of bands, the egos
just kill them. You know even today that the egos
and bands are just unbelievable and they can't stay together.
And but we we didn't have that. You seem like
a pretty even tempered kind of guy.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, I think I am an Italian from Aliquippa that
does that doesn't seem like it's possible. What are you
gonna do?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I get Itbut it all right.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So you once the record is done, the album is done,
and you're pretty proud of what you were able to create.
Now it has to be sold, right, What was that
process like?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Well, we left it up to the record company, you know, and.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
You said, our works done now we're just going to
go back and doing the clubs and beaver falls. And
until well.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
We were still we were still on the road doing things,
you know, we did. We got out of that club scene,
the six nights a week at the where we started.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
We got out of that.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
So we were doing one night ers here and there,
and uh, just watching, just listening to the radio to
hear Gotta Find My Way Back Home or baby I
Love You?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know. And do you remember where you were when
you heard your first Jagger song on that.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I think I was around the moon Township area and
that's when I first heard Gotta Find my Way back Home.
I couldn't believe it. I thought it was somebody else.
You know, it really sounded good on the radio, and
we just, uh, I'm sure I pulled off to the
side of the road.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
You know, were you with somebody and get like, that's
me I was.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I was with one of the other guy, Bill Maybray,
he was another lead singer, and the Jaggers we had
three lead singers. We had Donnie Iris, myself and Billy Maybray.
So Billy sang baby I Love You, I sang gotta
Find my Way back Home, and Donnie sang.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
The rapper And so you hear your song on the radio, yeah,
and you go, okay, well now now what what now?
What happens after that?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
We just kept working. Man, We do big concerts at
this time, you know, the bigger shows we got out
of the club scene, and we started doing the bigger
shows at the College's one thousand, two thousand kids. Yeah,
we were all kids at that time.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Your contemporaries here in Pittsburgh, what were their reaction of
your success?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
You know, when you're in the same band in the
same time, You know, everybody was happy for us, and
we got a a lot of new friends that way.
With the bands, you know, they would all congratulate us,
and anytime we would see them somewhere, you know that
they would always mention the songs and how much they
(20:12):
liked them and everything. So we had a lot of
good friends.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
So now you get a little bit of success again,
some airplay, and what happens with the band? What is
going on internally in the band? You said, in ten years,
you've never had a fight. No, never, never, because we
were working too much. You know. We went to Geneva
on the Lake.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
We got that contract and played a place called the
Sunken Bar, which is a brand new.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Bar that just opened up.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
And we got the contract for three and a half
months to play there seven days a week, and we
beat out the Ojys, believe it or not, to get
that job. We went there and they just built the club.
It was a cement floor and the bands were coming
(21:06):
into audition and the OJ's were one of them, and
of course the Jaggers from Pittsburgh, and we got the job.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Man, it was just great.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
So we were there three and a half months the
first year, and the second summer we went back and
played for the guy across the street because he gave
us more money.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You know. So how did your life change a guy
from Aliquippa. Now you're out on tour and playing, you know,
clubs like you did in Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
So that was the best times first times out there.
You know, how did your life change? Well, you could
buy a big car, you know what I mean? With
our first with our first royalty check, we bought seven
lincoln Mark threes in nineteen seventy, brand new.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
All of us.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Sure of that sound?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, there is.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I have a picture that we bought one for our
manager and mine was purple, believe it or not, with
a white top and white interior. It was beautiful, man.
But we bought we bought seven of them. Wow, that's
a hell of a wed.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
So we were we were changing all over the place,
you know, And so how did your life were girls?
Attracted to the band.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Well at that time, I got married in sixty eight. Okay,
got I was married in sixty eight. I had a
little daughter, and we won't talk about that. Okay, you
know what that's Donnie said the same thing.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So what is your relationship with Donnie? Now?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Oh, we do a show, maybe a show or two
a year, and we were so close back then.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
We're still You're brothers in arms and you'll always be brothers. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
What a talent he is though, I mean, geez, you
know all the all the songs that he's come up
with on these these albums that he's had out, and
he's he's just a friend and was with me and
with the band. Uh, the probably the best ten years
of my life.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
You know. It was just great, even though he doesn't
want to talk about the good stuff. That is so funny. Yeah,
almost always the exactly is that right? He used a
little a little more color a little more colorful language,
but the same thing. Yeah, yeah, Because you know, I
was like, oh, we got to push him, but I can't.
(23:44):
I can't. I have respect for you, guys, I got it.
I got it, all right. So now you're you're once
you reach success, you have to redo it and you
have to continue. But that ultimately it's tough to do. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Well, after the first album, we changed record companies and
we went to Kamasutra Buddha in New York and we did.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
An album there.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And Donnie wrote about three or four songs that were
on that album, and that's the album that had the
Rapper on it. So The Rapper went to number two
on Billboard and number one on Record World. All right,
let me ask you a little bit about recording that song.
Did you have any idea that was going to be
your No Go off that?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I don't think we did. No.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
No, we put that song together and we had an
office in New Brighton.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Because the song is obviously a classic, but it's not
exactly what the Jaggers were doing on the first.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Right, right, it wasn't no, it wasn't R and B
or it wasn't it wasn't anything like what we did
on the first album, No Offense, but it was almost novelty. Yeah, yeah,
that song hit. It was the right song at the
right time. The rapping thing that Donnie came up with
(25:16):
it was fantastic, I mean, because that's that's what we
saw in the clubs when we played, the guys were
rapping on the girls, you know, and he came up
with that song. We put it together in New Brighton
and went to New York and that was one of
the songs on the second album.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
So being that that's kind of an outlier of what
the Jaggers originally sounded like. Did you were you surprised
of the success or you just knew that that song
was going to cut through.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Certainly, I didn't know that that song was going to
be as big as it was, but we watched it
go up the charts and it was unbelievable, unbelievable, you know.
It just people love that song.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
What's that experience? To ride that that that song moving
up the charts? It was?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
It was just great, great, And naturally the money went up.
You know, got new tires for the link, did you Yeah,
And we got to do a lot of things, uh
you know, we went to uh California and did the
American Bands then with Dick Clark, which was you know,
that was you know, I watched Dick Clark when I
(26:25):
was in high school, you know, and to be there
on that show was great. We started doing a lot
of television back then, Hold on you drop Dick Clark.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I want to know what that experience is like, because
that at that time, you know, this is prior to MTV.
Your experience is American bandstands. It's what we watched. That's
where we were exposed to new music. You know, not
every city had a Porky Chedwick that would play a
lot of those records. So you found new music on
(26:55):
television through Dick Clark. And so now you're you get
that call and what is what is your response? Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
That was great going on there, you know, to first
of all to meet him and then to be on
a show like that.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
You're kidding me. I mean that was the show to
be on. And he was very fundamental in the success
of a lot of bands in the Ross Belt, in
in Pittsburgh and in Youngstown and Cleveland. There was he
had I think he had family in the area, so
he came and listened to a lot of radio in
(27:28):
this area. So when you were performing, did you perform
live or was it to to a track? No, it
was to a track. It was to a track.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, did you just lip sync or did you also
sing and just the track was.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah? Any any problems doing that, you know, you're okay
with that.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And that was kind of weird because that's the first
time we did that, you know, because it was on television.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Uh, shock that you had to do that or did
you know already? No, No, we kind of knew that
we were going to do it. You know. It was
fun though, you know, it was all fun. Man, Is
it still fun? Oh?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
It's still fun. Yeah, still fun. You're still living a life,
are you.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah? Yeah. We do about twenty two twenty three shows
a year, and.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Which is a lot. But I look forward to the
next one, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
All right, so we have some success, We've rappers, a
top ten record. You're on television. Now you're thinking, all right,
this is going to last forever? Or did you already
know that? Hey, you know, you gotta temper some of
the expectations.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Uh. At that time, you're you're you're so high on
what's happening, you don't even you don't even think about
the future. I didn't anyway, you know, we just were
having fun. We were having a good time and started
playing smaller clubs, smaller places because that was our second album,
(29:06):
and then we had the chance to go to California
and do a third album with a different company. And
we went out there and did some originals and we
just kept kept up honing our thing, you know, six
seven days a week, still playing six seven days a
week all those years. So you had a different record
(29:27):
company with the first three records. Yeah, was that a
good idea in retrospect? It's only a good idea if
your company that you're with they're not doing anything for you.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
And so what is that? What is that? Like?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Well, that's all promotion, man. You know, you could have
the best record in the world sitting on your desk
and if nobody hears it, I mean, what good is it?
You know, it's up to the people who were that's
their job to get that record played.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
So what is it? What is the secret sauce to
get your song played? How? How does promotion really ultimately
get a song to be played on the radio?
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Well, at that time, I don't think our manager at
that time was really.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
In tune to the record company.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
And there's some things I can't say, you know, but uh,
I think if if we would have been more in
tune with the record company and knowing what was going
on in New York, and not back here in Pittsburgh
things things would have been different.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
It really is remarkable that the song actually becomes a hit,
because it's it's You're more likely to hit the the
lotto or the Mega millions than to have a hit record.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, right right, I know, I can't believe it. Sometimes
I look at that gold record on the wall and
I can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I mean, how many how many people in the United
States have a gold record on it? I have one,
but I just used a little Okay, So, so things
are starting to kind of unwind. So you were this
(31:17):
band of brothers, right, It didn't really start to fray
as far as members are concerned. What's going on?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, a couple of the guys decided to leave UH
to get in with another band, and Joe Rock at
that time, like I said, he was manager of Jimmy
Beaumont and the Skyliners, and two of the guys from
the Skyliners left original guys, and Joe called me on
(31:47):
the phone and said, hey, I know this is the
kind of show business you like. You like would you audition?
And I said absolutely. I don't even know why I
said that, And I got the job with Beaumont who
was one of the greatest singers of all time as
far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
So when you talk about legendary Pittsburgh groups, Oh yeah,
Jimmy Beaumont, you got the Skyliners and the Jaggers, and
you were in both of them. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, I was very lucky, and so I went with
the Skyliners for six years.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
To Jimmy Beaumont, what was he like?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
He was just I mean, that boy could sing. He
just what a voice he had. You know, you knew
it was him when he opened his mouth. You know,
He's just he was just a great, great guy, very
easy to get along.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
With, you know.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
When I he let me do anything I wanted to do.
And I brought a lot of different kind of songs
into into the Skyliners at that time.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
So he was open. He wasn't closed minded when it came.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Oh no, not at all. No, he was open to everything, man.
And he just he was a good friend, great friend.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Had you known him pretty well prior to joining in
the Skyliners.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Well, I never really had any conversations with him or
anything like that, but everyone obviously knew who he was. Oh, absolutely,
everybody in town and out of town. Jimmy, Yeah, from
the Skyliners. You know, since I don't have you one
of the biggest songs of all time?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
What is that song? Yeah? Yeah, So you're talking when
it comes to Pittsburgh, when it comes to like true
Pittsburgh groups, you're you've been in both of them. Is
that does that reality sit in sit in with you?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I was really lucky, man, I got I have a
practice room at my home for the band, you know,
when we get together, and all the just covered with
things from the Skyliners, from newspapers, from records, Jagger stuff, memorabilia.
(34:08):
You know. It's just when I look around and see
what is on those walls, I can't believe.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
What's Jimmy's secret sauce? What do you bring? What do
I want? What do you bring? What do you bring
to the table? Oh gee, I don't know. You have
to ask somebody else.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
You are the most reluctant legend I've ever talked to.
Well you know, uh, Jimmy, Well you realize you were
in the Skyliners.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
And the Jagger I know, I know. I just can't
believe it. I can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And it was they don't just bring in a Joe
bagg of You've got to bring something to the table.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
What is it about you, Jimmy, Maybe it's my voice.
You know, I don't want to you know, I'm not that.
I don't know. What can I say? That's what I did,
That's what I do.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
You need to get a job.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, you were so modest. Have you always been this way?
I think so? Yeah? Well, you know what to really
to get along in a in a group situation, you know,
you have to have, you know, certain temperament to get
through because you're dealing with certain personalities. Oh, every person
has a different vision.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Of different egos and stuff. The egos will kill you. You know,
you don't seem to have one. No, No, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
I don't know. I go along with whatever's going on. Okay,
I got a question for your father. Tell me about
your father. What's his name, Carmen? Carmen And what did
he do?
Speaker 1 (35:51):
He worked at jn L still in the El Equippa
And what kind of guy was he?
Speaker 2 (35:56):
What kind of guy?
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah, he was the greatest guy I ever met, I
ever met. He was honest. Uh, he loved his family.
I can't say enough about him, any any any word
that you can think of.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
That's a good word. That was my dad. That was
my dad. And he was behind me except when he
said get a job, well only because he was looking
out to be you know, for the for a first side.
So have you emulated Carmen? I mean you you I
think so? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
He was a humble guy. You know, he wasn't out
there and he just loved his family. He would do
anything for me or anybody you know, just uh, and
he did. He did, matter of fact, this is this
is crazy. He made and he was real handy. He
(36:51):
could make anything. He could fix anything. He made our
first lights for stage out of flood lights and he
put them. We had him in a box, a big box.
I had to carry this box around in my car
to these certain shows. And he had a foot switch
(37:11):
and everything, and it was up to me to you
know what I mean, to hit the foot switch for
these dumb lights to come on and floot us up,
you know. But uh, he made one of the He
did things like that, you know.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
All right, So are there any stories that you would
that you can share that during the success of let's
say The Jaggers, so that you like, this is a
precious memory this is a story that people ought to know, Like,
was there a certain point that I don't know. I'll
just leave it open to you. Is there any particular
stories that you you share often when it comes to
(37:49):
that era where you know you're you're you're getting some
radio success, you're obviously getting some financial financial success. Do
you have any like really crazy stories that you've shared.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Most of them I can't say. I can't. I can't
bring these things up, not on the ear. Maybe after
we're done, I'll tell.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
You, all right, hold on, we're going to turn the
mics off. Okay, Okay, Jimmy, the mics are off. No, yeah, right,
and there goes there goes my career. Well, that's super
to hold on. Let me rephrase this question. Do you
(38:37):
have any stories that are pg that you could share
that you know that that kind of uh relates to,
you know, the fun time of being together?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
And well, I can tell you this one thing. It's
just it's just a short little thing. The record company
threw a party in New York and we were there
at the time. We just happened to be in New
York for something. And do you remember a girl by
the name of Melanie, Yeah, they who did roller skates.
(39:17):
That was okay. Well she we were walking down Broadway
and we went up to on top of this building.
There were trees up there and everything. It was like
the fiftieth floor or something like that, you know, trees
and everything, and there was a piano up there and
(39:37):
some seats and there were probably about one hundred people
there from the record company and there was no place
for me to sit except on the piano bench. So
I sat down on the on the bench and a
guy comes over to me and he said, uh, hey, kid,
(40:01):
is there a room for me on that bench? And
I turned around and it's Tony Bennett. Oh, I went,
what so? I mean, that's the kind of things that
you know, that's just a little thing, but it happened
to me.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
You know. Yeah, Tony Bennett never sat on my piano batch. Yeah,
I mean that was just just to see him there.
It was great. So now things are unwinding with the
with the Jaggers. You've joined with Jimmy Bowmont and the Skyliners,
and but at what point did you get the itch
(40:39):
to how did the Jaggers reform.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
After the Skyliners. I was there for six years, I believe,
went to California and uh recorded out there with Teddy Randazzo.
And when I came back, I wanted to put the
Jaggers together, So I called what what.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
What prompted you? You just thought it was it was
time to pre I.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Just thought it was time, you know, because I missed him.
I missed I missed that kind of thing and the
music and everything, and and I knew the couple of
guys were still around the area. So I called Bennifaiela. Uh,
who was the guy who really started the Jaggers, Donnie
and Benny together they formed the Jaggers in sixty five.
(41:29):
But I put that band back together and we recorded
a CD. And so what was there? What was Benny's response?
Obviously this is so he was, you know, he wanted
to do it. Yeah, and we called Billy and Uh.
The drummer was Jimmy Pogliano from Ambridge. Uh, we called
him and uh we got back together and put it together,
(41:52):
and man, it's just h one thing after another. We'd
started doing some big shows, and the Jaggers are back
and you know, still doing the rapper.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
I know, and and and when you when you came back,
what was well, first of all. What was Pittsburgh's response.
We still got the crowds.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I mean, people still wanted to hear the you know,
hear us, and and what we did were the crowds
as big or bigger. They started to get bigger again.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Again.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
This was in what the like the late eighties.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, did that surprise you? I obviously it
was a pleasant surprise, But did you think it would
it would the resurgence, the people would accept the Jaggers
back and and actually being bigger than it was back
in the in the mid seventies.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Well, we had a lot of success years ago, a
lot of success, and uh, people were still around. People
wanted to hear that kind of music. So that's that's
what we gave them, you know, and we're still doing
that kind of music.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Do you have a new audience, a younger audience, do
you think?
Speaker 2 (43:04):
No? I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
We have the old standbys that are still there still
want to hear that type of music, and as long
as we can do it, we're going.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
To give it to them. Now. You also dabbled with
a solo career and different things like that. What happened
with those?
Speaker 1 (43:27):
I'm still doing that as a matter of fact, I'm
doing the show with Chris Ruggerio and The Letterman September
seventh in Greensburg at the Palace, and I'm gonna go
out and do about five or six songs, and I'll
probably do a couple songs with Chris. So I'm just
(43:50):
dabbling in something like that, you know. But the Jaggers
are still my baby.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
You've dabbled a long time. Oh man, I'm still dabbling.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Yeah, you will never get that out of your system.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
I don't think so. You know, I think about retiring.
You know, I'm going to be seventy nine and you
look great.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Thanks, I'm thinking about retiring. But I'm thinking, geez am,
I gonna miss this.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
You know, Mick Jagger's eighty three. He's still doing it.
I know, I know. He gives me hope. Why why
retire if people are coming out to see you? Yeah? Why?
Speaker 1 (44:30):
I don't know, just something to do.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Does Donny occasionally plays with you? Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
We did a show at Jurgles one time for the
when we won Pittsburgh Legends Award. We won that, and
so he came up and did Gonna Find My Way
back Home?
Speaker 2 (44:53):
And you know, that. That's funny because now that after
it kind of led up to COVID and they kind
of stopped, and I really wish they would bring that back. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, I'm surprised that they stopped on So we were
lucky to be on the the Caboose of Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
You know, was that the same year as Chuck Brinkman,
I think, uh yeah, I think it was. He was
the he was my first program director. Yeah, so you
know he really helped us out on KQV really. Oh yeah, yeah,
when when the Gotta Find Way Back Home? Okay, talk
about you know what were what were some of those
disc jockeys that helped you, you know, establish yourself in.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Well, other other than Porky Plane, you know, baby, I
Love you Gotta Find Way Back Home? Brickman really did us. Uh,
he did good. He was on KQV and on their charts.
I remember the Gotta Find Way Back Home going up
the chart.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Oh something I forgot that. It just it just occurred
to me early in my career my first radio jobs.
I'm a Pittsburgh guy, but my first opportunity in radio
was in South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and I
got I was working at a radio station. I wasn't
(46:14):
getting paid like two hundred dollars a week, yeah, very
you know, I was starving, So I had to work
at a club. It was called Studebakers, and it was
it played a lot of shag music. And what surprised
me is the Jaggers were absolutely huge in that scene.
Were you ever aware of that? No, I didn't know that.
(46:35):
I remember Studebakers, but a lot of shag music, yeah,
because they were, you know, with a lot of vocal
a lot of like you know, doop, but almost with
a modern field, which was perfect for the shag music
scene because they wanted to dance. They wanted a lot
of harmony, a lot of vocals but with a little beat.
And the Jaggers were absolutely huge. I used to play them,
(46:58):
play you guys two or three times a night. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Some of the tunes that we put on the album,
and matter of fact, some of the tunes that we
still do in the show are shag type dance songs.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
You know what I mean? Yeah, I forgot about that.
That's that's just that that memory just shot shot in
my head. I totally forgot them. Yeah, I like that
shag that was pretty cool. Yeah, it was. It was odd.
Do you know what shag music is?
Speaker 3 (47:22):
I think you told me, but you know what tell
me again.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
It's it's it's it's it's beach music. But it's not
beach boys music. It's not you know, adventures, it's it's
just it's music for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It's called
it is it is, And they do a certain dance
to it, and it's and it's old.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
There's a move.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah. I couldn't do it very much. Yeah. I just
played the records and if they danced straight, I'm doing
my job, all right. So now you're back together, You've
done some solo stuff. What are you currently working on?
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Well, that's uh, I'm still doing some solo stuff. And
are you still recording? Yeah, still recording. I just did
a song that that's on my last CD that was
done by David ruffin years and years ago, and I've
always wanted to record that song. So it's getting a
(48:20):
lot of a lot of play on the internet that
and uh, yeah, I'm still doing some things.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
So you still like that those techs? Oh yeah, yeah,
things like that. And is there something that you would
want to do? What's what's what's your dream? What is
there something else that is there something that you haven't
been able to do, or something that you want to
do that you want to accomplish. No, you are the
(48:50):
most modern person.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
Well I remember I told you that Jimmy's a great
photographer as well.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I forgot about that. I
did that. I did that for Ooh. I did that
for twenty five years.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Because she did those publicity pictures I.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Did, Sonny, do you still do No? No, No, very good
photography other than music. Do you have another artistic endeavor?
Do you do you paint or do it?
Speaker 1 (49:17):
Really?
Speaker 2 (49:18):
No?
Speaker 1 (49:18):
But the photography thing was took up a lot of
time for me. You know, I really I love doing that.
I've done, believe it or not, over one thousand weddings,
photographs photographed, one thousand weddings.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
I can't believe I did that.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
But I would do that, and then the band would
be playing on a weekend and I'd go to the band.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
You know, you're a blue collar kind of guy.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Hey, there's another thing I wanted to tell you and
I completely forgot because I'm going to see them this Saturday,
the band Pure Gold. I also was with Pure Gold
for about five years. Okay, so that's when I was
doing the photography thing and Pure Gold and it got
to be crazy, you know.
Speaker 2 (50:06):
But that was to see that Pure Gold like almost
every weekend when I lived in Greensburg. Oh yeah, yeah,
great group, great people.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
I love those guys, I still do, you know, But
that was a lot of fun with them too.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
All right. We always kind of end with this question.
And I know you're modest, but I want you to
put your modesty aside for just a second. You have
a wonderful legacy in my heart and in Pittsburgh's heart.
What is your legacy or what would you like your
legacy to be?
Speaker 1 (50:43):
That he was a nice guy and he loved music,
and he happened to be with the three biggest bands
in Pittsburgh at the time of his life. And the
people have been fantastic to me all these years, and
(51:04):
I hope I've given them something back.
Yah knows.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is an n video and you are Oh, bless
your heart. This is the Coda Podcast chronicling Pittsburgh music scene,
and welcome in. I'm Johnny Hertwell, your host along with
Andy Pugar. Today we talked to the legendary Pittsburgh rocker
Jimmy Ross. Jimmy Ross, Yes, I can't believe it. This
(00:32):
is so coold. It's cold in here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I would saying it's cool to meet you and finally
talk to you, but yeah, this dude is a little cold.
I'm sorry. Do you need a blanket? No, a space eater?
We have one. Let me figure out what I'm doing
with my headphones. There we go. H this is an
absolute pleasure. It's an honor and uh you know, when
it comes to the you know, the the pantheon of
Pittsburgh music, you're among the greats and it's an absolute pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Going on sixty years. So you're new to this, you're
not just a new guy. Well, all right that that.
You know, a lot of times we start at the beginning.
I mean, when did you discover music? Did you come
from a musical family? Uh no, Actually I started in
high school in a high school band, playing in a
(01:22):
high school band, and I played tuba. No, no, laughing,
but that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But I loved it so much.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I got you know, really got into music in junior
high uh, senior high.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
All So what do you remember what? What do you
what were you listening to? Do you do you remember
listening to the radio? What radio stations were you listening
to it? To listen to Porky Chadwick? Of course, yeah,
not the first time, is it a lot of people?
Oh he was so influential. No, no, so I love
that kind of music that he was playing, you know,
(02:01):
and you kind of balanced that, you know, you kind
of you were you've kind of bridged that, you know,
the doo wop era and that R and B and
the rock and roll and you and the harmonies and
all that special fantastic vocal music that was. That was
that Porky exposed to Pittsburgh right right.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
All the black groups back then, Uh, you know, the
Temptations for tops, That's what I was into, and that's
what the band started doing. Actually with the oldies, well
they weren't oldies back then, they were newies, you know
what I mean. But uh, that's how we got started
doing that kind of music.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
And and so you brought your tuba and like, I'm ready.
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
As matter of fact, I played the tuba on one
of the songs on our first album, on our first album,
on one of the tunes. Yeah, that's funny, that was
fun Where did you do you have your own tuba
or did you have to Like I had my own,
believe it or believe it or not, I'd strap it
to the car and you take off.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Wow, Jim, you've come really far right right, all right?
So when you you're a high school kid, you're listening
to Porky, You're you're into, you know, some of the
songs that that Porky exposed to Pittsburgh. Uh. The next
step is picking up an instrument. And you picked up
the tuba. I don't other than the one song on
(03:23):
that and your first record that you know, that's the
only song. So you know, I've always known you as
a guitarist. So did you pick up the guitar? First?
Bass guitar? Okay, uh, equivalent to the tuba? Uh?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So I played bass and picked up a little band.
Uh in the town where down in Beaver Countie where
I live, the el equippa el equippa.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And you lived in Beaver Falls.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
That right, Okay, So we start doing you know, little
dances and weddings and things like that.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
For wait a minute, you're skipping over. You like, you
pick up a guitar, bass guitar, and next thing you're
playing well naturally.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I'm I'm still listening to Porky and all the all
the songs.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
That I liked, and it must have been pretty good.
You must have picked it up pretty quickly. I did.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I was real, real lucky to do that. And I
never took a lesson to anything like that. But just
listening to the songs and learning how to play the
bass guitar.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
They come naturally. I mean it did, it really did. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
For somebody who can't sing, who can't play an instrument,
and I've said this a thousand times, the fact that
people actually do it is amazing to me. And the
fact that somebody can just pick it up and master
their instrument right away is beyond my comprehension.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I was very lucky, very lucky, and uh, you know,
to to like music so much to stick with the
band at that time in high school and right out
of high school.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
What was the first band's name. The first band was
Sonny and the Victors. Sonny and the Victors.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Then we became the Bellboys actually, and we went to
Pittsburgh and recorded a song called cherry Pie.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
It's the old song.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I don't know who originally did that, but that was
our first time in the studio and that had to
be How were you at this time? Well, it was
nineteen sixty four. I was a senior in high school.
So what are you in nineteen eighteen or something like that. Yeah,
that is so man to me.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's like to pick up an instrument and suddenly he's
playing shows. He's playing weddings and dance halls and things
like that. Now you're in the recording studio and some
of the people that were in those early bands, did
they did any any other of those members follow you
into any other groups? Did they? Did anybody else from
(05:57):
those groups follow.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I don't think so. I don't think so. I was
the only one that kept in music and just went on.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Okay, when did you start writing music?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I really don't write. You know, I've never written a song,
but you you've done so many leads.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Though I know I do a lot of cover tunes,
songs that songs that I like. Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
The songs that we recorded on our first album was
written by a couple of the guys in the band
and actually Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in Philadelphia. They
wrote three or four tunes on our very first album.
And did those records amount to anything?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Did you?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Did you get to maraplay? Well, one was got to
Find My Way Back Home, which was.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
You know, yeah, I think that got to marraorplay.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, maybe just view okay, and it still does, it
still does.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So at what point are right? So tell me your
family situation. You know, they go you like, you know,
you're you're playing in these bands and you're you're this musician.
Are they embracing the fact that you want to do
this as your career.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Well, I'm half Italian and my father was full Italian
and he's one of those guys. Jimmy, you gotta get
a job, I said, Dan, I'm playing six nights a week.
You said, see you play, you don't work. He said,
you say, you play, you gotta get a job, Jimmy.
But after a while he kind of cooled down and Jimmy,
(07:36):
you're still playing. Yeah, you're still playing, right, You better get.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
A job, that's right, You got to get a job.
Oh so, and what was the music scene in Pittsburgh
at that time in the mid sixties, because you know,
by nineteen sixty four, the Beatles have exploited, So now
you're going from the vocal and do op era to
kind of a more of rock and roll scene. So
you did you follow that as well? Well?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
We we, we did follow it. We we loved them.
I love the Beatles. They were fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
We incorporated a lot of their songs in our show
at that time. But still keep in that R and
B flavor, Uh if you will. You know, you know
the Beatles had pretty good harmonies. Oh yeah, absolutely absolutely,
and their songs were great.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah. And so what kind of music were you drawn to?
Like if somebody writes a song, were you interpreting those
songs your own way? Or tell me how about that?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
We had it, We had our certain sounds. We had
definitely had a different sound than all the other bands
that were, you know, working in Pittsburgh area.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Who were your contemporaries at that time?
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Do you remember, uh didn't have any You still don't,
still don't, No, No, you mean the like the Temptations
and people like that.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
No, I meant within Pittsburgh with its.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Burgh, we're Beaver County or wherever.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I'll tell you the truth. We were working so much
and on the road so much. I didn't know any
of the bands that were playing in Pittsburgh at that time.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
You don't get to hear anybody.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
No, no, you don't go out and hear anybody.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So where did you travel to at that time? And
you're in your early twenties now.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, we were in la We did the Tri state
area a lot, played in Florida a few times, and Detroit.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
We were up in Detroit. But we were always working
like six seven days a week. And who are you
working with? Were some of the because a lot of times,
you know, they would have six or seven people on
a bill, and you were amongst those who were some
of your contemporaries. The Supremes were on a show with us,
who are they?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And the Beach Boys were on a show with us.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Again, I don't know who they were.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Let's see, Uh, just so many bj Thomas he was
on the show with us.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So all right, see I'm a huge Beach Boy fan. Yeah,
that was was Brian with them at that time? Yeah?
Oh yeah yeah. And that was.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That was at the stadium. That was a
big show, big show at the Milwaukee Stadium. And how
close to the recording were their performances?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Pretty close, pretty close. Talk about harmony, A harmony was fantastic. Yeah,
it was great. And that was that was like nineteen
seventy too, you know, so they were well established. Oh absolutely, yea.
And okay, when you're opening up for the Beach Boys,
what band is that? Is that? The Jaggers? That was
Jack Jaggers. All right, let's talk to Jaggers. So prior
(10:51):
to forming the Jaggers, who were you with? What what
band were you?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, like I said, I was with the Sonny and
the Victors first and then the Bell Boys and the
Jaggers just formed and one of the guys had to
go to the Navy.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I believe.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So they were looking for another voice and they popped
in on one of my little weddings that I was
doing pretty good voice and I got a call the
next day to come an audition. And they were working
six nights a week at a place called the Club
Natural in Beaver Falls, PA. And So I went down
(11:33):
there in an audition. I think I sang Johnny Be
Good or something like that, and I got a call
in a couple of days saying I got the job.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
So I did you work straight away?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, right away.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Well, well, it took a couple of weeks to learn
all the songs that they were doing, like probably three
one hour sets at that time, that's what they used
to do. That's what a lot of bands used to do,
three sets, four sets, and those songs were like two minutes,
two and a half.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
A lot of songs. That's a lot of songs, and
you have to do that. Yeah, wow, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So I learned those tunes and I started working with
them in two weeks. We worked six nights a week
and at the club, and on Sunday we would go
to a college. So seven days a week we were working.
You know, telling my dad, Dad, I'm working seven days
a week.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
You got a job. Still got to get a job. Well,
what kind of music did you listen to as a family,
What kind of music did your father listen to?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
He listened to country. He loved country music, and there
was always a country station on at the house.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
He loved that. Being Italian. That was kind of weird.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
You know, you'd think you'd listen to Italian music, but no,
he loved country and I got into some country two
years ago, but that's what he liked.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And Italian from al Equippa. Yeah, there's a few of it.
All right. So now you're with the the Jaggers. You're
working well the Ringo Star eight days a week basic
and and had they been signed yet not yet?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
No, No, we were just working our tails off and
then we Joe Rock was a was a manager in Pittsburgh.
He managed the Skyliners Jimmy Boumont and the Skyliners years
ago and he came to see us at a club
that we were playing and we hooked up with Joe. Uh,
(13:38):
he was going to be our manager, and he got
the contract for Gamble and Huff in Philadelphia. So that's
when we went to record in Philly and we did
our first album there and from that album, a song
called Baby I Love You was our very first single.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Then gotta Find My Way Back Home was the second
single from that album. That's the very first that was
That was the very first company.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
That we were with all right, before we get to
the success of the initial success of the Jaggers. Tell
us tell me a little bit about what it was
like you you did a few recordings here in Pittsburgh.
Was a little different going to Philadelphia. Was that there
was a little Was there a little more pressure on
you or the band? You know, you're you're you're really
(14:31):
trying to take that next step. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I didn't feel any pressure, man, I was It was
just so much fun, so much fun to be there
and uh, to be in the same room as Kenny
Gamble and Leon Huff who wrote and produced all those
hit songs for all the big R and B groups.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
It was it was a thrill. Did they give you
any advice? Did they help you produce any of the music?
They said, Jimmy a job, That's what they said. Uh, no,
they did.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
They just were very helpful on a couple of the
tunes that we needed help help with.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And what did they say? What did they you know? What?
What were what were their vision? What did what did
they ultimately do to change that song? What do you remember?
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Huff was a keyboard player, and when we were doing
Baby I Love You, he sat down at the keyboard
and was reading Billboard magazine and the track was running
and it was recording, and every time a certain part
would come up, he would look down at the keyboards
(15:46):
and play these four notes, and then he would look
back at his Billboard magazine and turn the page and
it was still recording, and we're still recording. It was unbelievable.
I mean, we never saw anybody do that. You know,
he was into it, but he wasn't into it, Let's
put it that way.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Was that good or bad?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
That was good and that was good for us because
it's a signature part in that song that he came
up with. What you're looking at Billboard magazine instead of
getting into the song. You know, you just knew what
to play exactly what time. You're in your early twenties
and you're recording and you're you're playing with you know
(16:28):
your you're recording with legends. You know, you were recording
for Legends, and you didn't feel any pressure at all. No,
I really didn't. It was just fun, man, It was fun.
Just couldn't wait to do something, you know, couldn't wait
to go to Philly.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
What kind of uh with the with your bandmates? Was
it kind of a you know, uh, were you all
for one? Were you all kind of did you singlely
have that vision of we.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Were we never had an argument in you know, the
ten years that the Jaggers were together and we were
we were all for one.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
That's very good. Yeah, that's rare.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, I know because a lot of bands, the egos
just kill them. You know even today that the egos
and bands are just unbelievable and they can't stay together.
And but we we didn't have that. You seem like
a pretty even tempered kind of guy.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, I think I am an Italian from Aliquippa that
does that doesn't seem like it's possible. What are you
gonna do?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I get Itbut it all right.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So you once the record is done, the album is done,
and you're pretty proud of what you were able to create.
Now it has to be sold, right, What was that
process like?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Well, we left it up to the record company, you know, and.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
You said, our works done now we're just going to
go back and doing the clubs and beaver falls. And
until well.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
We were still we were still on the road doing things,
you know, we did. We got out of that club scene,
the six nights a week at the where we started.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
We got out of that.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
So we were doing one night ers here and there,
and uh, just watching, just listening to the radio to
hear Gotta Find My Way Back Home or baby I
Love You?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know. And do you remember where you were when
you heard your first Jagger song on that.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I think I was around the moon Township area and
that's when I first heard Gotta Find my Way back Home.
I couldn't believe it. I thought it was somebody else.
You know, it really sounded good on the radio, and
we just, uh, I'm sure I pulled off to the
side of the road.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
You know, were you with somebody and get like, that's
me I was.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I was with one of the other guy, Bill Maybray,
he was another lead singer, and the Jaggers we had
three lead singers. We had Donnie Iris, myself and Billy Maybray.
So Billy sang baby I Love You, I sang gotta
Find my Way back Home, and Donnie sang.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
The rapper And so you hear your song on the radio, yeah,
and you go, okay, well now now what what now?
What happens after that?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
We just kept working. Man, We do big concerts at
this time, you know, the bigger shows we got out
of the club scene, and we started doing the bigger
shows at the College's one thousand, two thousand kids. Yeah,
we were all kids at that time.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Your contemporaries here in Pittsburgh, what were their reaction of
your success?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
You know, when you're in the same band in the
same time, You know, everybody was happy for us, and
we got a a lot of new friends that way.
With the bands, you know, they would all congratulate us,
and anytime we would see them somewhere, you know that
they would always mention the songs and how much they
(20:12):
liked them and everything. So we had a lot of
good friends.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
So now you get a little bit of success again,
some airplay, and what happens with the band? What is
going on internally in the band? You said, in ten years,
you've never had a fight. No, never, never, because we
were working too much. You know. We went to Geneva
on the Lake.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
We got that contract and played a place called the
Sunken Bar, which is a brand new.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Bar that just opened up.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
And we got the contract for three and a half
months to play there seven days a week, and we
beat out the Ojys, believe it or not, to get
that job. We went there and they just built the club.
It was a cement floor and the bands were coming
(21:06):
into audition and the OJ's were one of them, and
of course the Jaggers from Pittsburgh, and we got the job.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Man, it was just great.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
So we were there three and a half months the
first year, and the second summer we went back and
played for the guy across the street because he gave
us more money.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You know. So how did your life change a guy
from Aliquippa. Now you're out on tour and playing, you know,
clubs like you did in Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
So that was the best times first times out there.
You know, how did your life change? Well, you could
buy a big car, you know what I mean? With
our first with our first royalty check, we bought seven
lincoln Mark threes in nineteen seventy, brand new.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
All of us.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Sure of that sound?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, there is.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I have a picture that we bought one for our
manager and mine was purple, believe it or not, with
a white top and white interior. It was beautiful, man.
But we bought we bought seven of them. Wow, that's
a hell of a wed.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
So we were we were changing all over the place,
you know, And so how did your life were girls?
Attracted to the band.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Well at that time, I got married in sixty eight. Okay,
got I was married in sixty eight. I had a
little daughter, and we won't talk about that. Okay, you
know what that's Donnie said the same thing.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So what is your relationship with Donnie? Now?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Oh, we do a show, maybe a show or two
a year, and we were so close back then.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
We're still You're brothers in arms and you'll always be brothers. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
What a talent he is though, I mean, geez, you
know all the all the songs that he's come up
with on these these albums that he's had out, and
he's he's just a friend and was with me and
with the band. Uh, the probably the best ten years
of my life.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
You know. It was just great, even though he doesn't
want to talk about the good stuff. That is so funny. Yeah,
almost always the exactly is that right? He used a
little a little more color a little more colorful language,
but the same thing. Yeah, yeah, Because you know, I
was like, oh, we got to push him, but I can't.
(23:44):
I can't. I have respect for you, guys, I got it.
I got it, all right. So now you're you're once
you reach success, you have to redo it and you
have to continue. But that ultimately it's tough to do. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Well, after the first album, we changed record companies and
we went to Kamasutra Buddha in New York and we did.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
An album there.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And Donnie wrote about three or four songs that were
on that album, and that's the album that had the
Rapper on it. So The Rapper went to number two
on Billboard and number one on Record World. All right,
let me ask you a little bit about recording that song.
Did you have any idea that was going to be
your No Go off that?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I don't think we did. No.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
No, we put that song together and we had an
office in New Brighton.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Because the song is obviously a classic, but it's not
exactly what the Jaggers were doing on the first.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Right, right, it wasn't no, it wasn't R and B
or it wasn't it wasn't anything like what we did
on the first album, No Offense, but it was almost novelty. Yeah, yeah,
that song hit. It was the right song at the
right time. The rapping thing that Donnie came up with
(25:16):
it was fantastic, I mean, because that's that's what we
saw in the clubs when we played, the guys were
rapping on the girls, you know, and he came up
with that song. We put it together in New Brighton
and went to New York and that was one of
the songs on the second album.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
So being that that's kind of an outlier of what
the Jaggers originally sounded like. Did you were you surprised
of the success or you just knew that that song
was going to cut through.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Certainly, I didn't know that that song was going to
be as big as it was, but we watched it
go up the charts and it was unbelievable, unbelievable, you know.
It just people love that song.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
What's that experience? To ride that that that song moving
up the charts? It was?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
It was just great, great, And naturally the money went up.
You know, got new tires for the link, did you Yeah,
And we got to do a lot of things, uh
you know, we went to uh California and did the
American Bands then with Dick Clark, which was you know,
that was you know, I watched Dick Clark when I
(26:25):
was in high school, you know, and to be there
on that show was great. We started doing a lot
of television back then, Hold on you drop Dick Clark.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I want to know what that experience is like, because
that at that time, you know, this is prior to MTV.
Your experience is American bandstands. It's what we watched. That's
where we were exposed to new music. You know, not
every city had a Porky Chedwick that would play a
lot of those records. So you found new music on
(26:55):
television through Dick Clark. And so now you're you get
that call and what is what is your response? Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
That was great going on there, you know, to first
of all to meet him and then to be on
a show like that.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
You're kidding me. I mean that was the show to
be on. And he was very fundamental in the success
of a lot of bands in the Ross Belt, in
in Pittsburgh and in Youngstown and Cleveland. There was he
had I think he had family in the area, so
he came and listened to a lot of radio in
(27:28):
this area. So when you were performing, did you perform
live or was it to to a track? No, it
was to a track. It was to a track.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, did you just lip sync or did you also
sing and just the track was.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah? Any any problems doing that, you know, you're okay
with that.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And that was kind of weird because that's the first
time we did that, you know, because it was on television.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Uh, shock that you had to do that or did
you know already? No, No, we kind of knew that
we were going to do it. You know. It was
fun though, you know, it was all fun. Man, Is
it still fun? Oh?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
It's still fun. Yeah, still fun. You're still living a life,
are you.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah? Yeah. We do about twenty two twenty three shows
a year, and.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Which is a lot. But I look forward to the
next one, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
All right, so we have some success, We've rappers, a
top ten record. You're on television. Now you're thinking, all right,
this is going to last forever? Or did you already
know that? Hey, you know, you gotta temper some of
the expectations.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Uh. At that time, you're you're you're so high on
what's happening, you don't even you don't even think about
the future. I didn't anyway, you know, we just were
having fun. We were having a good time and started
playing smaller clubs, smaller places because that was our second album,
(29:06):
and then we had the chance to go to California
and do a third album with a different company. And
we went out there and did some originals and we
just kept kept up honing our thing, you know, six
seven days a week, still playing six seven days a
week all those years. So you had a different record
(29:27):
company with the first three records. Yeah, was that a
good idea in retrospect? It's only a good idea if
your company that you're with they're not doing anything for you.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
And so what is that? What is that? Like?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Well, that's all promotion, man. You know, you could have
the best record in the world sitting on your desk
and if nobody hears it, I mean, what good is it?
You know, it's up to the people who were that's
their job to get that record played.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
So what is it? What is the secret sauce to
get your song played? How? How does promotion really ultimately
get a song to be played on the radio?
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Well, at that time, I don't think our manager at
that time was really.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
In tune to the record company.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
And there's some things I can't say, you know, but uh,
I think if if we would have been more in
tune with the record company and knowing what was going
on in New York, and not back here in Pittsburgh
things things would have been different.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
It really is remarkable that the song actually becomes a hit,
because it's it's You're more likely to hit the the
lotto or the Mega millions than to have a hit record.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, right right, I know, I can't believe it. Sometimes
I look at that gold record on the wall and
I can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I mean, how many how many people in the United
States have a gold record on it? I have one,
but I just used a little Okay, So, so things
are starting to kind of unwind. So you were this
(31:17):
band of brothers, right, It didn't really start to fray
as far as members are concerned. What's going on?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, a couple of the guys decided to leave UH
to get in with another band, and Joe Rock at
that time, like I said, he was manager of Jimmy
Beaumont and the Skyliners, and two of the guys from
the Skyliners left original guys, and Joe called me on
(31:47):
the phone and said, hey, I know this is the
kind of show business you like. You like would you audition?
And I said absolutely. I don't even know why I
said that, And I got the job with Beaumont who
was one of the greatest singers of all time as
far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
So when you talk about legendary Pittsburgh groups, Oh yeah,
Jimmy Beaumont, you got the Skyliners and the Jaggers, and
you were in both of them. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, I was very lucky, and so I went with
the Skyliners for six years.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
To Jimmy Beaumont, what was he like?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
He was just I mean, that boy could sing. He
just what a voice he had. You know, you knew
it was him when he opened his mouth. You know,
He's just he was just a great, great guy, very
easy to get along.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
With, you know.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
When I he let me do anything I wanted to do.
And I brought a lot of different kind of songs
into into the Skyliners at that time.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
So he was open. He wasn't closed minded when it came.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Oh no, not at all. No, he was open to everything, man.
And he just he was a good friend, great friend.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Had you known him pretty well prior to joining in
the Skyliners.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Well, I never really had any conversations with him or
anything like that, but everyone obviously knew who he was. Oh, absolutely,
everybody in town and out of town. Jimmy, Yeah, from
the Skyliners. You know, since I don't have you one
of the biggest songs of all time?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
What is that song? Yeah? Yeah, So you're talking when
it comes to Pittsburgh, when it comes to like true
Pittsburgh groups, you're you've been in both of them. Is
that does that reality sit in sit in with you?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I was really lucky, man, I got I have a
practice room at my home for the band, you know,
when we get together, and all the just covered with
things from the Skyliners, from newspapers, from records, Jagger stuff, memorabilia.
(34:08):
You know. It's just when I look around and see
what is on those walls, I can't believe.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
What's Jimmy's secret sauce? What do you bring? What do
I want? What do you bring? What do you bring
to the table? Oh gee, I don't know. You have
to ask somebody else.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
You are the most reluctant legend I've ever talked to.
Well you know, uh, Jimmy, Well you realize you were
in the Skyliners.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
And the Jagger I know, I know. I just can't
believe it. I can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And it was they don't just bring in a Joe
bagg of You've got to bring something to the table.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
What is it about you, Jimmy, Maybe it's my voice.
You know, I don't want to you know, I'm not that.
I don't know. What can I say? That's what I did,
That's what I do.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
You need to get a job.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, you were so modest. Have you always been this way?
I think so? Yeah? Well, you know what to really
to get along in a in a group situation, you know,
you have to have, you know, certain temperament to get
through because you're dealing with certain personalities. Oh, every person
has a different vision.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Of different egos and stuff. The egos will kill you. You know,
you don't seem to have one. No, No, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
I don't know. I go along with whatever's going on. Okay,
I got a question for your father. Tell me about
your father. What's his name, Carmen? Carmen And what did
he do?
Speaker 1 (35:51):
He worked at jn L still in the El Equippa
And what kind of guy was he?
Speaker 2 (35:56):
What kind of guy?
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah, he was the greatest guy I ever met, I
ever met. He was honest. Uh, he loved his family.
I can't say enough about him, any any any word
that you can think of.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
That's a good word. That was my dad. That was
my dad. And he was behind me except when he
said get a job, well only because he was looking
out to be you know, for the for a first side.
So have you emulated Carmen? I mean you you I
think so? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
He was a humble guy. You know, he wasn't out
there and he just loved his family. He would do
anything for me or anybody you know, just uh, and
he did. He did, matter of fact, this is this
is crazy. He made and he was real handy. He
(36:51):
could make anything. He could fix anything. He made our
first lights for stage out of flood lights and he
put them. We had him in a box, a big box.
I had to carry this box around in my car
to these certain shows. And he had a foot switch
(37:11):
and everything, and it was up to me to you
know what I mean, to hit the foot switch for
these dumb lights to come on and floot us up,
you know. But uh, he made one of the He
did things like that, you know.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
All right, So are there any stories that you would
that you can share that during the success of let's
say The Jaggers, so that you like, this is a
precious memory this is a story that people ought to know, Like,
was there a certain point that I don't know. I'll
just leave it open to you. Is there any particular
stories that you you share often when it comes to
(37:49):
that era where you know you're you're you're getting some
radio success, you're obviously getting some financial financial success. Do
you have any like really crazy stories that you've shared.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Most of them I can't say. I can't. I can't
bring these things up, not on the ear. Maybe after
we're done, I'll tell.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
You, all right, hold on, we're going to turn the
mics off. Okay, Okay, Jimmy, the mics are off. No, yeah, right,
and there goes there goes my career. Well, that's super
to hold on. Let me rephrase this question. Do you
(38:37):
have any stories that are pg that you could share
that you know that that kind of uh relates to,
you know, the fun time of being together?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
And well, I can tell you this one thing. It's
just it's just a short little thing. The record company
threw a party in New York and we were there
at the time. We just happened to be in New
York for something. And do you remember a girl by
the name of Melanie, Yeah, they who did roller skates.
(39:17):
That was okay. Well she we were walking down Broadway
and we went up to on top of this building.
There were trees up there and everything. It was like
the fiftieth floor or something like that, you know, trees
and everything, and there was a piano up there and
(39:37):
some seats and there were probably about one hundred people
there from the record company and there was no place
for me to sit except on the piano bench. So
I sat down on the on the bench and a
guy comes over to me and he said, uh, hey, kid,
(40:01):
is there a room for me on that bench? And
I turned around and it's Tony Bennett. Oh, I went,
what so? I mean, that's the kind of things that
you know, that's just a little thing, but it happened
to me.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
You know. Yeah, Tony Bennett never sat on my piano batch. Yeah,
I mean that was just just to see him there.
It was great. So now things are unwinding with the
with the Jaggers. You've joined with Jimmy Bowmont and the Skyliners,
and but at what point did you get the itch
(40:39):
to how did the Jaggers reform.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
After the Skyliners. I was there for six years, I believe,
went to California and uh recorded out there with Teddy Randazzo.
And when I came back, I wanted to put the
Jaggers together, So I called what what.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
What prompted you? You just thought it was it was
time to pre I.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Just thought it was time, you know, because I missed him.
I missed I missed that kind of thing and the
music and everything, and and I knew the couple of
guys were still around the area. So I called Bennifaiela. Uh,
who was the guy who really started the Jaggers, Donnie
and Benny together they formed the Jaggers in sixty five.
(41:29):
But I put that band back together and we recorded
a CD. And so what was there? What was Benny's response?
Obviously this is so he was, you know, he wanted
to do it. Yeah, and we called Billy and Uh.
The drummer was Jimmy Pogliano from Ambridge. Uh, we called
him and uh we got back together and put it together,
(41:52):
and man, it's just h one thing after another. We'd
started doing some big shows, and the Jaggers are back
and you know, still doing the rapper.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
I know, and and and when you when you came back,
what was well, first of all. What was Pittsburgh's response.
We still got the crowds.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I mean, people still wanted to hear the you know,
hear us, and and what we did were the crowds
as big or bigger. They started to get bigger again.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Again.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
This was in what the like the late eighties.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, did that surprise you? I obviously it
was a pleasant surprise, But did you think it would
it would the resurgence, the people would accept the Jaggers
back and and actually being bigger than it was back
in the in the mid seventies.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Well, we had a lot of success years ago, a
lot of success, and uh, people were still around. People
wanted to hear that kind of music. So that's that's
what we gave them, you know, and we're still doing
that kind of music.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Do you have a new audience, a younger audience, do
you think?
Speaker 2 (43:04):
No? I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
We have the old standbys that are still there still
want to hear that type of music, and as long
as we can do it, we're going.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
To give it to them. Now. You also dabbled with
a solo career and different things like that. What happened
with those?
Speaker 1 (43:27):
I'm still doing that as a matter of fact, I'm
doing the show with Chris Ruggerio and The Letterman September
seventh in Greensburg at the Palace, and I'm gonna go
out and do about five or six songs, and I'll
probably do a couple songs with Chris. So I'm just
(43:50):
dabbling in something like that, you know. But the Jaggers
are still my baby.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
You've dabbled a long time. Oh man, I'm still dabbling.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Yeah, you will never get that out of your system.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
I don't think so. You know, I think about retiring.
You know, I'm going to be seventy nine and you
look great.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Thanks, I'm thinking about retiring. But I'm thinking, geez am,
I gonna miss this.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
You know, Mick Jagger's eighty three. He's still doing it.
I know, I know. He gives me hope. Why why
retire if people are coming out to see you? Yeah? Why?
Speaker 1 (44:30):
I don't know, just something to do.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Does Donny occasionally plays with you? Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
We did a show at Jurgles one time for the
when we won Pittsburgh Legends Award. We won that, and
so he came up and did Gonna Find My Way
back Home?
Speaker 2 (44:53):
And you know, that. That's funny because now that after
it kind of led up to COVID and they kind
of stopped, and I really wish they would bring that back. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, I'm surprised that they stopped on So we were
lucky to be on the the Caboose of Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
You know, was that the same year as Chuck Brinkman,
I think, uh yeah, I think it was. He was
the he was my first program director. Yeah, so you
know he really helped us out on KQV really. Oh yeah, yeah,
when when the Gotta Find Way Back Home? Okay, talk
about you know what were what were some of those
disc jockeys that helped you, you know, establish yourself in.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Well, other other than Porky Plane, you know, baby, I
Love you Gotta Find Way Back Home? Brickman really did us. Uh,
he did good. He was on KQV and on their charts.
I remember the Gotta Find Way Back Home going up
the chart.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Oh something I forgot that. It just it just occurred
to me early in my career my first radio jobs.
I'm a Pittsburgh guy, but my first opportunity in radio
was in South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and I
got I was working at a radio station. I wasn't
(46:14):
getting paid like two hundred dollars a week, yeah, very
you know, I was starving, So I had to work
at a club. It was called Studebakers, and it was
it played a lot of shag music. And what surprised
me is the Jaggers were absolutely huge in that scene.
Were you ever aware of that? No, I didn't know that.
(46:35):
I remember Studebakers, but a lot of shag music, yeah,
because they were, you know, with a lot of vocal
a lot of like you know, doop, but almost with
a modern field, which was perfect for the shag music
scene because they wanted to dance. They wanted a lot
of harmony, a lot of vocals but with a little beat.
And the Jaggers were absolutely huge. I used to play them,
(46:58):
play you guys two or three times a night. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Some of the tunes that we put on the album,
and matter of fact, some of the tunes that we
still do in the show are shag type dance songs.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
You know what I mean? Yeah, I forgot about that.
That's that's just that that memory just shot shot in
my head. I totally forgot them. Yeah, I like that
shag that was pretty cool. Yeah, it was. It was odd.
Do you know what shag music is?
Speaker 3 (47:22):
I think you told me, but you know what tell
me again.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
It's it's it's it's it's beach music. But it's not
beach boys music. It's not you know, adventures, it's it's
just it's music for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It's called
it is it is, And they do a certain dance
to it, and it's and it's old.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
There's a move.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah. I couldn't do it very much. Yeah. I just
played the records and if they danced straight, I'm doing
my job, all right. So now you're back together, You've
done some solo stuff. What are you currently working on?
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Well, that's uh, I'm still doing some solo stuff. And
are you still recording? Yeah, still recording. I just did
a song that that's on my last CD that was
done by David ruffin years and years ago, and I've
always wanted to record that song. So it's getting a
(48:20):
lot of a lot of play on the internet that
and uh, yeah, I'm still doing some things.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
So you still like that those techs? Oh yeah, yeah,
things like that. And is there something that you would
want to do? What's what's what's your dream? What is
there something else that is there something that you haven't
been able to do, or something that you want to
do that you want to accomplish. No, you are the
(48:50):
most modern person.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
Well I remember I told you that Jimmy's a great
photographer as well.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I forgot about that. I
did that. I did that for Ooh. I did that
for twenty five years.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Because she did those publicity pictures I.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Did, Sonny, do you still do No? No, No, very good
photography other than music. Do you have another artistic endeavor?
Do you do you paint or do it?
Speaker 1 (49:17):
Really?
Speaker 2 (49:18):
No?
Speaker 1 (49:18):
But the photography thing was took up a lot of
time for me. You know, I really I love doing that.
I've done, believe it or not, over one thousand weddings,
photographs photographed, one thousand weddings.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
I can't believe I did that.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
But I would do that, and then the band would
be playing on a weekend and I'd go to the band.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
You know, you're a blue collar kind of guy.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Hey, there's another thing I wanted to tell you and
I completely forgot because I'm going to see them this Saturday,
the band Pure Gold. I also was with Pure Gold
for about five years. Okay, so that's when I was
doing the photography thing and Pure Gold and it got
to be crazy, you know.
Speaker 2 (50:06):
But that was to see that Pure Gold like almost
every weekend when I lived in Greensburg. Oh yeah, yeah,
great group, great people.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
I love those guys, I still do, you know, But
that was a lot of fun with them too.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
All right. We always kind of end with this question.
And I know you're modest, but I want you to
put your modesty aside for just a second. You have
a wonderful legacy in my heart and in Pittsburgh's heart.
What is your legacy or what would you like your
legacy to be?
Speaker 1 (50:43):
That he was a nice guy and he loved music,
and he happened to be with the three biggest bands
in Pittsburgh at the time of his life. And the
people have been fantastic to me all these years, and
(51:04):
I hope I've given them something back.
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