Donnie Iris Of The Jaggerz & Wild Cherry Dead At 83

Donnie Iris, the Pittsburgh musician known for his time in the bands the Jaggerz and Wild Cherry, has passed away. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Iris passed away on Monday after battling bladder cancer for years. Iris was 83.Donnie Iris was born Dominic Ierace, and he grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. His mother had been a big-band singer, and he sang at weddings and entered talent contests as a kid. He fell in love with rock 'n' roll, taught himself guitar and drums, and formed a high-school doo-wop group called the Fabutons. He also formed and led a couple of bands while studying at Slippery Rock State College. In the mid-'60s, he formed the Jaggerz, who started off as a regional cover band before starting to write their own songs and releasing the 1969 debut album Introducing The Jaggerz. Their Iris-written song "The Rapper," a kind of bubblegum folk-rock jam that goes way harder than it has to, became a #2 pop hit in 1970.The Jaggerz had a couple of minor hits after "The Rapper," but the band broke up after the commercial failure of their third album, 1975's Come Again. (The Jaggerz later reunited, but without Donnie Iris.) After the Jaggerz broke up, Iris joined...