Pittsburgh Music Hall of Fame

Pgh Music Hall of Fame TV

Pittsburgh 250 History Channel

Pittsburgh Music Hall of Fame

Honoring Pittsburgh Tri-State Area Musicians

Who Earned National and International Recognition

Celebrating 250 Years of Pittsburgh History

From -Oh Susanna, Camptown Racers, Take The A Train, Blue Moon, Moon River, Peter Gunn, The Pink Panther, Salt Peanuts, Five O'Clock World, Since I Don't Have You, Hanky Panky, The Rapper, Could It Be I'm Falling In Love, Cradle of Love, Genie In A Bottle, to Send Me On My Way - Pittsburgh artists have created American music classics

Western Pennsylvania is well known as the cradle of great NFL quarterbacks like Unitas, Blanda, Namath, Kelly, Montana, Marino, Hosterler, Bulger, Batch, and more. Overlooked is the fact that Pittsburgh has produced and continues to produce more world class musicians than quarterbacks. Pittsburghers have been a major international force in the development popular music, BeBop, Hard Bop, Doo-Wop, and music for the movies and television. The Pittsburgh Music Hall of Fame honors the talented artists who came from the Pittsburgh Tri-State area.

Ahmad Jamal on Pittsburgh Music - All About Jazz January, 2002

"Pittsburgh is one of the most important cities in the world for music and musicians. There are very few cities that have produced music like Pittsburgh. Very few. Billy Strayhorn is from Pittsburgh. He wrote "Lush Life" when he was 16 years old, that is the kind of talent we had coming out of Pittsburgh. Everyone from Pittsburgh has been influential to the music world. From Art Blakey to Kenny Clarke to Roy Eldridge, to Mary Lou Williams, myself, Errol Garner, he also started playing at 3. Dodo Mamarosa, whom the world has forgotten. George Benson, Stanley Turrentine. All of those are from Pittsburgh. On the other end of the spectrum you have Oscar Levant, Earl Wild. When Andre Previn had the choice to conduct the London or the Pittsburgh symphony, he chose Pittsburgh. We have a very powerful statement musically from that town. Very powerful. It still remains so."

It began with America's first Pop Sensation Stephen Foster. Born in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, Foster is the "father of American music," and the pre-eminent American songwriter of the 19th century. His songs, "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Beautiful Dreamer" and "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River") remain popular today and won a Grammy in 2005.

Pittsburghers have won 46 Grammy Awards, 4 Oscars and 10 Emmys, and over 150 gold and platinum records.

Three Pittsburgh musicians were honored with U.S. Stamps: Stephen Foster, Ethelbert Nevin, Victor Herbert, and Erroll Garner
The Big Band Hall of Fame inducted 11 Pittsburghers: including Billy Strayhorn, Earl Hines, Billy Eckstein, Sammy Nestico, Maxine Sullivan, Joe Pass, Erroll Garner, Roy Eldridge, Kenny Clarke, Mary Lou Williams, and Perry Como

The Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame inducted 8 Pittsburghers including Billy Strayhorn, Ray Brown, Roy Eldridge, Kenny Clarke, J.J. Johnson, Earl Hines, Art Blakey, and Mary Lou Williams

Pittsburgh Jazz Musicians were founders of the BeBop Hard Bob, and Vocalese Movements

Between 1943 and 1974, Perry Como had almost 150 hits and won five Emmy awards. Over a 50-year career, Perry’s total record sales topped 100 million.

The Vocal Group Hall of Fame inducted 5 Pittsburgh area Groups including the Lettermen, Vogues, the Del Vikings, the Macrels, and the Skyliners

Four Pittsburgh composer/arrangers dominated the movie and television industry. Henry Mancini, Sammy Nestico, James Fielding, and Billy May scored award winning music for hundreds of movies and television shows. The themes songs of Pink Panther, Peter Gunn, Hogans Heroes, Naked City,McHales Navy, Emergency, Bat Man and more were written by these Pittsburghers. These four musical masters also were arrangers and composers for the big bands and for stars such as Sinatra and Nat King Cole. Mancini and Fielding got their start playing together in the house pit band at the Stanley Theater under Max Atkins.

In 1916 Dr Frank Conrad of Westinghouse Electric began broadcasting the 75 watt station 8XK from his garage on Penn Avenue in Wilkinsburg. Amateur ham radio operators tuned into hear his broadcasts of music recordings and talk. Concrd’s listeners wrote asking for more music broadcasts. Frank aired records for two hours a day on Wednesday and Saturday evenings for several years. Frank’s boss, Westinghouse Vice President H.P. Davis, saw the potential of radio as an entertainment and news medium. Westinghouse Electric licensed KDKA as the first commercial radio station in the U.S and began broadcasting on November 2, 1920. KDKA was the first station to broadcast live band concerts, professional sporting events, and election results. During the 1920’s through the 1940’s KDKA broadcast live performances the KDKA Little Symphony Orchestra and other Pittsburgh area big bands. From 1941 to 1959, KDKA broadcast the Farm Hour featuring the live music Slim Bryant and his Wildcats.

In the summuer of 1948, Porky Chedwick began playing "race records" on Homestead's WHOD AM 860 and become one the first DJ's to present racially diverse music in a major American city. Playing old R&B and gospel records that he had collected, he blazed the trail 4 years before, Alan Freed, coined the term rock and roll". In the early 1950s, black music record labels heard about Chedwick's R&B playlist and sent him recordings from their new artists. He introduced these new artists as his "movers and grovers". Chedwick is given credit by numerous R&B/rock and roll legends, including Bo Diddley, Smokey Robinson, Little Anthony and many others, for giving them their first airplay. He also introduced the music of Pittburgh artists the Marcels, the Skyliners, the Del-Vikings, and the Smoothtones. Porky’s format of playing old records was copied by disc jockeys across the country. Porky is also recognized as a founder of the "Oldies but goodies" radio format and has been honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“Any entertainer of my era who say they don’t know who Porky Chedwick is— they’re damn lyin’! That’s the cat that played the records. I know.” -- Bo Diddley

A Pittsburgh radio DJ "Mad Mike" Metro broke the song Hanky Panky two years after its release. Having sold 80,000 copies in Pittsburgh Tommy moved to the burgh and hired a band of Pittsburghers including bassist Mike Vale and keyboardist Ronnie Rosman. Since then Tommy James and the Shondells have earned 23 gold singles, 9 gold and platinum albums, and sold over 100 million records worldwide. During 1968-69 Tommy James and The Shondells sold more singles than any other artist in the world, including The Beatles. Mike Vale co-wrote the rock classic Crystal Blue Persuasion

In the 1960’s KDKA disc jockey Clark Race, who also hosted "Dance Party" on KDKA-TV, played the music of Pittsburgh’s Lou Christie, The Vogues, Tommy James and the Shandells, the Letterman and Bobby Vinton. At its peak, Mr. Race's show captured more than 50 percent of the audience. He played what he thought the audience liked rather than the Top 40. He's credited with breaking Lou Christie's hit "Lightning Strikes and Bobby Vinton’s first hit, "Roses Are Red."

Many Pittsburgh area musicians are or have been members of well known groups including Chriz Frantz of the Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club, Paul Douchette of Matchbox20, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Papa John Creach of the Jefferson Airplace and Hot Tuna, Brian Young of the Fountains of Wayne, Chris Kirkpatrick of N'Sync, Danny (Stag) Steigerwald of Kingdom Come, Art Tripp of the Mothers of Invention and Captain Beefheart, Vinnie Colaiuta who played with Zappa and Joni Mitchell, singer Pete Hewlett who toured with Billy Joel, Carly Simon, and Joe Jackson. Steve Dudas of Ringo Starr's Band, Bernie Dressel of the Brian Setzer Orchestra and David Bryne, Reb Beach of Winger, Whitesnake, Alice Cooper, and Dokken, Bret Michaels of Poison, Bryan Basset of Foghat, Wild Cherry, and Molly Hatchet, Eric Leeds of Prince's Band, Billy Price who was the lead singer for Roy Buchanon, Bassist Skinny Bishop who toured with Bobby Vinton and Gino Vinelli, Bob Babbit one the world's premiere R&B bassists who recorded on hundreds of Motown hits, George Suranovich drummer for Love, Eric Burden, and Jimmy Witherspoon, Hank Van Sickle bassist for John Mayhall, guitarist Paul Gilbert of Mr. Big and Racer X, and guitarist Keith Nelson of Buck Cherry

In the Jazz world, Butler's Jim Pugh has recorded and toured with Chick Corea's Return to Forever, Woody Herman, Steely Dan, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, and more. Jim Pugh is the only recipient of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Science's Virtuoso Award for Tenor trombone. Drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts has performed and recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Betty Carter, Michael Brecker, and many others. Dummer Roger Humphries has worked with Horace Silver, Ray Charles, Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott, and many others.

Stanley "Chance" Howard of East Liberty was the keyboard player for Prince, and The Time. Allen "Grip" Smith of Aliquippa has been the musical director and keyboard player for: Keith Sweat, LSGg, TLC, Silk, The SOS Band, Xcape, The Brothers Johnson, Kut Klose, and others. Percy Smith of Aliquippa has been a Keyboard player for Keith Sweat, Excape, LSG, Kutt Klose, Silk, and others. Reginald "Wiz" Jones of Aliquippa has been the musical rirector And keyboard player For: TLC, Toni Braxton, Silk, The SOS Band, New Edition, Johnny Gill, Con Funk Shun, The Bar Kays, and more.

Promoter Rich Engler, who played drums on the Vogue's hit single "Five O'Clock World" partnered with Pat DiCeaser to form DiCeaser-Engler Productions and to take over the Stanley Theater. Presenting great concerts week after week through the 70's and 80's, the Rolling Stone named the Stanley the top Rock and Roll concert hall in the U.S.

A baby boomer generation of rock artists emerged from Pittsburgh during the 1960's through the 1980's. The Jaggerz had a number two hit with the Rapper and Wild Cherry had their smash hit "Play that Funky Music. Diamond Reo, The Granati Brothers, the Iron City Houserockers, the Silencers,B.E. Taylor, Novo Combo with Pete Hewlett, Norman Nardini and the Tigers, and David Warner, Donnie Iris released recordings on the major labels and received airplay across the nation. The Houserockers received critical acclaim in the Rolling Stone and Village Voice. The Granati Brothers opened 78 shows for Van Halen and many other major stars in arenas through the U.S. Donnie Iris had several hit singles and toured with Hall and Oates.
John McGahan, as program director of WDVE, launched the careers of several of the Houserockers,the Granati Brothers, Donnie Iris, B.E. Taylor, Norman Nardini,and others Pittsburgh bands giving them airplay on WDVE and by promoting them within the music industry. John went on to become the founder of the NBC Friday Night Video Show.

Several Pittsburghers achieved success in the world of R&B. Melvin Steals of Aliquippa co-write with his brother Mervin the Spinners classic hit, "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love".The Steal brothers also wrote "Honeybee" for Gloria Gaynor and the song "Love Thang". Chuck Jackson, who became a solo performer after being a member of the Del Vikings, recorded the million-selling hit, "Any Day Now" Syreeta Wright, a Motown singer and songwriter, s Co-wrote "Signed, Sealed Delivered I'm Yours" with Stevie Wonder, her former husband. She also recorded the hit duet "With You I'm Born Again" with Billy Preston

One of the most talented singers born in Pittsburgh was diva Phyllis Hymann. She had several radio hits including "Somewhere In My Lifetime", "You Know How To Love Me", "Can't We Fall In Love Again", "Old Friend", "I Refuse To Be Lonely", and her number one hit "Don't Want to Change the World" Phyllis starred in Broadway hit Sophisticated Ladies for two and a half years earning a Tony nomination. She was also a great jazz singer performing with Stanley Clark and other jazz greats.

In the 1990's Rusted Root emerged with it's smash hit "Send me on my way" and became a concert headlined after opening for the Grateful Dead. The Clarks also landed a major record deal and became headliners with the music being a staple of the Triple A radio format.

In the Country Music world Corbin and Hanner have written several hit songs for Alabama, the Oakridge Boys, Mel Tilis, Kenny Rogers, and more. Dusty Drake co-wrote the 1996 Joe Diffie single "C-O-U-N-T-R-Y," as well as tunes recorded by Mark Chesnutt, Ricochet, Janie Fricke, Oak Ridge Boys and others. Slim Byant recorded and play with Jimmy Rodgers.

The Pittsburgh music tradition continues into the 21st century. Through recordings, the internet, and international concert tours Anti-Flag, Juliana Theory, Punchline, the Cynics, and Girl Talk have gained international followings.