Comments for Iris, Donnie, Out of the Blue

After Donnie''s fourth album with MCA back in 1983, he found himself in the middle of a lengthy lawsuit with someone that worked at the record company which managed to put the brakes on any immediate plans with his band, The Cruisers. He released an album on an independent record label which went belly-up shortly after. Out of the Blue came about when Donnie''s management was being asked for his classic tracks on CD by radio stations who were switching to that format. Management was only able to secure the rights to three of the tracks from his days at MCA, so the CD is missing too many hits to be considered a "Greatest Hits." Donnie is longtime pals with another Southwestern Pennsylvania native, B.E. Taylor, who frequents the studios of "Lightmusic," a Christian music T.V. show. Donnie has appeared with him several times, but his entry into all Christian rock is not true assumption. He still does shows in Youngstown, Erie, Cleveland and of course his native Pittsburgh, performing songs from all his previous albums. At 53, he can still rock with the best of them. He still resides in Beaver Falls, PA. though his management works out of Cleveland.

After 5 albums with MCA, Iris was reported to have enteredthe Christian music industry and moved to Ohio. There may befurther albums in the Christian catalogs, but I`m not awareof any. In 94 I came across a CD of greatest hits, not onMCA, titled "Out of the Blue." This CD had 5 or 6 new trackson it, and some could be taken as spiritual, so the storyof his entry into Christian Rock may be true. The companywhich released this compilation was also from Ohio and (Ibelieve) Donnie mixed some or most of it. It`s really verygood.