Donnie Iris (born Dominic Ierace, February 28, 1943)[1][2][3] is an American rock musician known for his work with the Jaggerz and Wild Cherry during the 1970s, and for his solo career beginning in the 1980s with his band, the Cruisers.

He formed a vocal doo-wop group called the Fabutons with Johnny Roth, Anthony Matteo, Lou Delessandro, and Chuckie Hasson and performed gigs in Beaver and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania.

Around 1964, Ierace left Donnie and the Donnells to form the Jaggerz (originally the "Jaggers") with Benny Faiella of Gary and the Jewel Tones.

[6] After a few changes in the line-up early on (including acquiring Jimmie Ross and Jim Pugliano from the Bell Boys[7]), the group became popular playing R&B covers throughout western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio.

The album was only a minor success, mainly receiving airplay in Iris' native Beaver County and the rest of the greater Pittsburgh area.

After his departure from the Jaggerz, Ierace began to learn engineering at Jeree Recording in New Brighton, Pennsylvania to the northwest of Pittsburgh.

Becoming good friends, Iris and Avsec decided to form a project together after Wild Cherry's breakup and the two began writing songs.

They decided to go in a harder direction with their next release returning to the studio with guitarist Marty Lee Hoenes, bassist Albritton McClain, and drummer Kevin Valentine who at the time was in the band Breathless with Avsec, to record his first full-length album.

receiving airplay in Boston, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, MCA Records took notice and quickly signed Iris to a five-album deal and re-released the album nationally in October.

[10] The follow-up album, King Cool, credited to Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, was released in August 1981 and garnered the band more success, with "Love Is Like a Rock" reaching #37 on the Hot 100 and #9 on Billboard's Top Tracks chart.

After the long tour promoting their two previous albums, the band continued songwriting and in the fall of 1982 released The High and the Mighty.

The album contained the single "Tough World," but only charted at #180, marking a decline in his success, but the band still was determined to release new material.

Their next album, No Muss...No Fuss, released in 1985, continued the trend set by Fortune 410 by charting at #91 with the single "Injured in the Game of Love".

Valentine, the drummer and bassist McClain left to join a new group, the Innocent whose members included future Nine Inch Nails main man Trent Reznor.

[14] Also around this time, the HME label that the band had signed with to record No Muss... No Fuss went out of business, leaving Donnie Iris and the Cruisers as an unsigned act.

Since the band seemed to have hit a road block, Iris partnered with Avsec on the second Cellarful of Noise album, Magnificent Obsession, which was released in 1988.

In the early 1990s Iris set up a mortgage company, SIMCorp, with partners Lynn Shelley and Priscilla Micinko, as a side business from the band.

At Nick's Fat City was the first release to feature bass guitarist Paul Goll, who had been touring with the band since 1993, along with drummer Tommy Rich.

1999 saw the release of an Iris collaborative project entitled Together Alone, featuring contributions from other regionally popular artists like Michael Stanley, Scott Blasey, B. E. Taylor, and Joe Grushecky.

After Alone, which featured a softer side of Iris's vocals, the band took a break from releasing new material but continued to perform regularly through the decade.

In 2004, the band celebrated its 25th anniversary with a new compilation album featuring their rarer material, 25 Years, and performed live at the Chevrolet Amphitheatre in Pittsburgh for 4,000 people.

[18] June 17, 2006 was recognized throughout Lawrence County, Pennsylvania as Donnie Iris Day by Ellwood City Executive Council President Glenn Jones and Mayor Roy P. Meehan.

He later approached Iris and Marty Lee Hoenes who both immediately liked the idea, giving birth to King Cool Limited.

In an interview with Cleveland Scene published on February 3, 2010, Mark Avsec announced that the band's next project would be a Christmas album.

[24] Avsec announced in a March 2012 interview that the band had begun working on their twelfth studio album, due out in 2013 to commemorate Iris' seventieth birthday.

[28] On the April 2, 2015 episode of Jim Krenn's No Restrictions podcast, Iris mentioned that he and the band hoped to have the often-delayed album out by the end of 2015.

In February 2015, Iris was nominated for a Pittsburgh Rock 'N Roll Legends Award in the modern era category (artists with 20-plus years in the music industry).