Most people with a working knowledge of Pittsburgh music history know the names Lou Christie, the Skyliners, the Del Vikings and the Jaggerz.
But what about the Mon-Vales, The Donnybrooks, The Blenders, The Windsors, The Royaltones and our version of The Four Seasons?
Gone and mostly forgotten, but they were all pieces of a thriving scene in Western Pennsylvania from the ’50s to the ’70s and, they get their due in “Pittsburgh’s Golden Age of Rock ’n’ Roll” (Archer Books), a new pictorial guide from Ed Salamon, author of “Pittsburgh’s Golden Age of Radio.”
It spans from the Del Vikings releasing their first single in 1957 to the late ’70s invasion of the Iron City Houserockers, Donnie Iris and The Silencers.
Mr. Salamon wasn’t around for all of that. He started his career at KDKA radio in 1970 before becoming the program director for WEEP-AM and then moving on to work at New York country station WHN in 1975. With Dick Clark, he formed The United Stations Radio Network in 1981 and became the president of programming for Westwood One in 1993. Today, he is based in Nashville, where he has served as an adjunct professor at Belmont University and Middle Tennessee State.
Like so many Pittsburghers who became part of the rock ’n’ roll fabric here in the ’50s and ’60s, growing up in Brookline, he was turned onto it listening to Porky Chedwick and other adventurous local DJs. He was so immersed in the scene, as a fan, collector, radio man and singer-guitarist for the Headliners, he could rattle off most of the artists in his book off the top of his head.
“I certainly spent my time looking through old Billboards and Cashboxes, but I would say most of the records in the book I own copies of,” he says. “So when I went to check who wrote this or how did this group spell their name — like the Del Vikings, they never spelled their name twice the same way — I have the original label records. In a sense I’ve been writing this book all my life.”
He saw many of the artists playing the record hops and researched the rest by picking the brains of a lot of people thanked in the liner notes.
One of his goals, he says, was to illustrate that “Rock ’n’ roll was not just made by major artists. It was made by the artists that played at the school dances, that played locally in clubs, that had records on the radio stations in Pittsburgh side by side with the Beatles and Elvis. They were just as important to people in Pittsburgh as those artists who made it nationally.”
He uses The Fenways, who had the hit “Walk,” as an example.
“They had a No. 1 record in Pittsburgh. Lots of groups had records that were played on KDKA and KQV. A lot of Pittsburgh artists were on the radio right next to the national acts, and when we were listening to them at the time, growing up, we didn’t differentiate. We didn’t know necessarily which was a local act and which was a national act. They were all just rock ’n’ roll songs to us.”
Pittsburgh doesn’t have a single homegrown artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Mr. Salamon says that looking at the talent the city did produce, “It’s certainly high level production from a city that wasn’t one of the major recording capitols. There was more opportunity for people in LA, New York, Chicago. That said, I think the book is a testament that a lot of people from Pittsburgh made some great rock n’ roll.”
Ed Salamon’s book will be available at the Pittsburgh Rockin Reunion and there will be two free meet-the-author events:
April 22 at 6 p.m.: Barnes and Noble, 800 Settlers Ridge Center Drive. Panel discussion with Jimmie Ross (the Jaggerz) and others followed by a book signing.
April 27 at 7 p.m.: Mt. Lebanon Library, 16 Castle Shannon Blvd. Panel discussion with Johnny Angel and others followed by a book signing.
Scott Mervis: smervis@post-gazette.com; 412-263-2576.
First Published: April 2, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
