{"id":315027,"date":"2026-10-27T04:08:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/315027\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T04:08:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:08:23","slug":"friends-musicians-remember-donnie-iris-as-a-pittsburgh-original","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/315027\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends, musicians remember Donnie Iris as a Pittsburgh original"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Felicity<\/a>PITTSBURGH \u2014<\/p>\n

Donnie Iris, a western Pennsylvania music legend affectionately known as “King Cool,” is being remembered for his immense talent, humility, and kindness. Iris died Monday at age 83. <\/p>\n

Those who worked with him and called him a friend say the man on stage was the same as the man off stage. <\/p>\n

“He was a wonderful man and a wonderful representative of Pittsburgh music. So he’s done us all proud,” musician Shari Richards said.<\/p>\n

Iris played his final concert a month ago at the Wylie in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood. Folks who attended that performance recall how, even while seated, Iris delivered the high-energy show he was known for. <\/p>\n

Rich Engler, a longtime concert promoter who began working with Iris in 1966, praised his vocal abilities and passion. <\/p>\n

“The volume he and the high notes that he could hit, and everything with such passion like ‘Ah! Leah!’ And all the high notes. I can’t even possibly do it. And he knocked audiences out, even down to the last,” Engler said. <\/p>\n

Fellow musicians say few Pittsburgh artists have left behind a legacy like his. <\/p>\n

“Before I became a professional, which was 1983, Donnie was already well known, and I looked up to him, and I aspired to be like him. And the Jaggerz were just \u2014 we were proud to be from Pittsburgh, you know, home of the Jaggerz,” Richards said. <\/p>\n

Engler, who produced numerous shows with Iris over the years, shared a memorable moment from their time working together. <\/p>\n

“I probably produced at least 20 or 30 shows with them over the years, and probably one of the most famous. I pulled out a poster of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers and special guest Bon Jovi. I mean, wow,” Engler said. <\/p>\n

Friends say Iris embodied his music and left a lasting impression on those who knew him. <\/p>\n

“We’re going to miss him personally, forever. But his songs will live on forever,” Engler said.<\/p>\n

Even those who grew up listening to Iris’ hits were shocked and saddened to hear of his passing. They’ve been playing his biggest hits to honor him. <\/p>\n

“It’s a weird feeling. I mean, local legend, you know, Donnie Iris, I’m just going to be listening to “Ah! Leah!” the entire way home as a tribute,” said Michael Caponi, who lives on the South Side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Donnie Iris, a western Pennsylvania music legend affectionately known as “King Cool,” is being remembered for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[128517,11287,124677,128525,16699,128524,128522,128520,128523,18874,1399,24258,128518,43222,73,75,128519,74,128521,7033,78],"class_list":["post-315027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-128517","tag-dead","tag-donnie-iris","tag-final-concert","tag-friend","tag-high-note","tag-high-energy-show","tag-iris","tag-jaggerz","tag-leah","tag-man","tag-musician","tag-passed-away","tag-passion","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-musician","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-rich-engler","tag-stage","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}