Donnie's daughter went to IUP when I was there. Had a few drinks with her and a mutual friend one night. She was very hot and very cool.
Dominic Ierace was born in
New Castle, Pennsylvania, but grew up in
Ellwood City, Pennsylvania.
[1] The son of father Sam and mother Carrie Ierace, young Dominic began to learn how to sing at an early age from his mother, who had sung in Curly Venezie's orchestra. He practiced earlier on by singing along with his mother's favorite singers,
Frank Sinatra and
Tony Bennett. Per his mother's encouragement, Ierace began singing at weddings at age five, and by eight was performing on local television and entering talent contests.
[2]
Over time, Ierace began to develop his own interests in music with the advent of
rock music, drawing inspiration from
Elvis Presley and
Buddy Holly and later from
the Beatles,
the Rolling Stones and even R&B and soul artists
Marvin Gaye and
Ray Charles in addition to other
Motown acts. The popularity of rock and roll inspired Ierace to become a self-taught
guitarist. When his voice changed around age 12, he gave up singing and took up the
drums.
About the time he was a senior in high school (circa 1961), Ierace's voice changed again, and he got back into singing. He formed a vocal doo-wop group called the Fabutons with Johnny Roth, Anthony Matteo, Lou Delessandro and Chuckie Hasson and performed gigs around
Beaver and
Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania. However, the group only performed a few times before they disbanded and Ierace went to college.
While attending
Slippery Rock State College, Ierace formed a band called the Tri-Vels with guitarist Jim Evans and drummer Dave Amodie, two fellow students at Slippery Rock. With the addition of bassist Dave Reiser, they renamed themselves Donnie and the Donnells. This band in both incarnations played
R&B and
pop rock covers at fraternity parties and lasted from about 1961 to 1964.
Just a little history...Ya know I never knew he was with Wild Cherry! As such, my words of advice for today are as follows: Lay down the boogie and play that funky music 'til you die.