Across western Pennsylvania, rock fans never needed more than his first name.
Donnie Iris, the singer known as King Cool who gave Pittsburgh “Ah! Leah!” and “Love Is Like a Rock,” died Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, at 83 after a three-year battle with bladder cancer. Rich Engler, a longtime concert promoter and friend, confirmed the death.
Iris had stepped away from the stage only weeks earlier, announcing his retirement from performing earlier in October after health issues. “It has been my great honor to make music for you,” he said in a statement announcing the decision.
His final performance came Sept. 28, at the grand opening of Citizens Live at The Wylie, Pittsburgh’s newest concert venue, in the city’s historic Hill District neighborhood.
Just Donnie in Western Pennsylvania
To Pittsburgh area residents, he was just “Donnie,” no other name needed. He was a living legend in western Pennsylvania, a fixture on the concert circuit across the western half of the state and eastern Ohio for six decades.
The Ellwood City native first came to fame with the Jaggerz and their hit “The Rapper.” He then built a solo career with his band the Cruisers, whose lineup included Erie, Pa., natives who helped fuel his rise, turning out “Ah! Leah!” and “Love Is Like a Rock.” He also performed with Wild Cherry, the band behind “Play That Funky Music.”
Nationally, he was best known for that string of hits in the 1970s and ’80s. Locally, he never left. In 2015 he was enshrined as a Pittsburgh Rock ‘N Roll Legend, the city’s equivalent of the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame, and in the Beaver Valley he was a member of a regular golf group at Beaver Valley Golf Club in Patterson Heights, Pa.
The Poster With Bon Jovi on It
Engler started working with Iris in 1966. By his own count, he produced at least 20 or 30 shows with the singer over the decades that followed.
One of them, he said, stood out above the rest. Engler pulled out a poster from that night — Donnie Iris and the Cruisers headlining, with special guest Bon Jovi.
The promoter said Iris sang with a volume and a range he could not come close to matching himself, and that the crowds stayed with him to the last. Those who worked with him and called him a friend say there was no gap between the performer on stage and the man off it. Musician Shari Richards was among those paying tribute, calling him a credit to Pittsburgh music.
Playing “Ah! Leah!” All the Way Home
Iris began receiving treatment for bladder cancer in 2023 — the same year he turned 80. Celebrating his 80th birthday, he drew a roaring ovation when he appeared on the video board at the Pittsburgh Penguins’ game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.
Fans and radio stations across the region have been spinning his biggest hits since word of his death spread. Michael Caponi, who grew up on those songs, said he planned to play “Ah! Leah!” for the entire drive home as his own tribute.
Engler, who booked him for 60 years, said the loss is permanent and so is the music: “his songs will live on forever.”
