Posted on 03/06/2021 8:28:30 AM PST by Jim from C-Town
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nearly 50 years ago, on his self-titled first solo album, Michael Stanley offered a plaintive view about mortality:
Here’s a song for a friend soon gone
A friend whose life and mine became entwined
Leaving soon for a lifetime/Leaving part of you behind
Stanley, who passed away Friday at the age of 72 from lung cancer, leaves more than a small part of himself behind in his native Cleveland -- and a gaping hole in a city where he was a rock ‘n’ roll king and a much-loved, award-winning radio and television personality.
(Excerpt) Read more at cleveland.com ...
If you lived in CLeveland in the 70's & 80's he was always packing concerts. He was well received in a number of markets but had limited national success.
He was a long time DJ on the local Cleveland radio on WNCX & continued giving several concerts a year in Cleveland & OTHER MARKETS HE HAD POPULARITY IN.
I was fortunate enough to see him in concert dozens of times & he has a massive collection of both MSB & Solo work.
Couple examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX6H2q14s44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EajZABEh46w
Dang, I feel old! I remember rocking to the MSB on WMMS back in the day.
Way better than Bruce Springsteen. He will be missed. I pray he is in Abraham’s buxom.
I sort of remember him and the Michael Stanley Band.
Late 70s, when I lived in an East Coast beach town we met some girls from Cleveland whose family were renting a beach house, they filled us in on the Cleveland scene. Before we met them one warm night we had been evicted from drinking on the beach twice by the same young cop who told us the second time there’d better not be a third.
Then we met the girls whose family were renting a house right where the main road dead-ended. When the cop saw us there drinking he was ready to take us in, but the girls said their parents were renting the house, which was true, so with two feet on the ground in the yard and our butts on the (public) sea wall, we were good.
I lived in Massillon from fall 1977 to summer 1978. Surprised I never heard of him.
My freshman college roomate in 1980 was from Cleveland and was a huge MSB fan. Played it nonstop.
Thanks for the update.
Totally unrelated but my buddy’s brother played with Dave C and the Sharptones back in the 60s. We went to the “Upbeat” show and watched them one time. Hot stuff for a 9th grader LOL.
I was in heaven when I could pick up WMMS south of Detroit in one of my truck radios. I think it was a straight shot across Lake Erie from Cleveland to my house south of Detroit at the mouth of Lake Erie. Even though we had WRIF, WABX, WWWW before it countrified, and CJOM Canada, it seemed WMMS had a little more of an exotic playlist.
Home of the Buzzard!
WMMS is the station that helped Rush get their start when they put “Working Man” in their rotation.
Wow, I am in shock. Life long Clevelander here and I loved Michael Stanley. One of my friends went to high school with him and my cousin adored him and has met him numerous times because she works in the music business. Way too young. Anyone know cause of death?
Same here!!!
Youngstown here. Man, he was a huge part of my growing up. I’m so saddened to hear this.
Rocky River High School grad! Great voice. He’ll be missed!
Lung Cancer.
I grew up 30 miles west of Youngstown in Atwater and I have the same Sentiment. He was huge in our area and even played some of the local venues when I was going to Kent State. RIP MSB!
RIP.
Thank you, Jim. I asked before I had read the article. It’s interesting that Stanley must have been diagnosed just a few months after Rush Limbaugh, since the article said he had struggled for seven months and Rush’s battle lasted a year. I’m in my 60’s so these deaths at 70 and thereabouts sure give me pause.
OHIO PING!
Please let me know if you want on or off the Ohio Ping list.
Michael Stanley, Cleveland rock legend and noted local radio and TV personality, dead at 72
The Plain Dealer ^ | 03/06/2021 | Dave “Dino” DeNatale
Posted on 3/6/2021, 11:28:30 AM by Jim from C-Town
good post on a talented man.
Love your homepage and the pix of your kiddos. Sorry about the lost of your child from Charge Syndrom. I need to read about it not heard of it.
Where abouts are you in Cleveland area? Im currently in Twinsburg. Raised in Parma. LIved in Sagamore hills 30 years prior to Twinsburg move
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