A public celebration of the life of Beaver Valley rock legend Donnie Iris will be held Nov 5 at a Chippewa Township funeral home.
Gabauer-Lutton Funeral Home has announced the public can visit the business at 117 Blackhawk Road from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to leave their condolences and memories for the musician who has been an icon in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio for nearly six decades.
The family will not be at the funeral home, but messages will be passed along to them. Iris died Oct, 26 at age 83 after a four-year battle with bladder cancer, according to his obituary.
His family requests that “no floral donations be made, rather a contribution to a scholarship fund and cancer research fund that are being formed in the near future,” the obituary said.
Iris first hit the national charts in 1970 with the Jaggerz and their song “The Rapper.” He went on to have hits of his own, including “Ah! Leah!” and “Love is Like a Rock.” Born Dominic Ierace on Feb. 28, 1943, in Ellwood City, Iris also ran his own mortgage company, SIMCORP, in Beaver County for more than 20 years. He had been living in Coraopolis for the last several years.
In the week since he died, Iris has been honored by fans and fellow musicians at several venues for the incredible range of his voice and his intense loyalty to the Pittsburgh region. Iris had retired from performing less than three weeks before his death.
“To all his tremendous fans, who came to the shows, sang his songs, bought the records, wore the shirts, and continued to show up year after year and generation after generation: thank you,” the family said in a statement. “He never took your love for granted. He knew how fortunate he was to spend his life doing what he loved, and he knew that none of it would have been possible without you.”
