The Jaggerz

Formed in Pittsburgh amid the mid-'60s, the Jaggerz assembled around singer/guitarist Dominic Ierace along with guitarist Benny Faiella, bassists Jimmy Ross and Billy Maybray, keyboardist Thom Davies, and drummer Jim Pugliano. Their reputation for delivering high-energy sets on the regional club circuit soon led to a contract with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Gamble Records, which released the band's debut album, Introducing the Jaggerz, in 1969. Commercial indifference greeted that effort, prompting a move to Kama Sutra and the 1970 follow-up We Went to Different Schools Together; its leadoff single, the 1970 smash "The Rapper," climbed to No. 2 on the pop chart yet proved to be the group's solitary national hit. Subsequent touring therefore returned the Jaggerz to local venues, and after issuing one last album, 1975's Come Again, the lineup dissolved. Ierace then adopted the name Donnie Iris, briefly enlisted with Wild Cherry for the disco-era blockbuster "Play That Funky Music," and launched a solo career thereafter.

In 1998 Ross, Faiella, and Pugliano reconvened with Dennis McAbee on guitar, Jamie Peck on saxophone, Hermie Granati handling keyboards and vocals, and David Granati on guitar to cut And the Band Played On..., a collection that revisited Jaggerz staples alongside fresh material. Re-Rapped by Request appeared three years later, after which the band maintained an intermittent presence through the 2000s and 2010s, surfacing again in 2014 with its sixth studio album, The Walk.