Biography
Steel City Connection were originally founded in 1975 by bassist Kevin Stewart and his twin brother Keith, however due to the multi-race make-up of the band, they were in fact called Spectrum for most of their time together. They changed their name to Steel City Connection in1978 just before they recorded at Jeree due to a name clash with another band. As Kevin recalls, the name 'Steel City Connection' was chosen because the Pittsburgh NFL, baseball and ice hockey teams had all won the world series that year, so the 'Steelers' were in vogue at the time. During the period that the band was active their line-up of student members altered considerably, with replacement vocalists, drummers and guitarists from local Pittsburgh schools all joining the group over time. However, by the time of recording "Steel City Disco" they consisted of Rocco Abananti and Shaun Bell on trumpet, Drew Dauer on keyboards, Stacy Gray on guitar, James McCrorey on drums, Kevin Stewart on bass, and Kevin's niece Michelle Stewart on lead vocals. The band would practice once or twice per week in Kevin and Keith's parents' basement as well as at Stacy's house and Jim's father's factory, where they had set up a rehearsal space at the back, writing and performing songs that they had worked on over the previous weeks. They even had their own roadies, such as a local devotee by the name of Al Kinner, or 'Nutsy', who was in charge of lighting and other electrical duties. They were influenced by a wide range of contemporary musicians, but especially Earth, Wind & Fire, The Emotions and the fusion band Return to Forever. As Stacy notes, “our musicians were versed in jazz-rock and our vocals were soulful. Michelle started singing in her church like Aretha Franklin who was one of her favourites”.
Not long after, they began to secure gigs at local venues; as Stacy recalls, “we initially performed at school functions and anywhere else we could”. These included various events in suburban Pittsburgh, such as at Ardmore Roller Rink in Forest Hills, a borough to the east of the city, for a charity all-night skate-a-thon, and at Swissvale High School in the west. Kevin also recalls one performance in his front yard, which resulted in all of the nearby streets being shut down and the whole neighbourhood coming out to enjoy the show. A couple of months after they started performing the band signed a deal with local manager Fred Sinopoli, in part because they were under the age of maturity and needed an adult to accompany them at their gigs. Soon after “we performed at all of the city's top clubs. Fred was instrumental in our advancement to a higher level of gigs in the downtown of Pittsburgh, for example The Crazy Quilt in Market Square which was one of the top clubs at the time, as well as a local venue named Pinball Wizard”. They also played at a regular battle of the bands at Freedom Park, which was an old drive-in theatre, coming third in their first attempt. However, they also performed at other more adventurous venues, such as at a notorious rock and roll bar named Someplace Else located on a hillside down a hidden track off of the Route 51 highway, where chicken wire was placed between bands and the crowd to stop items from being thrown and hitting performers. Kevin recalls fondly how the audience soon “fell in love with us, and we began to play there two or three times a month, and the club changed soon after to a disco venue”.
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