Michael Stanley

Cleveland local Michael Stanley became a regional sensation, but the vocalist/songwriter/guitarist and his Michael Stanley Music group deserved more country wide achievement than they achieved. Stanley, whose true name is certainly Michael Stanley Gee, performed bass using the folk-rock group Silk in the past due ’60s. Then went single and released two single albums in the first ’70s that suit right along with the “vocalist/songwriter” period. His talent enticed famous brands producer Costs Szymczyk and visitor music artists Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, and David Sanborn right from the start. He produced the Michael Stanley Music group (aka MSB) in 1975 and pursued a far more straightforward rock path. MSB documented a string of albums with the past due ’70s and early ’80s which were humble successes nationally but main strikes in Ohio. Actually, the Michael Stanley Music group was this kind of sensation in the home it still retains attendance information at main concert venues. 1980’s Heartland was conveniently MSB’s best record, and Stanley agrees. It included the strike one “He Can’t Appreciate You” (sung by vocalist/keyboardist Kevin Raleigh) as well as the minimal strike “Lover” (sung by Stanley and offering blistering saxophone by Clarence Clemons). MSB’s second and last Best 40 strike was Stanley’s anthem “My City” in 1983. After documenting for Epic, Arista, and EMI, MSB separately released two albums independently before splitting up in 1987. The Michael Stanley Music group was a reliably constant, meat-and-potatoes enterprise in charge of superb Midwestern rock and roll & move. Stanley continued to become popular tv and radio character in Cleveland. He still frequently produces albums — single as well as the one-off group task the Ghost Poets — and performs annual summer season and New Year’s Eve displays along with periodic acoustic times; these concerts and albums both feature MSB alumni along with other Cleveland music artists. Razor & Connect has reissued the majority of MSB’s catalog and two superb best-of selections on compact disk.