#DRU HILL ONE GOOD REASON LEAD VOCALS CRACK#
Witkowski’s music can be heard on reruns of “GUTS,” “Action League Now” and “Figure It Out,” all Nick staples for the elementary school crowd- not quite the Crack The Sky demographic, but one he knows a lot about. MTV, the Nickelodeon cable network and others occasionally call Witkowski for jingles and theme songs. “I think he still has a bad taste in his mouth from the band, and last I heard, he was in California,” says Witkowski, who owns Studio L in Weirton and produces local artists. He’s not sure what happened to guitarist Jim Griffiths. Drummer Joey D’Amico lives in Gettysburg teaching drums, believes Witkowski. Macre works in video post production in Dallas. Of the original five, only Palumbo, a psychologist who practices in Moorestown, N.J., has been a constant since 1973. The group has recorded 21 albums over the past three decades, with another album- a concept piece about the Iraq War- sitting on original bass guitarist Joe Macre’s hard drive, awaiting final touches.
![dru hill one good reason lead vocals dru hill one good reason lead vocals](https://singersroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/dru-hill-favorite-time-of-year.jpg)
Witkowski rejoined the group for the 1986 Hammerjacks reunion, and has been playing with them ever since.īy his count, 18 musicians have been members at one time or another excluding the nine horn players in the sometimes horn section. For the past 33 years, Palumbo, who bought the rights to the band’s name, and other local musicians have performed in Baltimore as Crack The Sky. But that hardly sounded the death knell for CTS in Baltimore. (Witkowski proudly notes that they lost only to Jimi Hendrix in a 98Rock “Super Bowl of Rock”Ĭall-in phone survey of the greatest rock ’n’ roll band ever.)Īfter three studio albums and one live album, the five original members went their separate ways in 1980. Witkowski says there was no word-of-mouth. The band toured nationally and in Canada, opening for Supertramp, Journey and the Atlanta Rhythm Section but getting little or no national airplay. Their second album, “Animal Notes,” was released in 1976. “Our label’s claim to fame was Jim Croce, and we were a pretty heavy rock band,” he explains. Instead, Crack The Sky reached superstardom only in Baltimore.Ĭhalk it up to three decades’ worth of hindsight or his easygoing nature, but Witkowski says he has no regrets about the bungled promotion and distribution by the Lifesong label and the band’s subsequent creative differences and personality mismatches. National superstardom seemed certain for the band that Witkowski and vocalist and guitarist John Palumbo had formed in 1973 in Witkowski’s hometown of Weirton, W.Va.
![dru hill one good reason lead vocals dru hill one good reason lead vocals](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6TcR5HhaAlA/maxresdefault.jpg)
Critics loved the lyrics, harmonies and musicianship and hailed the band as the Next Big Thing. Rolling Stone named the self-titled progressive rock LP Album of the Year. The occasion was the band’s first reunion tour in 1986, but it should have been the reaction to every performance after the group’s 1975 debut album. “I bet we hold the record there for most consecutive nights sold-out.”
![dru hill one good reason lead vocals dru hill one good reason lead vocals](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pTDzA2uyjeY/mqdefault.jpg)
“Hammerjacks had to tear walls down to make room for the crowds,” says Crack The Sky co-founder and guitarist Rick Witkowski, still in awe. Sisqó is working on his third album, “The Last Dragon.” And later this year, Dru Hill will release a Christmas album just in time for the holidays.
![dru hill one good reason lead vocals dru hill one good reason lead vocals](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61orhKT71UL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg)
Nokio has since served as a producer for rapper DMX and helped discover and develop new R&B acts.Ĭurrently, Woody Rock, Jazz and new Dru Hill member Rufus “Scola” Waller have formed a side group called 3 Da Hardway. 1 single “Thong Song” from his album “Unleash the Dragon.” Jazz recorded a traditional R&B album, which was never released however, his songs have turned up on soundtracks for “Nutty Professor II” and “Rush Hour II.” Woody Rock released a gospel album, which reached No. So where are they now? After temporarily splitting up in 1999 to pursue their own solo projects, Sisqó hit it big with the explosive No.
#DRU HILL ONE GOOD REASON LEAD VOCALS HOW TO#
Over the course of a few years, their singles were featured in the films “Rush Hour,” “Soul Food,” “Wild Wild West,” “Def Jam’s How to be a Player” and the soundtrack for Broadway’s “AIDA.” The group- Mark “Sisqó” Andrew, James “Woody Rock” Green, Tamir “Nokio” Ruffin and opera student Larry “Jazz” Anthony- famously honed their chops while slinging chocolate at the Inner Harbor’s Fudgery.īy 1996, Dru Hill was signed to Island Records and released a self-titled, gold-selling album. 1 hits including “In My Bed,” “Never Make a Promise” and “How Deep is Your Love?” Dru Hill, named after Druid Hill Park, formed in the early ’90s, and scored seven Top 40 and three R&B No. In the annals of Baltimore musical history, only one act that we know of can claim to be named after a city park.