The Pittsburgh Music Hall of Fame

On this date in Pittsburgh music history, November 13, 1931, my friend Nick Cenci was born in New Jersey, grew up in Bloomfield, and moved to the the South Hill...s after high school. A local music industry jack of all trades, he began, in 1948, as a DJ/Program Director at WCAE Radio, and then as head of promotion for Fenway Records record distributors. He and Herb Cohen founded Co-Ce Records, which recorded Lou Christie,the Vogues and the Fenways, and many more local acts. Nick was one of the most knowledgeable men in the record business before passing away in 2014 at the age of 82. See more

On this date in Pittsburgh music history, November 13, 1931, Nick Cenci was born in New Jersey, and moved to the the South Hills after high school. A local musi...c industry jack of all trades, he began as a DJ/PD at WCAE Radio in 1948 with Jay Michael,, and then as a promotion man at the record distributorship, Fenway Records. He and Herb Cohen founded Co-Ce Records, which recorded Lou Christie,The Vogues, Fenways,and the Four Chaps among many others. It also launched Tommy James' career when a subsidiary of Co-Ce, Red Fox, released a bootleg of "Hanky Panky" (its original label had gone out of business) that sold 80,000 copies and went to #1 locally. Cenci also managed acts, promoted shows, produced records and represented Motown before passing away in 2014 at the age of 82. In this picture Nick is second from the left in the back row. See more

On this date in Pittsburgh music history, November 12, 2016, Richard Nader's "Rock N Roll & Doo Wop Tribute to Veterans" featuring Charlie Thomas' Drifters, Sonny Turner of the Platters, the Duprees and Tommy Mara qnd the Crests at the Palace Theater. Richard Nader, Oldies’ Biggest Fan, Dies at 69 By William Grimes Dec. 9, 2009...Continue reading

On this date in Pittsburgh music history, November 12, 2020, today, The "Yinz Citizens" 412 Food Rescue funder was held virtually and featured Taylor Allderdice... High School graduate Wiz Khalifa, Donnie Iris, Anti-Flag, Joe Grushecky, Cello Fury, The Commonheart, Inez, DJ Bonics, Boilermaker Jazz Band, Liz Berlin, Scott Blasey, Andre Costello & the Cool Minors, Buffalo Rose, Brittney Chatele, Elias Khoury, Mars Jackson, Funky Fly Project, members of the PSO, the Homeless Gospel Choir, Byron Nash, Justin Fabus, Nathan Zoob, Josh Jams, Chalk Dinosaur, Brahctopus, Jordan Montgomery and Squonk Opera. The digital concert streamed live on yinzcitizen.com and eventbrite.com. Wikipedia: Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008, becoming his first minor hit. Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records. He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011. He followed that album with O.N.I.F.C. on December 4, 2012, which was backed by the singles "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "Remember You". Wiz released his fifth album Blacc Hollywood on August 18, 2014, backed by the lead single "We Dem Boyz". In March 2015, he released "See You Again" for the soundtrack of the film Furious 7 and the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 non-consecutive weeks.[5] Khalifa was born Cameron Jibril Thomaz on September 8, 1987 in Minot, North Dakota, to parents serving in the military. His parents divorced when Khalifa was about three years old. He is a military brat with his parents' military service causing him to move regularly. Khalifa lived in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan before settling in Pittsburgh with his mother in around 1996 where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School. Soon after moving to Pittsburgh, Khalifa began to write and perform his own lyrics before he was a teenager. His stage name is derived from Khalifa, an Arabic word meaning "successor", and wisdom, which was shortened to Wiz when Khalifa was a young boy. Khalifa stated to Spinner.com that the name also came from being called "young Wiz 'cause I was good at everything I did, and my granddad is Muslim, so he gave me that name; he felt like that's what I was doing with my music." He got a tattoo of his stage name on his 17th birthday. By the age of 15 he was regularly recording his music in a studio called I.D. Labs. The management of the studio was so impressed by his lyrics that they allowed Khalifa to record for free. Rostrum Records president Benjy Grinberg first heard about Wiz Khalifa in 2004 when the rapper's contribution to a mixtape of various new Pittsburgh artists attracted his interest. When Grinberg finally met the 16-year-old artist, he immediately decided he wanted to work with him, later telling HitQuarters: "Even though he wasn't all the way developed you could just tell that he was a diamond in the rough, and that with some polishing, guidance and backing he could become something special." Khalifa signed to the label shortly after and began a seven-year period of artist development. Khalifa released his first mixtape, Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, in 2005. The mixtape paved the way for his first full-length album entitled Show and Prove in 2006. Khalifa was declared an "artist to watch" that year in Rolling Stone magazine.[ In 2007, Khalifa signed to Warner Bros. Records and released two mixtapes through Rostrum Records: Grow Season, hosted by DJ Green Lantern and released on July 4, 2007, and Prince of the City 2, released on November 20, 2007. His debut Warner Bros. single "Say Yeah" reached number 25 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 music chart and number 20 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks. The song samples "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay. Khalifa's vocals from "Say Yeah" appear near the end of Pittsburgh mash up producer Girl Talk's 2008 album, Feed the Animals, over music from Underworld's "Born Slippy", Usher's "Love in This Club", and the Cure's "In Between Days". Khalifa appeared with The Game, David Banner and Play-n-Skillz at U92's Summer Jam at the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah on August 2, 2008. Khalifa released the mixtapes Star Power in September 2008, and Flight School in April 2009 on Rostrum Records. Khalifa parted ways with Warner Bros. Records in July 2009 after numerous delays in releasing his planned debut album for the label, First Flight. Khalifa stated to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that, "I learned a lot during my time there and matured as an artist during the process. I'm happy to be moving on with all of my material and having the chance to be in control of my next moves". Khalifa appeared with Girl Talk, Modey Lemon, Donora, Grand Buffet, and Don Caballero at the Amphitheatre at Station Square in Pittsburgh on July 31, 2009, where he announced that his relationship with Warner Bros. was over. Continuing his association with Rostrum Records, Khalifa released the single "Teach U to Fly", and the mixtape How Fly, a collaboration with New Orleans rapper Curren$y, on August 9, 2009. Khalifa introduced a more melodic style on the mixtape, alternating between singing and rapping. He opened for Wu-Tang Clan member U-God at the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. Khalifa released the mixtape Burn After Rolling on November 2, 2009, where he raps over familiar beats from other artists, including the songs "If I Were A Boy" and "Diva" by Beyoncé, "Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sun, "Luchini AKA This Is It" by Camp Lo, and "Best I Ever Had" by Drake. Khalifa released his second album, Deal or No Deal, on November 24, 2009. Khalifa performed at Emo's in Austin, Texas in March 2010 as part of the 2010 South by Southwest Music Festival. He appeared on the cover of XXL magazine that same month, for the magazine's annual list of Top 10 Freshman, which included Donnis, J. Cole, Pill, Freddie Gibbs, and Fashawn. Wiz Khalifa was named 2010 "Rookie Of The Year" by "The Source", with alongside Rick Ross, "The Man Of The Year". He toured with rapper Yelawolf on a 20-date tour, the Deal Or No Deal Tour.[24] Khalifa released the free mixtape Kush and Orange Juice for download on June 14, 2010. Due to Khalifa's devoted grassroots fan base, the mixtape became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter with the hash tag #kushandorangejuice, and "Kush and Orange Juice download ranked No. 1 on Google's hot search trends. Khalifa was featured in a remix and video for the 2010 Rick Ross single "Super High", alongside Curren$y. He guested on the mixtape Grey Goose, Head Phones, and Thirsty Women by St. Louis rapper M.C,and was featured on the track "The Breeze (Cool)" on rapper Wale's August 2010 mixtape More About Nothing. Khalifa was named MTV's Hottest Breakthrough MC of 2010, winning with nearly 70,000 votes, and beating out finalists Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Travis Porter, and Diggy Simmons. Khalifa appeared at the Soundset 2010 festival in May 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, alongside Method Man & Redman, Del the Funky Homosapien and Hieroglyphics, Atmosphere, Murs, Cage, and others. He performed at the 2010 Rock the Bells festival, along with hip hop veterans Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Rakim, KRS-One, Jedi Mind Tricks and Slick Rick. Khalifa declined an invitation to tour with rapper Drake and launched his own Waken Baken Tour, a 50-city national tour with rapper Yelawolf. His official DJ on the tour was DJ Bonics. The tour, scheduled to last from September to November 2010, has, as of October, sold out every venue. In November 2010, during his "Waken Baken" tour at East Carolina University, Khalifa was arrested for possession and trafficking of marijuana. He was released the next morning after a $300K bail, and resumed his tour. Khalifa performed in a cypher during the 2010 BET Hip-Hop Awards. Khalifa released "Black and Yellow", his first single for Rostrum/Atlantic, produced by Stargate, which has received radio airplay. The single peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; the title of the song refers to the colours of the City of Pittsburgh. Khalifa released his debut album with Atlantic Records in 2011. He appeared with Curren$y on the track "Scaling the Building" on producer Ski Beatz' 2010 album, 24 Hour Karate School. On March 29, 2011, Khalifa released his first studio album, Rolling Papers in the US. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 197,000 copies in the United States.[40] Shortly afterward on March 31, 2011 Wiz Khalifa performed at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia as part of the school's annual Dooley's Weekend. On June 26, 2011, Khalifa was nominated and won Best New Artist at the BET Awards of 2011. Khalifa collaborated with British rapper Tinie Tempah whom Tinie announced in an interview with Rolling Stone that his next single is to be called "Till I'm Gone" and would feature Wiz Khalifa and was produced by Stargate. The single and the video song were released at the end of June 2011. On April 11, 2012, Khalifa announced that he will release his second studio album titled Only Nigga In First Class but that it will be abbreviated as O.N.I.F.C. for release to mainstream markets. O.N.I.F.C. debuted at number two with 131,000 in first week sales. The album has spawned two singles "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "Remember You" both receiving good commercial acclaim and with the former going platinum. Wiz spoke with rapper 50 Cent, whom he collaborated with on the song "Telescope", about making a movie together. In April 2013, Khalifa revealed that after having his son he decided to work on a new album that he was planning to release in 2013. On April 17, 2013, Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y announced that they will drop their collaboration EP Live in Concert on April 20, 2013. The EP featured seven new songs. On June 24, 2013, he announced that his fifth studio album would be titled Blacc Hollywood and would be released in 2013. On September 3, 2013, Khalifa revealed he had recorded songs with Miley Cyrus and Juicy J for Blacc Hollywood. In October 2013, Mannie Fresh confirmed that he provided production for the album. On February 11, 2014, Khalifa released Blacc Hollywood's first single titled "We Dem Boyz". On March 31, 2015, Wiz Khalifa released an EP with fellow Taylor Gang artist Ty Dolla $ign, Talk About It in the Morning. That same month, Khalifa and Charlie Puth released the song "See You Again", a tribute to Paul Walker, who died during filming for Furious 7. After releasing several "Weedmixes" on SoundCloud, including "Ziplocc" and "Maan!", Wiz took to Twitter to create hype about his new mixtape, 28 Grams, which was due to be released on May 25, 2014. However, Wiz was arrested for marijuana possession the day before, and there were fears that the mixtape would be pushed back. After posting a "jail selfie" and hashtagging "FreeTrapWiz" on Twitter, he was released hours later, meaning the mixtape would go ahead with its intended release date. On January 23, 2015, Khalifa was featured on a remix release of the Fall Out Boy song "Uma Thurman". On May 18, they performed the song together on the 2015 Billboard Music Awards show. In the summer of 2015, he began touring the United States with Fall Out Boy and Hoodie Allen in a tour titled "The Boys of Zummer Tour". The tour featured performances of "Uma Thurman" by Fall Out Boy and Khalifa. Later that year, on December 15, 2015, Wiz released the mixtape "Cabin Fever 3". During the Golden Globes on January 10, 2016, Wiz announced that his next album, titled Khalifa, would be released on the 22nd of that month. However, the album was released on February 5, 2016. On May 24, 2016, he released "Pull Up" , a standalone single in promotion of his sixth album, Rolling Papers 2, which was released on July 13, 2018. In 2016, Khalifa sued former manager Benjy Grinberg and Rostrum Records because of a "360 deal" that he signed which he claimed was unfair. Khalifa is seeking $1 million in compensation as well as punitive damages and attorney fees. He and Grinberg split after 10 years of partnership. On April 20, 2020, Khalifa release a new EP, The Saga of Wiz Khalifa. The album included collaborations with Tyga, Logic, Mustard and Ty Dolla $ign. In May 2020, Khalifa featured on a new song, Drums Drums Drums with Travis Barker. Khalifa began dating model Amber Rose in early 2011. They got engaged on March 1, 2012, and married on July 8, 2013. They have one son, Sebastian Taylor (born 2013). On September 24, 2014, it was announced that Rose would be filing for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. As of 2015, Khalifa and Rose have joint custody of their son. Khalifa is open about his use of cannabis, and he has claimed in many interviews that he spends $10,000 a month on cannabis, and also smokes daily. As of early 2014, Khalifa no longer pays for cannabis and is sponsored by The Cookie Company, a medical marijuana dispenser which sells his "Khalifa Kush" (KK) strain, which he partnered with RiverRock Cannabis to create. Also, in 2016 Khalifa was featured in a cooking show with Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg where weed was the main ingredient. Khalifa began training in the martial art Brazilian jiu-jitsu in May 2017 with Rigan Machado, an 8th degree red and black belt. Shortly after, he began training in Muay Thai with former UFC bantamweight title contender Cat Zingano and at the Unbreakable Performance Center in Los Angeles. On April 24, 2018, Yokkao hosted a private Muay Thai seminar with Thai boxing legend Saenchai for Khalifa at Unbreakable. Pittsburgh City Council declared 12-12-12 (December 12, 2012) to be Wiz Khalifa Day in the city. Khalifa graduated from Pittsburgh's Taylor Allderdice High School and in January 2012, purchased a home in nearby Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

On this date in Pittsburgh music history, November 11, 1969, Jim Psihoulis (Jimmy Pol), a Greek immigrant who settled in McKeesport, introduced one of the most ...unusual radio formats of all time. As the owner of 1590 AM WZUM (along with his suspected silent partners, the Shapiro Brothers of National Record Mart fame), Jimmy Pol played polkas in the morning followed by R&B. The afternoon dee jays included a crew of radio newcomers who went on to later radio success, such as Bobby Bennett, Frankie Crocker, Albert "Al Gee" Germany, Jeff Troy, Buddy Lowe, Alan King, Loran Mann, "Mad Mike" Metrovich and Bob Mack. Jim was also a musician and bandleader who performed well into his eighties whose greatest claim to fame came in 1973 when he took the song "Pennsylvania Polka", changed the lyrics and created the original Steelers Fight Song. The story of Jimmy Psihoulis is the classic journey of the immigrant who finds success in America. But he's probably best remembered as Jimmy Pol, who recorded the granddaddy of Steelers fight songs. Mr. Psihoulis, of Juno Beach, Fla., died Sunday at the Cleveland Clinic. He had been battling heart ailments and had undergone several surgeries, his daughter Connie Psihoulis, of Crafton, said. He was 84. If Steelers Nation has an anthem, many fans would argue that it's still Jimmy Pol's "Pittsburgh Steelers Polka." When Steelers fever became an epidemic in the '70s, Mr. Psihoulis decided to come up with a tribute song. Set to the tune of "Pennsylvania Polka," the song was a rallying cry that celebrated the team and its legendary players ["Bradshaw, and Rocky, and Franco and Lynn/ We love you Pittsburgh Steelers/It's been many years in coming/Just keep that Steelers machinery humming."] He wrote the lyrics and performed the song, backed by an orchestra, and it was released by National Record Mart. He later penned revised versions to keep references in the song current. He was flattered by the record's popularity and longevity, but not surprised by it, his daughter said. "Anything he did, he always expected success." The song still lives on fan download sites, mobile phone ringtones and on YouTube. A new version was recorded last year by Pittsburgh rock band Gene the Werewolf. Mr. Psihoulis was born in Athens, Greece. He came to the U.S. in 1947 and settled in McKeesport. "He was always an entrepreneur," Ms. Psihoulis said. He started out as a businessman with a beer distributorship in Bloomfield. But he was drawn to broadcasting and ended up working in radio -- both on and off air. "It's amazing, wonderful, even scary the unseen audience you have out there," he told The Pittsburgh Press in 1967. "That's why radio is in my blood." In the 1960s and early '70s, he was owner of the former WZUM-AM, a Carnegie radio station that played both polka music and rhythm and blues. Before that, he had worked as a radio host for several polka and Greek music programs. On WZUM, he hosted a morning polka show, accompanied by his dog, Polka Pete. WZUM played music by both black and white artists. "There's no such thing as a Negro or white station anymore," he told Billboard magazine in the 1960s. Mr. Psihoulis realized the potential of the rock and roll revolution. He put Mad Mike Metro on the air -- a legendary DJ and avid record collector who played often obscure singles, and helped make some into hits or cult favorites. The station caught on with teen audiences, making it a competitor with KDKA-AM and KQV-AM, which both played music at the time. Unlike most AM stations, WZUM emphasized the music, playing two and three songs in a row without interruption. In one of the station's infamous stunts, Mr. Psihoulis took the DJs off the air and replaced them with a robot "host" for 10 days. Mr. Psihoulis sold WZUM in 1974 and it switched to a religious format. He also owned stations in Sharon, Pa., and Niles, Ohio. He also was a musician and led bands that played Greek music at festivals, weddings and other special events. He occasionally performed with bands after retiring and relocating to Florida.

On this date in Pittsburgh music history, November 11, 1963, Buddy Montgomery (his brother Wes would play the club the following week) and his Vibes Quartet opened for a week's stay at the Hurricane Lounge.