Michael Stanley is an American singer-songwriter, musician and radio personality. Both as a solo artist and with the Michael Stanley Band, his brand of heartland rock was popular in Cleveland, Ohio and around the American Midwest in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Michael Stanley Band was formed by Stanley in 1974 with singer-songwriter–lead guitarist Jonah Koslen, former Glass Harp bassist Daniel Pecchio and drummer Tommy Dobeck from the band Circus. There were several personnel changes over the years and by 1982 the group had evolved into a seven-piece band. Nicknamed MSB by their fans, the band set several attendance records at Cleveland area venues including a record 20,320 at the Richfield Coliseum on July 20, 1979 and a record 40,529 for two Coliseum concerts on December 31, 1981 and January 1, 1982. The band's greatest achievement was a total attendance of 74,404 during a four-night stand at Blossom Music Center on August 25, 26, 30 and 31, 1982. The group reached the peak of their popularity nationally in 1981 when the single "He Can't Love You" from the albumHeartland made the Top 40 and "In the Heartland" from the album North Coast went to #6 on Billboard's Top Tracks chart. Their video for "He Can't Love You" was the 47th video ever played on MTV. The band's last Top 40 hit was "My Town" in 1983. The band dissolved in 1987 with a series of 12 farewell shows at the Front Row Theater in Highland Heights, Ohio during the 1986–87 holiday season. Since then, Stanley has performed regularly throughout Northeast Ohio with former members of MSB and with the Resonators and as Michael Stanley and Friends. In 2004, the sketch comedy troupe Last Call Cleveland produced Michael Stanley Superstar: The Unauthorized Autobiography of the Cuyahoga Messiah, a play which parodied Stanley's status as a local celebrity. On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Michael Stanley among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. ;Personnel
Stanley was the co-host of PM Magazine on WJW Channel 8 from 1987 to 1990 and its follow-up Cleveland Tonight until 1991. He also appeared on The Drew Carey Show, playing himself. Since 1990, Stanley has been the afternoon drive disc jockey for classic rockradio stationWNCX in Cleveland.
Awards and honors
2012 - Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Excellence in Radio Award
