"Ah! Leah!" is a song by

Mark Avsec Mark Avsec (born August 23, 1954) is an American rock keyboardist, songwriter, and producer. He was a member of the funk rock band Wild Cherry. Avsec was an original member of Donnie Iris & the Cruisers. He wrote or co-wrote all of the band's m ...

and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

rock musician

Donnie Iris Donnie Iris (born Dominic Ierace, February 28, 1943) is an American rock musician known for his work with the Jaggerz and Wild Cherry during the 1970s, and for his solo career beginning in the 1980s with his band, the Cruisers. He wrote the ...

from the latter's 1980 album '' Back on the Streets''. The song has been described as Iris's

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

, as well the unofficial anthem of the city of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...

as a whole. Eight musicians appeared in early live performances of the song, including lead singer Iris, a drummer, three guitar players, a keyboard player and at least two backing vocalists, one female and one male. The title of the song has been referred to in the form of puns on a few of Iris's later albums—the 2009

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Ah! Live! ''Ah! Live!'' is the second live album by American rock singer Donnie Iris, released in 2009. Except for one studio recording, all of the songs were recorded at live concerts in Kittanning and Erie, Pennsylvania. The album's name comes from Don ...

'' and the 2010

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

'' Ah! Leluiah!''.

Composition

Iris said, A 2008 report by ''

The Beaver County Times ''The Beaver County Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Beaver, Pennsylvania, United States, and serving the north-western Pittsburgh suburbs. The ''Times'' is a direct descendant of many of Beaver County's newspapers, starting with the '' ...

'' revealed that the Leah in question was Leah Frankford of

Chippewa Township, Pennsylvania Chippewa Township is a township in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,037 at the 2020 census. The township shares the ZIP code of nearby Beaver Falls. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Geography Accor ...

near Iris's hometown of

Ellwood City Ellwood City is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough primarily in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a small district in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Beaver County. The population was 7,031 at the 2020 ...

. Frankford had moved to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

just before The Jaggerz hit it big, and got confirmation from Iris himself after Iris's girlfriend by chance became friends with Frankford's daughter through Iris's

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...

business. Frankford had moved back to Beaver County by the time the song came out, and always noticed many girls at her two daughters

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

games also named Leah.

Chart performance

It was released as a single in late 1980 and reached number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, 22 on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' Top 100 and 19 on the US ''Billboard''

Top Tracks Classic Vinyl is a Sirius XM Radio channel focusing on classic rock music mostly from the late-1960s to the mid-1970s, with the channel's name meant to indicate that it consists of music that first appeared on vinyl records. This encompasses musi ...

chart, and was most popular in Canada, where it became a Top 10 hit.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

The song has become the unofficial anthem of the city of Pittsburgh and remains a staple on local radio stations alongside Iris's other hit songs such as ''

The Rapper "The Rapper" is a song by The Jaggerz, written by band member Donnie Iris. Released as a single, it reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Singles chart, behind Simon & Garfunkel's smash " Bridge Over Troubled Water" and it was certified Gold b ...

'' and '' Love is Like a Rock''. It has also made appearances involving Pittsburgh's sports teams, including by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

PNC Park PNC Park is a baseball stadium on the North Shore (Pittsburgh), North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). It was opened during the 2001 Major League Baseball season, ...

and used as

bumper music Bumper music, or a bump, is a term used in the radio broadcasting industry to refer to short clips of signature songs or theme music used to buffer transitions between programming elements, typically lasting no longer than fifteen seconds. It is ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

whenever the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

play on ''

NBC Sunday Night Football ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, with the Pro Football Hall of Fa ...

''.

Album appearances

* '' Back on the Streets'', 1980 * '' Out of the Blue'', 1992 * ''

Live! At Nick's Fat City ''Live! At Nick's Fat City'' is the first live album by American rock singer Donnie Iris, released in 1998. Nick's Fat City was a nightclub that was located in Pittsburgh in the South Side Flats neighborhood. Track listing #"Agnes" (Avsec, Iris ...

'', 1998 (live) * ''

Together Alone ''Together Alone'' is the fourth studio album by New Zealand-Australian recording artists Crowded House. It was released in October 1993 and was their first album to feature multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart as a full band member. Unlike the band' ...

'', 1999 (acoustic) * '' 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Donnie Iris'', 2001 * '' 25 Years'', 2004 (live) * ''

'', 2009 (live)

Cover versions

Electric Six Electric Six is a six-piece American rock band formed in 1996 in Detroit, Michigan. Their music was described by AllMusic as a combination of garage, disco, punk rock, new wave, and metal. The band achieved recognition in 2003 with the singl ...

covered the song on their cover-album ''Mimicry and Memories'' (2015).

References

External links

Lyrics
* *JC Mosquito
"Donnie Iris, “Ah! Leah!” (1981): Almost Hits"
''Something Else'', 12 February 2013 Donnie Iris songs 1980 debut singles Songs written by Mark Avsec Songs written by Donnie Iris 1980 songs {{1980s-rock-song-stub