Michael Stanley, whose music has been the soundtrack for decades for so many in the Mahoning Valley, died Friday at age 72.

As a solo artist and as leader of the Michael Stanley Band, the Ghost Poets, Michael Stanley & the Resonators and the Midlife Chryslers, the man born Michael Stanley Gee was a Cleveland hometown hero, where he had successful careers as a DJ (30 years at WNCX-FM) and television host (“PM Magazine”) in addition to his work as a recording artist and performer.

But the Michael Stanley Band always had strong roots in the Mahoning Valley as well.

Three band members are Youngstown natives — bass players Daniel Pecchio (1974-79) and Michael Gismondi (1979-87) and guitar player Gary Markasky (1978-83). Road manager Jimmy Soffos is a Warren native and Dan Montecalvo, who still lives in Warren, was sound man for Stanley’s musical projects from 1976 until the Resonators’ last gig before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve been privileged to be a part of his troupe for over 40 years as his concert sound man,” Montecalvo said. “Because of that relationship, he became my chosen brother. It’s hard to imagine life without him.”

Markasky said Saturday that the most quoted lyric Stanley ever wrote — “Thank God for the man who put the white lines on the highway …” from the song “Lover” — was inspired by a treacherous drive on a snowy night between Cleveland and Youngstown.

“He was such a great lyricist and songwriter,” Markasky said. “I just loved making music with him.”

Radio veteran Cornell Bogdan, who worked with Stanley many times during his tenure with The Wolf (WNCD-FM), Clear Channel and I Heart Radio, talked to Stanley less than two weeks ago.

“It was a very brief conversation,” Bogdan said. “He was having trouble breathing, but I got a chance to tell him he’s been a beacon in my life, all of my life. It was so funny, at the end it was like him signing off from the stage, ‘Cornell, my brother, give my love to everybody in Youngstown.’ He was just a class act to his last breath.”

MSB holds attendance records at Blossom Music Center (where the band sold out four shows in the same week in August 1982), Richfield Coliseum and the Front Row Theatre. Stanley also played just about every venue imaginable in the Valley, from Warren’s John F. Kennedy High School in the ’70s to being the act JAC Management chose to open the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre in 2019.

That opening date got rained out, but it was rescheduled in July, and the double bill of Stanley and Donnie Iris ended up outdrawing Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire as well as the other national acts booked that inaugural year.

“The music scene will never be the same without him,” JAC President Eric Ryan said. “He was the one artist that you could count on; you knew you would always have a good crowd.”

Ken Haidaris, president of Sunrise Entertainment, who saw Stanley at Kennedy as one of his first concerts and later booked him at Packard Music Hall and the Warren Community Amphitheatre, agreed.

“When you think of music in northeast Ohio, you think of Michael Stanley,” he said.

Fans knew Stanley as the man who wrote and sang such songs as “Rosewood Bitters,” “Lover,” “In the Heartland,” “My Town” and many others. Those who knew Stanley personally and worked with him described him as loyal and gracious.

Montecalvo recalled being on the road with the band in 1983, when his wife was pregnant with their daughter. As they arrived in New York for a show at the Ritz, Montecalvo’s wife called and said her water just broke two weeks before her due date.

“Michael made sure I was on the first flight home,” Montecalvo said. “That’s the kind of guy he was, very family oriented. He treated the whole troupe like a family.”

During one of the Mahoning Valley Rib Burn Offs at Eastwood Mall, Bogdan remembered Stanley taking time to visit with a fan in a wheelchair who was the daughter of one of the rib vendors.

“It wasn’t a quick blow in, blow out,” Bogdan said. “He spent like 20 minutes with her. He was so gracious with his time.”

Ryan hired Stanley to play at a wing fest outside of the Covelli Centre one summer. The night before his appearance, a bad storm forced cancellation of Friday’s headliner and caused extensive damage to the tents.

“Things weren’t perfect and I was worried about about it,” Ryan said. “He called and said, ‘I’m playing. I don’t care where it is. We’re in this together.’ That was pretty amazing.”

Stanley released more than 40 albums in his career.

“He didn’t want to rest on his laurels,” Bogdan said. “To me he’s like Bob Dylan or Neil Young. He always wanted to work on new music.”

Montecalvo said Stanley continued to record in his home studio after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

“He just recently completed his last CD,” he said. “Weeks before he passed, he added a few final touches.”

In a statement Stanley prepared for release after his death, he wrote, “Somebody once said that if you love your job then it’s not really work. And if that’s true (and I definitely think it is) then I have been happily out of work for over 50 years!

“Sure, it would have been nice if this had lasted a bit longer, but my time on this mortal coil has been blessed with great family, friends and co-workers, and you can’t ask for much more than that!

He closed the statement with, “So thanks again, take care of yourself and each other and remember, now more than ever: it’s your world … pay attention! Peace.”

agray@tribtoday.com