Czuri, Frank

Keyboardist and singer-songwriter who started his own groups at the age of ten, while attending grade school in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. Remnants of those bands morphed into The Igniters, an R&B outfit that recorded one 45, in the '60s, backing Charlie Appel on a tune called "High Flying Wine". They are reputed to be the second white group signed by Atlantic Records, after The Rascals. With the recording contract came a price: They had to change the name of the band to Jimmy Mack and the Music Factory, then Friends. The name changes did not help them register a hit, or lift them from obscurity. In 1970, Friends disbanded. Frank went on to greener pastures with The Jaggerz, and appeared on their 1975 release, Come Again. It was a short-lived tenure, and Frank wound up fronting Diamond Reo, another Pittsburgh band, and recorded three albums with them. They broke up in 1979 and Frank, along with guitarist Warren King , recruited Roy Buchanan, Ron "Byrd" Foster, Mike Pella, and Dennis Takos, to form The Silencers . They released two albums, 1980's Rock 'n' Roll Enforcers, and 1981's Romantic, neither of which spawned a major hit. The Silencers went quiet in 1984 and a year later, Frank joined Pure Gold, an R&B group that continues to perform today. They are the "house band" for all of those PBS specials that showcase legends of doo-wop, rhythm & blues, rock & roll, and soul. In 2003, The Igniters re-united for one show and captured the magic on CD, after almost forty years, their first release.

The Silencers recordings

Sidewalk Romeo (Angel of Mercy)

(Frank Czuri/Michael John Harbadin/Warren King/ Dennis Takos)

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