Quick Facts
Biography
Joe Grushecky (born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a rock musician in the United States known for his work with the Iron City Houserockers in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and for his works since the late the 1980s with his act Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers; and for his solo career. After his days with the Iron City Houserockers he continued to have moderate success, mainly in the Pittsburgh area.
Biography
In 1976, Joe Grushecky a relative Isabel, a high school special education teacher, started the Brick Alley Band. Grushecky's new band was a typical bar band. They signed to Cleveland International Records in 1977, who rechristened them the Iron City Houserockers. The band's first album was Love's So Tough, released in 1979, and was a fair success. Their next album, Have a Good Time but Get out Alive! (released in 1980), was a bigger success. Two more albums followed, Blood on the Bricks in 1981 and Cracking Under Pressure (1983 as The Houserockers). By 1984, the band wasn't selling many records anymore and they were dropped by MCA Records. They broke up shortly thereafter.
After the breakup of the Iron City Houserockers, Grushecky returned home to Pittsburgh where he retook his teaching job (which he still holds). He also began to sharpen his songwriting. He released a single entitled "Good Bye Steeltown". Finally, in 1989, he fully re-emerged with his new act, Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers.
Grushecky's first new album since the Iron City Houserockers days was Rock & Real, released in 1989. It would be followed by seven more albums, including 1995's American Babylon, which was produced by Bruce Springsteen. Grushecky's more recent albums include Fingerprints (2002), A Good Life (2006), and East Carson Street (2009).
Discography
Iron City Houserockers
- Love's So Tough, 1979
- Have a Good Time but Get out Alive!, 1980
- Blood on the Bricks, 1981
- Cracking Under Pressure, 1983
- Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers, 1992
Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers
- Rock & Real, 1989
- Swimming with the Sharks, 1991
- End of the Century, 1992
- American Babylon, 1995
- Coming Home, 1998
- Down the Road Apiece Live, 1999
- True Companion, 2004
- East Carson Street, 2009
- We're Not Dead Yet - Live at the New Hazlet Theater, 2011
- Somewhere East of Eden, 2013
Joe Grushecky solo
- Fingerprints, 2002
- Outtakes and Demos 1975-2003, 2006
- A Good Life, 2006
- It's in My Song, 2016