7 bands and performers who made it big from southwest Ohio

The Grammy Awards ceremony has come and gone, but there is still a lot of great music to be celebrated.

Here are seven successful musicians and bands that have roots in Southwest Ohio:

1. John Legend

The Springfield native and R&B artist has won 10 Grammys, including Best New Artist in 2006. Most recently, Legend and rapper Common won an Academy Award and Golden Globe in 2015 and a Grammy in 2016 with their song “Glory” from the movie “Selma.”

In 2007, Legend received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and last year, he received a Tony Award for co-producing Jitney for the Broadway stage.

2. Ohio Players

Formed in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchable, this celebrated Dayton funk band is best known for the songs “Fire,” “Love Rollercoaster,” “I Wanna be Free,” “Pain,” “Funky Worm,” “Skin Tight,” “Honey” and “Sweet Sticky Thing.” The Ohio Players won the 1976 Grammy in the Best Album Package Category for “Honey,” and they were nominated for the “Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance with Duo, Group Or Chorus” Grammy for “Fire” in 1975, but lost to Earth Wind and Fire’s “Shining Star.”

Walter “Junie” Morrison, a keyboardist and vocalist, was a member of the band before joining Parliament-Funkadelic. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 with 15 other members of P-Funk, including Cincinnati native Bootsy Collins.

3. Keith Harrison

The Dayton native helped form the group that would be known as the funk band Faze-O while attending Jefferson High School. The group would later record the hit “Riding High.”

Harrison, a lifelong Miami Valley resident, performed with renowned acts like Morris Day and the Time and the Ohio Players. He was a member of the Dayton funk band Heatwave and the Cleveland-based group the Dazz Band, for which he penned the hit “Let It All Blow.” Harrison won a “Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group with Vocal” Grammy Award with the Dazz Band for “Let It Whip” in 1982.

4. Richie Furay

Furay is singer, songwriter and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member from Yellow Springs. He is best known for forming the pioneering Country-Rock as founding member of the legendary and quintessential groups Buffalo Springfield (with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin), Poco (with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner), and the Souther-Hillman-Furay band.

5. 98 Degrees

A pop and contemporary R&B “boy band,” 98 Degrees was formed in Los Angeles but all four vocalists, brother Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons, are from Ohio – the former three from Cincinnati. They have sold over 10 million records worldwide and achieved eight top 40 singles in the U.S.

6. Doris Day

The Cincinnati native began her career as a big band singer in 1939, but her popularity increased with her first hit recording “Sentimental Journey” in 1945. She recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967 after leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to embark on a solo career, becoming one of the most acclaimed singers of the 20th century.

7. Hawthorne Heights

A rock band from Dayton, Hawthorne Heights formed in 2001. They found success with both of their first two albums reaching Gold certification, including their 2004 release of “The Silence in Black and White” and their 2006 release of “If Only You Were Lonely.” Their second album peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard’s Independend Albums chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200 charts.

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