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Poison Idea
Poison Idea
1
The Litter
The Litter
1960s psychedelic rock band
2
Chris Bell
Chris Bell
American singer
3
Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner
American session drummer
4
Roger Chapman
Roger Chapman
British rock vocalist, songwriter
5
The Choir
The Choir
6
The Swinging Blue Jeans
The Swinging Blue Jeans
1960s British Merseybeat band
7
Art Tripp
Art Tripp
American musician
8
Gene Summers
Gene Summers
American singer
9
The Outsiders
The Outsiders
US band
10
Death
Death
protopunk band
11
The Quick
The Quick
12
Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
British rock musician, former member of The Rolling Stones
13
Sons of Champlin
Sons of Champlin
American rock band
14
Chuck Mangione
Chuck Mangione
American jazz musician
15
Soledad Brothers
Soledad Brothers
16
Buddy Miles
Buddy Miles
American rock and funk drummer
17
One Life Crew
One Life Crew
18
Glass Harp
Glass Harp
American rock band
19
Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims
American jazz saxophonist
20
Bill Keith
Bill Keith
American banjo player
21
Bill Doggett
Bill Doggett
American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist
22
Steve Miller Band
Steve Miller Band
American rock band
23
Tony Williams
Tony Williams
American jazz drummer
24
Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
American jazz guitarist
25
Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun
band
26
Heatwave
Heatwave
funk/disco band
27
New York Dolls
New York Dolls
American rock band
28
Electric Frankenstein
Electric Frankenstein
band
29
The Outcasts
The Outcasts
30
Tractor
Tractor
British band
31
Donnie Iris
Donnie Iris
American musician
32
Eric Gaffney
Eric Gaffney
American musician
33
Wild Bill Davis
Wild Bill Davis
American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger
34
Jim Lea
Jim Lea
British musician, songwriter
35
The Coral
The Coral
British band
36
Of a Revolution
Of a Revolution
American rock band
37
Citizen
Citizen
American musical group; rock band from Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio
38
The Chesterfield Kings
The Chesterfield Kings
American punk rock band
39
Scott Weinrich
Scott Weinrich
American guitarist and singer
40
Be-Bop Deluxe
Be-Bop Deluxe
English progressive rock band
41
Ernie Watts
Ernie Watts
American jazz musician
42
U.S. Maple
U.S. Maple
band
43
Illinois Jacquet
Illinois Jacquet
American jazz tenor saxophonist, songwriter
44
Stiv Bators
Stiv Bators
American punk rock vocalist and guitarist
45
The Rockin' Ramrods
The Rockin' Ramrods
46
The Savage Resurrection
The Savage Resurrection
47
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night
band
48
Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers
English-Canadian singer-songwriter
49
Lou Reizner
Lou Reizner
American record producer
50
Cardiac Kidz
Cardiac Kidz
51
Jack Rose
Jack Rose
American guitarist
52
The Effigies
The Effigies
53
The Runaways
The Runaways
American rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1975
54
The Young Fresh Fellows
The Young Fresh Fellows
American rock group
55
The Beat
The Beat
band
56
The Exploding Hearts
The Exploding Hearts
Intro
Record Labels
Music

Blue Ash is a United States band, formed in Ohio in the summer of 1969 by bassist Frank Secich & vocalist Jim Kendzor. Guitarist Bill Yendrek and drummer David Evans were recruited later that summer.

The band debuted at "The Freak Out", a club in Youngstown, OH on October 3, 1969. They gained a loyal following playing an endless stream of one-nighters over that year. In October 1970, Bill Yendrek, was replaced by guitarist/songwriter Bill "Cupid" Bartolin.

Blue Ash continued playing 250-300 dates a year throughout Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia, while the songwriting team Frank Secich and Bill Bartolin accumulated an enormous amount of original material. In June 1972, Blue Ash signed a production contract with Peppermint Productions of Youngstown and started recording and sending out demos. In late 1972, they were signed to Mercury Records by A&R man Paul Nelson. Their first album No More, No Less was released in May 1973 and received rave reviews in the rock press. It is considered a power pop classic, and is regarded as highly collectible among fans of that genre (it was finally released on CD on the Collectors' Choice label in September 2008). Blue Ash toured and opened for such acts as the Stooges, Bob Seger, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and more but for lack of sales they were dropped by Mercury Records in May 1974.

Blue Ash continued to play live and record, adding drummer Jeff Rozniata who replaced David Evans in 1974. They were signed to a singles deal with Playboy Records in 1977. The first single, "Look At You Now" became a regional hit in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Playboy then offered an album deal. The LP Front Page News was recorded in Los Angeles in August 1977 and released in October of that year. It was selling well, but in early 1978 Playboy International pulled the plug on Playboy Records and Blue Ash was once again without a label. They called it quits in 1979.

A few audience-recorded live tapes of the band exist (including one of the original lineup from January 31, 1974 at the Packard Music Hall in Warren, OH) but are of generally poor recording quality. Other tapes recorded by a fan who followed Blue Ash to many of their gigs are rumored to exist, but have yet to surface on the collectors circuit.

In the summer of 2003 original members Frank Secich, David Evans, Bill Bartolin and Jim Kendzor got together privately in Ohio to play once again and decided to reform the band. On November 8 they played the International Pop Overthrow at the Khyber Pass in Philadelphia.

In the late 1990s, renewed interest toward the band was given a boost as a large cache of unreleased Blue Ash recordings fell into circulation amongst collectors. In the summer of 2004 an official release of that material, a two CD retrospective called Around Again, was released on Not Lame Records. It contains 44 songs of unreleased material spanning their career.

For their "reunion" gigs from 2003–2009, Frank Secich moved from bass guitar to rhythm guitar, and former members Brian Wingrove (piano) and Jeff Rozniata (drums) completed the band along with Bobby Darke (bass).

On October 3, 2009, guitarist Bill "Cupid" Bartolin died from complications of cancer, thus bringing to a sad end the story of Blue Ash.

Frank Secich is now a member of Deadbeat Poets, who have released three critically acclaimed CDs: Notes From The Underground (2007), Circustown (2010) and Youngstown Vortex Sutra in 2011.

In the late 1990s, Jim Kendzor's nephew, guitarist Leonard Crist, and Bill "Cupid" Bartolin's son, drummer Sean Bartolin, formed Cork, a short-lived band based out of Youngstown while Crist played in the Youngstown indie rock bands Savage Pastry, Isabella the Brave, You Are The War That I Want and Abortopotamus Rex.

In 2016, original Blue Ash members Frank Secich and Jim Kendzor began performing as Blue Ash, backed by Secich's current band Deadbeat Poets. Sometimes jocularly referred to as Half Ash, this configuration toured Spain, a hotbed of power pop fandom, to great acclaim in June 2016. Secich, Kendzor and Deadbeat Poets member Pete Drivere have also performed several acoustic shows.