Jerry Blavat Comes to Verizon Hall Tonight

A venerable Philadelphia institution better known as "Boss with the Hot Sauce" and "Geator with the Heater," nationally-renowned radio iconJerry Blavat continues a Kimmel Center tradition with Early Days of Rock and Roll tonight, January 24 at 8pm in Verizon Hall.

Special guests take the stage to perform feel-good hits from 50s and 60s, including Mel Carter, "swamp pop R&B teen idol" Jimmy Clanton, "The Duke" Gene Chandler, "Mr. Personality" Lloyd Price, Maxine Brown, and Chuck Jackson. The evening will feature a thirty-piece orchestra.

Tickets for Jerry Blavat's Early Days of Rock and Roll are available from $41 to $81 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883. Kimmel Center Members enjoy a 10% discount on this event with Promo Code KCMEM1415.

"The Geator is as much a part of Philadelphia's history as the Liberty Bell, Mummers and the Phanatic. I grew up listening to his music and congratulate him on an incredible fifty years in the business and thank him for all he does to promote Philadelphia and our music scene." - Mayor Michael Nutter

South Philly-bred Jerry Blavat influenced a generation of doo wop fans with his on air DJ talents in the 1950's and 60s. He was the first DJ to play hits such as "Sherry" by the Four Seasons and "Twist and Shout" by the Isley Brothers on air in Philadelphia. Beginning in March 1965, Blavat produced and hosted the "Discophonic Scene" on WCAU-TV 10, featuring only live performances, including the Supremes' only Philadelphia television appearance.

Blavat's iconic TV personality continued to charge the social scene with live performances in 1967 with WIFL-TV 6 daily show "Jerry's Place" eventually syndicated coast-to-coast in 42 markets, as well as "On the Air with the Geator" in 1992, and "Backstage with Jerry Blavat" in 1997. In 1998, he was one of the radio greats inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Since then, Blavat has appeared on the PBS fundraising events "Doo Wop 50" and "Doo Wop 51."

Currently the writer behind Atlantic City Weekly's "Ask The Geator" column, Blavat DJs for several radio stations in the greater Philadelphia area, including Trenton and Bucks County's WBCB AM, South Jersey's WVLT FM, and Atlantic City's WOND and WTKU-FM. Released in 2011, his autobiographyYou Only Rock Once: My Life in Music details a career spanning five decades and counting.

With his major hit "Hold me, Thrill me, Kiss me," Mel Carter has had a career in soul music for over fifty years. He has appeared in a variety of movies.

Jimmy Clanton stole the hearts of teenage girls beginning in the 50s, ending the decade with "seven charted hits between 1958 and 1962." A musician who performed on American Bandstand and later worked for Pennsylvania radio station WHEX, Clanton was later welcomed into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and The Museum of the Gulf Coast Hall of Fame.

Member of the Grammy Hall of Fame, Gene Chandler performed with the Du-Kays beginning in 1957. The "Duke of Earl" single was chosen as "One of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll."

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, Louisiana native Lloyd Price rose to fame with his hit "Lawdy Miss Claudy." Recent projects included a turn at Broadway with "Lawdy Miss Claudy" and an autobiography entitled The True King of the Fifties: The Lloyd Price Story.

Maxine Brown began her career in the 1960s with the release of "All in my Mind" to acclaim. With partner Chuck Jackson, she is hailed as "one of the finer R&B vocalist of her time, able to handle soul, jazz, and pop."

Chuck Jackson grew up in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and is acknowledged as "one of the first artists to record material by Burt Bacharach and Hal David successfully."

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