Robert "Rob" Parissi is an American singer and guitarist, perhaps best known as frontman for the American funk group Wild Cherry, under which he had his biggest, and so far only hit "Play That Funky Music." He was born in 1950 and raised in the steel mill town of Mingo Junction, Ohio. He graduated from Mingo High School in 1968. Rob formed the band Wild Cherry in 1970 in Steubenville, Ohio, one mile north of Mingo Junction along the Ohio River. The band played the Ohio Valley region, Wheeling, West Virginia and the rest of the Northern West Virginia panhandle, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After Wild Cherry disbanded in 1979, Parissi became a producer and dedicated himself to adult contemporary music. Rob is now writing and recording in the Smooth Jazz genre, as well as collaborating with Steve Oliver and Will Donato. 

January 1st, 1950 in (Age 74)