Syracuse’s Greatest Hits: A playlist of songs by famous artists with Central NY ties (2024)

Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard is giving the “Syracuse Playlist” a remix this month by looking back at some of the biggest songs of all time from artists with Central New York ties.

“Syracuse’s Greatest Hits” is a new playlist highlighting famous singers and bands from Syracuse and CNY, including Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy-winning musicians, buzzy rappers, Oscar-winning songwriters, and culturally significant artists. We’ve compiled 33 artists in rock, hip-hop, pop, country, jazz, R&B, swing, blues, and more who have had a major impact, from selling millions of albums (or generating billions of streams) to delivering breakthroughs for their genres or unique backgrounds.

Songs are also featured in a Spotify playlist called “Syracuse’s Greatest Hits.” You can listen with a free Spotify account (or a paid subscription) and click on each artist to hear more of their songs, share them or add them to your own playlists to listen to at home or on a mobile device. (Cell phone data or WiFi may be required.)

Enjoy!

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Post Malone - “Circles”

Post Malone was born Austin Richard Post on July 4, 1995, in Syracuse, N.Y. He lived in Central New York until he was 10, when his family moved to Texas because his father (a former wedding DJ in CNY) was offered a job working for the Dallas Cowboys. The Grammy-nominated singer currently lives in Utah, but his family still owns a home in Baldwinsville. “Posty” is one of the biggest musicians on the planet today, with numerous RIAA records broken for platinum singles (12 of his songs, including “Circles,” “Sunflower” and “Rockstar,” have more than a billion streams — each — on Spotify alone) and collaborations with superstars like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, and Ozzy Osbourne. He’s also known for his many tattoos, roles in movies (such as the recent “Road House” reboot) and many business ventures, including Bud Light Super Bowl ads, a professional beer pong league, a clothing brand (Trading Post Apparel), and his own lines of Crocs and Harley Davidson gear.

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The Chainsmokers - “Closer”

2012 Syracuse University graduate Andrew “Drew” Taggart is a singer, DJ and producer that’s best known as one-half of the EDM (electronic dance music) duo The Chainsmokers. He started writing their biggest hit, “Closer” (featuring Halsey), which reached No. 1 in 2016 and topped the charts for three months, while he was a student in SU’s Bandier music program and said some of the lyrics were inspired by his actual college experience. However, contrary to campus rumors, the line “roommate back in Boulder” was not originally a reference to Syracuse’s Boland Hall — he did live in BBB (Brewster, Boland and Brockway halls) as a freshman but said that part of the lyrics were based on some of his friends who went to school in Boulder, Colorado.

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Grace Jones - “Slave to the Rhythm”

Singer, model and actress Grace Jones was born in Jamaica, moved to Syracuse at a young age and first started performing while attending Onondaga Community College. Her late father has a street named after him in Syracuse, Bishop Robert W. Jones Way, and Grace has a star on the Syracuse Walk of Fame outside the Landmark Theatre. An icon and provocateur of the 1980s and ‘90s, she sang club hits like “Slave to the Rhythm” and “Pull Up to the Bumper” while also appearing movies like “Conan the Destroyer,” James Bond’s “A View to a Kill,” and “Boomerang.” She still performs today, hula-hooping on stage at concert festivals and collaborating with artists like Beyonce, Gorillaz and Janelle Monae.

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Barenaked Ladies - “It’s All Been Done”

Steven Page has lived in the Syracuse area for more than a decade since leaving Barenaked Ladies in 2009, currently residing in Manlius and enjoying regular trips to Wegmans and the New York State Fair. He performs as both a solo artist and the leader of the Steven Page Trio, but he’ll always be tied to BNL, the Canadian Hall of Fame band known for songs like “If I Had $1000000,” “The Old Apartment,” “It’s All Been Done” (which he wrote solo) and “One Week.”

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REO Speedwagon – “Keep on Loving You”

REO Speedwagon’s original drummer Alan Gratzer was born in Syracuse and performed on the band’s biggest hits, including “Keep On Loving You” and “Can’t Fight This Feeling.” Gratzer, who formed the classic rock group with University of Illinois classmate Neal Doughty in the late ‘60s, co-wrote their early songs and provided backing vocals, plus co-produced 1980′s certified diamond (10 times platinum) album “Hi Infidelity” (featuring “Keep On Loving You” and “Take It On the Run”). Gratzer left the band in 1988 and retired from music, but briefly reunited with singer Kevin Cronin and the current lineup in 2019.

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Jeff Buckley - “Grace” (with Gary Lucas)

Syracuse native Gary Lucas co-wrote Jeff Buckley’s “Grace,” named one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone. Lucas, who graduated from Nottingham High School in 1969, wrote the music and Buckley penned the lyrics. Lucas today is a guitarist, songwriter and composer whose career also included performing with Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band and the psychedelic rock group Gods and Monsters; working for CBS Records (including promoting The Clash as “The Only Band That Matters”); touring all over the world; more than 50 albums; and scores composed for a long list of films and TV shows including 2012′s “Greetings from Tim Buckley.”

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Dio – “Rainbow in the Dark”

Ronnie James Dio, born Ronald James Padavona in New Hampshire and raised in Cortland, N.Y., is a metal legend who famously popularized the “devil horns” in rock and roll. He started out as a trumpet player, performing at the New York State Music Festival in sixth grade, and later adopted the name “Dio” while forming a doo-wop band at Cortland High School. He became an international star with bands like Elf, Rainbow, Dio, and even replacing Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath. The hometown hero had a street named after him in Cortland (”Dio Way”) and he was posthumously awarded a SAMMYs Lifetime Achievement Award from the Syracuse Area Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

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Lou Reed - “Walk on the Wild Side”

1964 Syracuse University graduate Lou Reed is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, inducted as both a solo artist and for The Velvet Underground, the hugely influential rock band that included guitarist Sterling Morrison, a classmate at SU, and drummer Maureen “Moe” Tucker, the younger sister of Morrison’s friend from Syracuse. Reed, who died in 2013, wrote songs and poetry while at SU, plus hosted his own late-night show on campus radio station WAER called “Excursions on a Wobbly Rail.” He maintained his connections to Syracuse years later, founding the Lou Reed/Delmore Schwartz scholarship for creative writing students in 2007 and sharing the VU song “Head Held High” in a video ad for the school highlighting prominent alumni.

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The Rascals – “Good Lovin’” (Felix Cavaliere)

Syracuse University alumnus Felix Cavaliere, who grew up in Pelham, N.Y., is a singer, songwriter, producer and musician best known for his work with The Young Rascals, also known as simply The Rascals, on ‘60s hits like “Good Lovin’,” “Groovin’,” “A Beautiful Morning,” “How Can I Be Sure” and “People Got to Be Free.” He was also a member of Joey Dee and the Starliters (“Peppermint Twist”), had a solo hit with “Only a Lonely Heart Sees,” and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Rascals.

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Gym Class Heroes - “Cupid’s Chokehold”

Frontman Travie McCoy, who grew up in the Finger Lakes city of Geneva, formed Gym Class Heroes in 1997 as a teenager with his friends Matt McGinley and Ryan Geise. The group built a following by performing a mix of hip-hop and alternative rock at Syracuse University and other CNY colleges; band members included Milo Bonacci, who went on to form Ra Ra Riot at SU, and Cornell University alumnus Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo. Gym Class Heroes scored two top 10 hits with the Supertramp-sampling “Cupid’s Chokehold” (feat. Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy) and “Stereo Hearts” (feat. Adam Levine of Maroon 5), plus won an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 2007. McCoy also had a solo hit with “Billionaire” (feat. Bruno Mars).

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Ra Ra Riot – “Can You Tell”

Syracuse is the only city all the members of Ra Ra Riot lived in together, according to lead singer Wesley Miles. The indie rock band formed in 2006 at Syracuse University when Miles, guitarist Milo Bonacci, bassist Mathieu Santos, and violinist Rebecca Zeller started performing together with cellist Alexandra Lawn, who left the group in 2012, and drummer John Pike, who died in 2007. Ra Ra Riot, which now includes current drummer Kenny Bernard, has released five albums, including the acclaimed 2008 release “The Rhumb Line” and 2019′s popular shift into synthpop, “Need Your Light.”

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Benny Mardones – “Into the Night”

Benny Mardones, a.k.a. “The Voice,” was best known for “Into the Night,” one of the few songs to reach the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 twice (in 1980 and 1989). Between those nine years, Mardones struggled with cocaine and alcohol, but when his son was born in 1985, he moved to Syracuse to get clean. He successfully kicked the drug habit and began performing again with a Central New York band, The Hurricanes, in his adopted hometown. “When I was addicted to drugs, Syracuse opened its arms to me,” hetold syracuse.comin 2017, before playinghis final showat the Turning Stone Resort Casino. “It gave me my life back. The fans never wavered. The radio stations played my songs.” Mardones died in 2020.

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Toosii - “Favorite Song”

Toosii, whose real name is Nau’Jour Grainger, is a Syracuse native who moved to North Carolina at age 13, but still thinks of Syracuse as his hometown. He had a huge year in 2023, as his breakout single “Favorite Song” hit No. 5 on theBillboard Hot 100and No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs, earning him appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “The Voice.” He was also named to the XXL Freshman Class in 2021 and has collaborated with artists like Future, 21 Savage, DaBaby, Latto, and Wiz Khalifa.

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Pete Yorn - “Strange Condition”

Yorn is a 1996 Syracuse University graduate best known for his acclaimed 2001 album, “Musicforthemorningafter” (featuring “Strange Condition”); songs in films and TV shows like “Shrek 2,” “Spider-Man,” “Me Myself & Irene” and “Just Like Heaven”; plus collaborations with actress Scarlett Johansson and a role in the Oscar-nominated film “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The singer-songwriter worked as a DJ at Harry’s bar while attending Syracuse and has remained a fan of his alma mater, famously appearing on David Letterman’s show the night SU basketball won the NCAA championship in 2003, and giving the 2011 convocation speech to SU’s School of Visual and Performing Arts.

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Cherry Poppin’ Daddies - “Zoot Suit Riot”

Cherry Poppin’ Daddies lead singer Steve Perry was born in Syracuse and grew up in the Southern Tier, moving to Oregon after graduating from Vestal High School. His band was a big part of the ‘90s swing-ska revival with hits like “Zoot Suit Riot,” which reached No. 15 on the Modern Rock chart and earned CPD a nomination for Best New Artist at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.

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Gloriana - “(Kissed You) Good Night”

Gloriana was a country music group that featured Utica-born-and-raised brothers Tom and Mike Gossin along with Cheyenne Kimball and Rachel Reinert. Their 2009 hit “Wild at Heart” led to winning Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards and Top New Vocal Group at the ACM Awards. Tom Gossin co-wrote their platinum-selling followup single “(Kissed You) Good Night.” Kimball left the band after its first album and Reinert left after a third album, effectively breaking up Gloriana, but the Gossins have continued to write and perform as solo artists.

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Black Eyed Peas - “Hot” (with Kim Hill)

Syracuse native Kim Hill was a singer on Black Eyed Peas’ first two albums, but left in 2000 — just before rappers will.i.am, Taboo and apl.de.ap hit it big with Fergie on songs like “Let’s Get It Started,” “Where Is the Love?” and “I Gotta Feeling.” Hill grew up in Camillus, performing with the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, at West Genesee High School, and in the choir at Payton Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ. She found success in commercials and “In Living Color” in the ‘90s before joining BEP, becoming a part of their early success appearing on “Soul Train” on Warren Beatty’s “Bulworth” soundtrack. She said she quit the hip-hop group when music executives pushed her to be more sexy and dance in a bikini, opting for a solo career as a singer, DJ and actress in small indie projects. She’s also stayed close with family in Syracuse, donating a kidney in 2005 to her brother Brian, a founding pastor of The King’s Healing Room.

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Martin Sexton - “Diner”

Syracuse native Martin Sexton is a singer-songwriter who has released more than a dozen albums, been featured on TV shows like “Scrubs” and “Parenthood,” and earned famous fans like actressKristen Belland news anchorBrian Williams. He moved to Massachusetts in his early 20s but remains a big fan of his hometown, even shouting out The Gem Diner (formerly Doc’s Little Gem) on his 1996 song “Diner.”

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Frank Sinatra – “Come Fly with Me” (written by Jimmy Van Heusen)

Syracuse native and Syracuse University alumnus Jimmy Van Heusen is not a household name, but he may be the biggest songwriter to come out of the Salt City. Van Heusen earned four Academy Awards, an Emmy Award, three Tony nominations and a Grammy nomination for co-writing songs made famous by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and other crooners including “Come Fly With Me,” “Call Me Irresponsible,” “All the Way,” “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” “Swinging on a Star” and “Love and Marriage.” He was born Edward Chester Babco*ck on the city’s West side in 1913, got his start as a disc jockey for WSYR and WFBL, and was recognized in his hometown with a star on the Syracuse Walk of Stars and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the SAMMYS.

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Joanne Shenandoah – “Peace and Power”

Joanne Shenandoah, a world-renowned singer and activist from the Oneida Indian Nation, released more than a dozen albums and performed at venues ranging from the White House and Carnegie Hall to the Vatican. She won a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Native American Music Album for her part in the “Sacred Ground: A Tribute to Mother Earth,” received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the national Native American Music Awards and entered the SAMMYS Hall of Fame at the 2007 Syracuse Area Music Awards. Shenandoah died in 2021.

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Joe Bonamassa - “Blues Deluxe”

Blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa was born in New Hartford, N.Y., and grew up in nearby New York Mills. The Grammy-nominated musician first started performing in Upstate New York as “Smokin’ Joe” when he was 12 years old and soon opened for B.B. King, eventually becoming a blues legend himself with 16 solo albums since 2000.

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Libba Cotten - “Freight Train”

Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten, who won her first Grammy Award at the age of 90 while living in Syracuse, was best known for folk songs “Freight Train” and “Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie,” and had her compositions covered by artists like Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Gary Clark Jr. and The Quarrymen (who later became The Beatles). The self-taught musician played the guitar upside down because she was left-handed, and pioneered “Cotten Picking,” a style of playing bass notes with her index finger and melody notes with her thumb. She was declared a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts and recognized by the Smithsonian Institution, plus posthumously honored with the Early Influence Award at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. A bronze statue of her likeness sits in The Libba Cotten Grove, at the corner of South State and Castle Streets.

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Phish - “Tweezer”

Phish drummer Jon Fishman is a Syracuse native and a SAMMYS Hall of Fame member. He co-founded the popular jam band with Trey Anastasio, Jeff Holdsworth and Mike Gordon at the University of Vermont in 1983. Anastasio is typically the lead singer, but Fishman sometimes contributes vocals and co-writes songs for the group, including on Phish’s “Tweezer” and “Taste.”

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Anthrax - “Madhouse”

Thrash metal singer-drummer Joey Belladonna, born Joseph Bellardini in Oswego, was nominated for three Grammys for his work in the ‘80s and early ‘90s with Anthrax’s classic lineup. Belladonna has also performed as a solo act and with Central New York-based bands like Chief Big Way and the Journey tribute Beyond Frontiers.

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X Ambassadors – “Renegades”

X Ambassadors is an alternative rock band from Ithaca featuring singer-guitarist Sam Harris; his brother Casey, who was born blind and plays keyboards; and guitarist Noah Feldshuh. XA released its debut album in 2015 and hit No. 1 with “Renegades,” which has 774 million plays on Spotify and was featured in a national car commercial for the Jeep Renegade. Other hits include “Unsteady,” “Home” (with Machine Gun Kelly), and “Sucker for Pain” (with Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons, Logic and Ty Dolla $ign).

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Clairo - “Sofia”

Claire Cottrill, better known as singer-songwriter Clairo, went viral with her bedroom-pop song when she was a 19-year-old freshman at Syracuse University. The song now has 450 million streams on Spotify and led to bigger hits, including “Bubble Gum” (479 million) and “Sofia” (710 million), plus a Rolling Stone magazine cover and became a beacon for Gen Z fans who find comfort in her lyrics about depression and bisexuality.

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Savoy Brown – “Tell Mama” (Kim Simmonds)

Kim Simmonds, a Welsh musician who sang and played guitar and harmonica, founded the blues-rock band Savoy Brown in London during the 1960s. He moved to Oswego County in 1992 and reformed the group with Central New York musicians, plus performed in Blues Express and as a solo artist. The late frontman’s hits with Savoy Brown include “Hellbound Train,” “I’m Tired - Where Am I” and “Tell Mama.”

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Garland Jeffreys – “Matador”

Jeffreys graduated from Syracuse University in 1965 and was part of the cultural revolution on campus along with Lou Reed, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. He studied art history at SU but soon found his niche as a singer-songwriter, combining rock, reggae, blues and soul music on songs like “Matador,” “96 Tears,” “Hail Hail Rock ‘N’ Roll,” and the unofficial skaters’ anthem “Wild in the Streets” (covered by The Circle Jerks for the 1986 film “Thrashin’”). Jeffreys’ career also included collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, John Cale, Dr. John, and Duncan Sheik. He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hal of Fame in 2016 and retired in 2019.

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moe. – “Happy Hour Hero”

moe., a jam band which formed at the University at Buffalo in 1989, features members all with roots in Upstate New York. Al Schnier, Chuck Garvey, Vinnie Amico and Rob Derhak all hail from the Utica area, and the group frequently performs across the region, including at Syracuse’s SAMMY Awards and their own music festival, known as moe.down. Popular songs include “Happy Hour Hero,” “Nebraska,” “Okayalright” and “In a Big Country.”

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Andy Mineo – “You Can’t Stop Me”

Andy Mineo is a2006 Henninger High School graduate who got his start in Syracuse with the hip-hop group Fat Camp before finding international success as a solo Christian rapper. His songs “Coming In Hot” (with Lecrae) and “You Can’t Stop Me” each have more than 100 million streams on Spotify and his music can be heard in movies and TV shows like “Moms’ Night Out,” “Dear White People” and “Gran Turismo.” He also notably was part of Lecrae’s Grammy-winning album “Gravity” — the first hip-hop release to win Best Gospel Album — and paid tribute to his deaf sister with the 2016 ASL (American Sign Language) music video for “Hear My Heart.”

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SpongeBob SquarePants – “The Best Day Ever” (Tom Kenny)

Tom Kenny, a 1980 graduate of Bishop Grimes High School and a Syracuse Area Music Awards (SAMMYS) Hall of Famer, is best known as the voice of “SpongeBob SquarePants” for 25 years. The prolific voice actor has done more than 500 movies and TV shows, but also finds time for his love of music, including performing with his rock-and-soul band Kenny & The Hi-Seas and recording/writing songs for the many “SpongeBob” films and series.

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Jimmy Cavallo - “Rock, Rock, Rock”

Cavallo was Syracuse’s father of rock and roll, playing saxophone in bands that mixed swing music with rhythm and blues in the 1940s. He caught the attention of famed NYC DJ Alan Freed, who got Cavallo signed to Coral Records and put him in the 1956 movie “Rock! Rock! Rock!” Cavallo and his band, the House Rockers, played the title track for the film as well as “The Big Beat” before returning to Syracuse in the ‘60s. Cavallo, also known for the fan favorite “Fanny Brown,” died in 2019 at the age of 92.

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Vanessa Williams – “Save the Best for Last”

Williams is a singer, actress and model who was the first Black woman crowned Miss America in 1983 while she was a Syracuse University student. She later got a bachelor’s degree from SU and has gone on to an impressive career that includes the Grammy-nominated “Save the Best for Last,” the Oscar-winning “Pocahontas” song “Colors of the Wind,” a Tony Award nomination for Broadway’s “Into the Woods,” three Emmy Awards for “Ugly Betty,” and roles in “Desperate Housewives,” “666 Park Avenue,” “Shaft,” “Dance with Me,” “Eraser,” and numerous TV specials.

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“Syracuse Playlist” is a monthly feature on syracuse.com highlighting new music from local artists. If you want to share your music, send an email to gherbert@syracuse.com with the following information:

• Your artist/band name
• The title of your new album, EP or single
• Photo of artist/band (hi-res .jpg preferred)
• Where you’re located/from
• A short bio: 2-3 sentences about you and your sound
• A link to the best place for fans to check out your music (i.e. Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Music, YouTube)
• A website for people to get more information about you (i.e. official site, social media page)