Artists like Donnie Iris

The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, harmonica, trumpet, and saxophone player Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, drummer Stephen Bladd, vocalist/keyboardist Seth Justman, and bassist Danny Klein. Wolf and Justman served as principal songwriters. The band played R&B-influenced blues rock during the 1970s, and achieved commercial success before moving toward a more mainstream new wave sound in the early 1980s, which brought the band to its commercial peak.

Edward Joseph Money was an American singer and songwriter who had his greatest commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s. Money had eleven Top 40 singles, starting with "Baby Hold On" in 1977 and including the Billboard Top 10 hits "Take Me Home Tonight" (1986) and "Walk on Water" (1988). Critic Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times called him a working-class rocker. In 1987, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Take Me Home Tonight".

Red Rider, later known as Tom Cochrane & Red Rider, is a Canadian rock band popular in the 1980s. While they achieved significant success in Canada, the band never had a song in the top 40 in the United States, although "Lunatic Fringe" from their second album, 1981's As Far as Siam, became popular on US album-oriented rock radio. They also charted on the Billboard Hot 100 with "White Hot" from their debut album Don't Fight It (1979) and "Young Thing, Wild Dreams " from Breaking Curfew (1984), and charted comparably to "Lunatic Fringe" on Mainstream Rock (AOR) with "Big League", "Human Race", and "Power", the latter two tracks off 1983's Neruda.

William Haislip Squier is an American rock musician, singer, and songwriter who had a string of hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include "The Stroke", "Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover", "In the Dark", "Rock Me Tonite", "Everybody Wants You", "Emotions in Motion", "Love Is the Hero", and "Don't Say You Love Me". Squier's best-selling album, 1981's Don't Say No, is considered a landmark release of arena rock, bridging the gap between power pop and hard rock.

Robert Dupuis, known professionally as Robbie Dupree, is an American singer best known for his hit songs "Steal Away" and "Hot Rod Hearts".

Aldo Caporuscio, known by the stage name Aldo Nova, is a Canadian hard rock musician. He gained recognition with his 1982 debut album Aldo Nova, which peaked at Billboard's number 8 position, and its accompanying single, "Fantasy", which reached number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and boosted sales for its parent album. In 1997, he won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year as co-producer of Celine Dion's 1996 album Falling into You. He co-wrote four songs on the 2000 album Uno by La Ley, which won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album.

Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco, California. The band formed in 1982 and experienced a surge of popularity during the 1980s with the release of several successful albums and hit singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, though bassist Jack Blades performed on all but one of their albums. Other current members of the band include guitarist Keri Kelli and keyboardist Eric Levy.

Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in Calgary, Alberta in 1979. Loverboy's hit singles, particularly "Turn Me Loose" and "Working for the Weekend", have become arena rock staples and are still heard on many classic rock and classic hits radio stations across Canada and the United States.

The Babys are a British rock group best known for their songs "Isn't It Time" and "Every Time I Think of You". Both songs were composed by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy, and each reached No. 13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 on the Cashbox chart in the late 1970s. "Back on My Feet Again" also reached the U.S. Top 40 in 1980. The original Babys line-up consisted of founding member keyboardist/guitarist Michael Corby, and in order of joining the group, vocalist/bassist John Waite, drummer Tony Brock and guitarist Wally Stocker.

The Outfield were an English pop rock band from the East End of London, formed in 1984. The band achieved success in the mid-1980s and are best remembered for their hit single "Your Love". The band's lineup consisted of guitarist John Spinks, vocalist and bassist Tony Lewis, and drummer Alan Jackman.

John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band is an American rock band from Rhode Island which began its career in 1972, and achieved mainstream success in the 1980s. Originally known as simply Beaver Brown, they got their name from a paint can. The classic lineup of the group started out as a New England bar band based in Narragansett, Rhode Island and established a following up and down the Northeast corridor with strongholds in the beach resort towns of Narragansett and Misquamicut, Rhode Island; New York City; New Haven, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; and Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Huey Lewis and the News are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and Mainstream Rock charts. Their sound draws upon earlier pop, rhythm & blues and doo-wop artists, and their own material has been labeled as blue-eyed soul, new wave, power pop, and roots rock.

The Knack was an American power pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1978 by Doug Fieger, Berton Averre, Prescott Niles (bass) and Bruce Gary (drums). Spearheaded by the success of their debut single "My Sharona", their first album, Get the Knack (1979), reached number-one in several countries. However, their next two albums, ...But The Little Girls Understand (1980) and Round Trip (1981), were less successful, leading the band to disband in 1982.

The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include "One Thing Leads to Another", "Saved by Zero", "Are We Ourselves?", and "Secret Separation", each of which charted in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, as well as Mainstream Rock chart hits "Red Skies", "Stand or Fall", "Driven Out" and "Deeper and Deeper", which was featured on the soundtrack of the 1984 film Streets of Fire.

Harry Forster Chapin was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy Award-winning artist and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, has sold over 16 million records worldwide.

Triumph is a Canadian rock band formed in 1975 that was popular during the late 1970s and the 1980s, building on their reputation and success as a live band. Between its 16 albums and DVDs, the band has received 18 gold and nine platinum awards in Canada and the United States. They were nominated for multiple Juno Awards, including the "Group of the Year Award" in 1979, 1985, 1986 and 1987. They were inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2007, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and Canada's Walk of Fame in 2019.

Glass Tiger is a Canadian rock band from Newmarket, Ontario that formed in 1981. The band has released five studio albums. Its 1986 debut album, The Thin Red Line, went quadruple platinum in Canada and gold in the United States. Two singles from that album, "Don't Forget Me " and "Someday", reached the U.S. Top 10. Glass Tiger has won five Juno Awards and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1987. In 2025, the band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums reached the top 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums chart including Diamantina Cocktail and First Under the Wire, which both peaked at No. 2. Nine singles appeared in the top 20 on the related singles chart, with "Help Is on Its Way" (1977) as their only number-one hit. Ten singles reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Reminiscing" their highest, peaking at No. 3.

The Smithereens are an American rock band from Carteret, New Jersey. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio, Jim Babjak, Mike Mesaros, and Dennis Diken. This original lineup continued until 2006, when Mesaros left the band and Severo Jornacion took over on bass guitar until Mesaros' return in 2016. After DiNizio died in 2017, the band continued performing live shows as a trio with various guest vocalists.