The Main Street Cruisers also benefits from the 50 years of experience of Don Mickel on sax, flute and vocals. He’s been with the Comets since the mid-1990s, having been invited to join by John “Bam-Bam” Lane, one of Bill Haley’s original drummers, who passed away in 2007. A northern New Jersey native, he’s been on the road most of his life, working with a multitude of oldies groups including Danny and the Juniors and his own group The Silvertones. When we found Faith Severson and Doreen Bracht-Įrbeck, who are really fantastic singers, we just clicked - you just know when it’s right.”Īnd Longo should know. Everything came together the first couple of times we rehearsed. “I was looking for a group to join and saw Mark’s ad for a vocalist/guitarist, and since it was an oldies group I thought that was great, because I could play stuff I already knew. “I was doing about 30 or 40 concerts a year with Bill Haley’s Comets - pretty good for an oldies group - but I like to play a lot,” Longo says. Lead vocalist and guitarist Lenny Longo, currently also with Bill Haley’s Comets, saw that as soon as he started rehearsing with the group three years ago. It takes more than great musicianship to make a band successful, and one of the most important qualities is the chemistry among the performers.
