Off Broadway

This late-’70s power pop group came together in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1977 with a line-up of Cliff Johnson (who had previously been the vocalist with Pezband), Paul Darrow, Paul McDermott, John Pazdan (also ex-Pezband) and Dan Santercola.

The group mixed a quirky blend of Beatles-esque melodies with the power of The Move or The Who and wrote catchy songs which managed to sell around 200,000 copies of their debut album, On, released by Atlantic Records in 1979.

The album reached #101 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the fabulously catchy single Stay in Time, which reached #51 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The album Quick Turns followed on Atlantic in 1980 but met with little acclaim or sales.

Touring as an opening act for heavy metal bands did the group no favours as the audiences hated them, and they became disillusioned with the music business.

They soldiered on through a few more years before giving up in 1983.

Perhaps inspired by the new wave of power pop-inspired bands that sounded very much like Off Broadway, On was re-released in 1996, and four members of the original band got together in the late ’90s as Black on Blond and began playing clubs in the Chicago area.

They began adding Off Broadway material to their set and soon decided to become Off Broadway again.

In 1997, the band recorded and released their first record in 17 years, Fallin’ In, and followed it with a live set in 1998, Live at Fitzgeralds.

They may never have reached the big time, but they are remembered fondly by power pop connoisseurs all over the world.

Cliff Johnson
Vocals, guitar
John Ivan
Guitar
John Pazdan
Bass, vocals
Ken Harck
Drums
Mike Gorman
Bass, vocals
Rob Harding
Guitar, vocals
Dan Santercola
Guitar, vocals
Mike Redmond
Guitar, vocals
Paul Darrow
Keyboards
Paul McDermott
Drums

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