Music still resonates for Michael Stanley bandmate Marc Lee Shannon
Mark J. PriceNortheast Ohio lost a rock icon when Michael Stanley died last year. Akron musician Marc Lee Shannon lost a good friend.
As a 25-year member of The Resonators, Shannon performed onstage with Stanley and wrote and recorded albums with him. But they also liked to hang out, go to restaurants, watch sporting events, call each other up, discuss music gear and swap stories.
“We oftentimes would be at shows and I would forget. ‘Oh, yeah. I guess that’s Michael Stanley.’ Other people saw him. But to The Resonators, he was our bandleader and friend,” Shannon said.
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It’s been a year since Stanley died of lung cancer March 5, 2021, at age 72. Shannon is slowly adjusting to a world without Stanley.
In November, he released his third solo album, “Lucky 7,” a collection of seven soulful songs produced by Akron’s Ryan Humbert. He’ll showcase those tunes as well as older material in a sold-out concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 5, on the Knight Stage at Akron Civic Theatre.
“Lucky 7” includes the song “Steady On,” a tribute to Shannon’s friend, mentor and bandmate. It was one of the last things they worked on before Stanley’s diagnosis.
“It really is the song that Michael and I should have written together, but we didn’t get a chance to do it,” Shannon said.
Vocalist Jennifer Lee, another longtime Stanley collaborator, provides harmony on the song and video.
“When I go, I’ll be right here in your heart, just believe,” Shannon sings. “Between your dark and lightest moments, I will never leave.”
Other musicians on “Lucky 7” include keyboardist David Young, drummer Ed Davis, bassist Kevin Martinez, saxophonist Tim Harker, trumpeter Kyle O’Donnell and trombonist Brian Mayle.
Shannon, 63, said he wanted to make a soulful record in which all the musicians were in the same room at the same time. It’s a throwback to the 1960s with “a lot of cool vocals and a lot of horn parts,” he said.
Jim Stewart recorded the album in Cleveland, and Paul Blakemore mastered it in Nashville. Shannon described “Lucky 7” as a “fun, funky, organic album of pandemic-born songs.”
Shannon said it was an absolute honor to perform in three sold-out concerts celebrating Stanley’s life last December at MGM Northfield Park.
“It was really eerie at times because it was almost as if he was there with us,” he said.
He noticed something at the shows. The fans started out with great excitement, but after the concerts began, the crowd’s eyes swept the stage from left to right. The finality sank in. Michael Stanley was gone.
“Somewhere around the end of the first song and the start of the second song, I watched people — in the rows that I could see — have that moment, that realization, that you know what, he’s not there,” Shannon said. “I watched it happen on all three nights.”
The Resonators have scheduled encore shows May 28 at Goodyear Theater in Akron and May 29 at the Robins Theatre in Warren. Both concerts will start at 7:30 p.m. and feature The Vindys, a Youngstown band.
“People want to still come and experience the music together,” Shannon said. “I’m honored to be asked to continue to be a part of this.”
Shannon said Stanley was a down-to-earth individual who didn’t act like a rock star. “He was a guy just like the rest of us,” he said.
But Stanley was a tough taskmaster before showtime, Shannon said.
“You did not walk onstage with Michael not knowing your parts,” he said. “It just didn’t happen. You were very quickly corrected in the way that a really good coach will correct you. We all wanted to make sure that we had it together when we got there.”
As Stanley used to remind the band, the concerts were always for the fans, not the musicians.
“That’s what he would constantly remind us,” Shannon said.
And that’s what Shannon continues to do.
When he thinks of Michael Stanley, he remembers the music they made, the fans they entertained and the fun they had together.
“How lucky was I to be able to be a part of that,” Shannon said.
For more information, visit www.marcleesshannon.com and follow him on bandsintown.com. Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
What: Marc Lee Shannon “Lucky 7 Live!”
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, March 5
Where: The Knight Stage, Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St.
Status: Sold out
More info: 330-253-2488 or akroncivic.com
Akron flashback:Thank you, Michael Stanley, for the music and memories