1. Joseph S "Joe" Ruggiero, who performed as Joey Powers, was an American pop singer and songwriter whose record "Midnight Mary" reached No 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early January 1964.
12 Facts About Joey Powers
1. 2.
Joey Powers later became a booking agent, recording studio owner, record producer, and church leader.
3.
Joey Powers graduated from Washington High School in 1953 and at one time played in a band with Bobby Vinton.
4.
Joey Powers won a wrestling scholarship to Ohio State University before returning to Pennsylvania, where he recorded three singles for the Nu-Clear and ABC labels under the name Joey Rogers in 1958.
5.
Joey Powers's singing was heard by songwriter and record producer Paul Vance, who signed him to RCA Records and changed his name to Joey Powers so as to avoid confusion with the singer Jimmy Rodgers.
6.
Joey Powers released several singles produced by Vance, but again without success, and he returned to Ohio State University to complete his degree and work as a wrestling coach.
7.
Lorna Dune's nearly note-for-note answer record "Midnight Joey Powers" followed soon after.
8.
Joey Powers later ran a booking agency in Hazlet, New Jersey, and a recording studio in West Orange, New Jersey used by musicians including Jethro Tull, Tony Orlando, Steve Allen, The Kinks and Aerosmith.
9.
Joey Powers managed the band Phantom's Opera that included Richie Sambora, Tico Torres and Alec John Such, later of Bon Jovi, and helped produce a solo album by drummer Joe English.
10.
Joey Powers won a Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Album of the Year in 1991 for the album Triumphant Return by Christian rock group Whitecross.
11.
Joey Powers sold the recording studio in the early 1990s and returned to college to study theology, later becoming an ordained minister, and setting up the Bayshore Gospel church in Keyport, New Jersey.
12.
Joey Powers was survived by his three children and extended family.