Career
After attending Beachwood High School Jonah Koslen joined the Cleveland, Ohio band Snake Eyes with former Eli Radish Band bassist Danny Sheridan. In 1974, he joined with Michael Stanley, Daniel Pecchio, formerly of Glass Harp, and Tommy Dobeck to form The. During his tenure with the band they released three albums for Epic Records and became highly popular in Northeast Ohio.
Sharing songwriting duties with Stanley, Koslen contributed two of the group"s classic songs: "Strike up the Band" and "Nothing"s Gonna Change My Mind".
Koslen left the in 1977 and formed the band the following year. consisted of Koslen, bassist Bob Benjamin, drummer Kevin Valentine, percussionist Rodney Psyka, guitarist Alan Greene and keyboardist Mark Avsec, formerly with Wild Cherry. Signed to Electric and Music Industries America Records, the group released their debut album, produced by Don Gehman, in July 1979.
Following the album"s release, toured as an opening act, including a dozen shows opening for Kiss. The single "Takin" lieutenant Back" scratched the Billboard Hot 100 at #92 but the album didn"t chart.
With support from Cleveland radio station WMMS, became a popular act locally, headlining Blossom Music Center in June 1980.
The band released its second album, Nobody Leaves This Song Alive in October 1980. Again, the album received airplay in Northeast Ohio but failed to catch on nationally. disbanded in 1981, with Avsec and Valentine joining Donnie Iris" band "The Cruisers". Koslen formed another band,, that released the album Aces in 1983 but they soon broke up.
After that Koslen moved to California and worked on various music projects.
He briefly reunited with Michael Stanley in 1993 for the album.