DONNA ROSE - BMHOF CLASS OF 2024

Donna Rose Pecoraro knew from her earliest age that she would one day be on stage. As a child, she was inspired by the music of show tunes, jazz favorites, Perry Como, and Barbra Streisand. Against the wishes of her father, she took free piano lessons at school, and with the secret encouragement of her mother, she won an acting scholarship to the Studio Theatre as a high school sophomore.

But Buffalo’s bustling live music scene in the late 60s changed Donna’s passion from acting to singing, and in 1968 she got her first professional job with the Schillings, who traveled across Ontario and Quebec. Shortly thereafter, she moved on to The Better Way, playing locally and regionally in the Northeast. 

Her bands through the 70s included Voyage, Brothers Plus, Rose Fever, and Pinnacle, playing mostly Top 40 and Disco.

Mentored by renowned jazz singer Mark Murphy, Donna changed her style to sing standards and book shows as a solo artist, backed by a number of future Buffalo Music Hall of Fame Inducted Members including Wally Jederman and Bobby Jones. She also sang R&B at a number of local clubs in the early 1980s.

After several years on hiatus to start a family, Donna returned to music in 1990, forming Bittersweet Rose to play blues clubs such as Alternative Brews. Donna and her partner Jim Wozniak performed and recorded together for two decades until Jim’s passing in 2009. Three years later, Donna returned to sing with the Veltri/Guarino R & B Revue, and to form her own Donna Rose Band.
 
She has made guest appearances with 12 Pack Jack, James Anthony, Jack Civiletto and others, and has been a featured artist at the Tacoma Performing Arts Center, after six decades of service to the Buffalo music community.