Donnie Iris, the singer and guitarist widely regarded as Pittsburgh's biggest hometown rock hero, died Monday at the age of 83. He had been fighting bladder cancer for three years. His career stretched across six decades and produced hit singles in both the 1960s and the 1980s.

His largest chart success came with the Jaggerz, whose song "The Rapper" climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. The title referred to "rapping" with girls, not the music genre, whose name had not yet been coined. The group eventually faded, but Iris kept going.

He later became the frontman of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, a band that thrived, especially in the region, during the era of power pop and Midwest rock. A decade after "The Rapper," he returned to the charts with "Ah! Leah!," which reached No. 29 on the Hot 100 in 1980. Two more mid-level hits followed in 1981: "Love Is Like a Rock" and "My Girl."

His national chart performance in that period understated how deeply he was loved in his native Pennsylvania and across the Midwest. He was often seen as playing the same role for Pittsburgh that Michael Stanley played for Cleveland. Joe Grushecky, leader of the Iron City Houserockers, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "For my money, he was the most beloved Pittsburgh musician of all time." He added that he knew no one who was loved more than Iris, who had "that warmth about him."

Iris performed until close to the end. His final show took place Sept. 28 at Citizens Live at the Wylie, where he sang from a chair shortly after a radiation treatment. Longtime keyboardist and best friend Mark Avsec told the Post-Gazette that Iris "sang like a bird that night" despite being in pain as the cancer spread, because he wanted to be with the audience.

Iris started out in a high school doo-wop group in the early 1960s, then played in rock 'n' roll and R&B cover bands before the Jaggerz formed in 1964. The group signed with Gamble Records, founded by Philly soul figures Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, and released its debut album, "Introducing the Jaggerz," in 1969. In the late 1970s he joined Wild Cherry as a guitarist, after that band had scored with "Play That Funky Music." There he met Avsec, who stayed with him in the Cruisers and performed alongside him until last month.

With Marty Lee Hoenes, Albritton McClain and Kevin Valentine completing the lineup, the Cruisers released "Back on the Streets" in 1980, then "King Cool" in 1981, "The High and the Mighty" in 1982 and "Fortune 410" in 1983. MCA Records dropped the band in 1984, but it kept recording into the 2010s. Iris also ran SimCorp in Aliquippa, and he acknowledged that some customers came to him because they admired the rock star or had grown up with his music.

Last year, industry commentator Bob Lefsetz wrote a widely read blog post praising Iris after watching a video of him performing "Love Is Like a Rock" at age 82. Lefsetz said he was struck that Iris still had his chops, and called his picking on the Fender stunning. Avsec replied that he and Iris had been together nearly 50 years and that watching crowds watch Donnie was one of the joys of his life. He said Iris was in his third course of chemotherapy yet still sang hard and told him he was having the time of his life on stage.