Claremont Drive Band - Lombard Summer Concerts

Claremont Drive Band was started about 20 years ago by Ron McKee, Al Konrath and John Carbonaro.

We started playing in Ron’s basement in Cicero, Il. As the years went on we got together less and less. In September of 2009 we received a call from a guy asking if we were in need of a drummer. Well, not really because we only had this fantasy band we called The Dead and The Dying. However, we invited him over and things began to click. The search was now on for a bass player.

Enter Ted Pappas. We started to practice on a regular basis and began to put together a song list, but we were missing one piece of the puzzle. We needed a lead guitarist who would be open to our genre and vision.

In the meantime, if we were going to do this we realized we would have to change our name to something more suitable. We settled on CLAREMONT DRIVE with our slogan, Baby Boomer Rock and Roll.

In April of 2010 we found the lead guitarist we were looking for, Paul Kranz. He worked very hard to catch up and learn the songs we already knew. Since then his ability and his input has brought us to a new level.

A major change took place in April 2011. We felt the need to change. We were very fortunate to find Jim Robinson to take over as our drummer. He has played for many years with several different bands. His enthusiasm and love for the music of our era comes shining through both at practice and on stage

At the end of 2017 John Carbonaro decided to hang up his guitar. As a founding member his talent, input, and influence will be missed. But the band moved forward. Enter Cindy Kranz, (Paul’s wife). Her talent and enthusiasm brought some new energy and a new array of songs. We were quite fortunate to see her come out of “retirement”!

Tragically we lost Jim Robinson our drummer in December of 2020 to cancer. He was a wonderful drummer and even a better man will be forever missed. We have moved ahead and found Rich Mulvan to step in behind the drums. It appears 2021 will be challenging but we will forge ahead.

Welcome 2021. We made some changes and added guitarist Dennis Baier and Carole Burton who will play some keys, harmonica and valuable vocals. We decided to expand our song library to push into the 80’s and even the 90’s. All that is done with our fans and dancers in mind.

To start 2022 Carole decided to “retire” and changed drummers. Jay Virzi brings arguably the most dynamic beat Claremont Drive has ever had. His vocals are a plus!

The rest of the story is the future!