Artists with CNY ties

Ronnie James Dio, 2005

There are a plethora of household names that have past personal ties to Central New York as it's too easy to start in a big area.  Been meaning to do this.  Here is a list of ones I know:

Ronnie James Dio (pictured; raised in Cortland)
Grace Jones (lived in Lyncourt section of Syracuse and attended OCC and *)
Pete Yorn*
Libba Cotten
Benny Mardones
Vanessa Williams (also on our sister blog)*
Lou Reed*
Joe Driscoll (born in Syracuse; was in the UK for several years before coming home)
Joey Belladonna (from Anthrax; from Oswego)
Kim Simmonds (Savoy Brown; lives in Oswego County)
Masters of Reality (from Syracuse)
John Silver (early Genesis drummer; attended Cornell)
Gym Glass Heroes (founding members are from Geneva)
Annette Funicello (born in Utica)
Rick Cua (born in Syracuse)
Martin Sexton (same)

Alan Gratzer (formerly of REO Speedwagon; born in Syracuse)
Tommy deCarlo (Boston; born in Utica)
Joe Bonnamassa (from Utica suburb New York Mills)

Jon Fishman (Phish; Jamesville-deWitt alumnus)
Josh Batstone (The Voice; from Fulton)
Gary Carpentier (The Voice; from Oswego)
Post Malone (he's from Syracuse too and hit #1 even though he's not my bag)

*SU alumni