Erin Cruise (born on February 18, 1962 in Hammond, Indiana) is a female singer from the ’90s.
She began singing when she was a young girl. At the age of five, Erin began playing the organ. After receiving a piano when she was 10, Erin began composing & writing her own lyrics.
During her senior year of high school, Erin was awarded “Musician of the Year.” She began college with the intent of earning a music degree, but later changed her major to Broadcasting with a minor in Music.
While she attended college, Erin worked for the local ABC network affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa where she had a short gig working as a field reporter for the 5:00 news and later an anchorperson for the early morning news.
Erin later relocated to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where she worked at another ABC network affiliate in the Creative Services Department.
She wrote & produced television commercials for local advertisers. Erin sang commercially for a local ad agency.
In 1987, she moved to New York. In 1988 while on the train commuting to Manhattan, Erin met a ad agency write & songwriter named Charlie Allenson.
Together for two years, they played in coffee houses and other places as Charlie played guitar & Erin sang his music.
Charlie inspired Erin to continue to pursue a public singing career. He also helped get some jingle work as well.
Erin later met Mark Calcagni in the produce department at a grocery store. Mark introduced her to Vito Albano (of “Alive & Kickin’) and Vito introduced him to songwriter Bruce Sudano.
Vito & Bruce decded to work with Erin, writing & producing music for her and forming their own independent record label called Purple Heart Records.
Over the course of four years, Erin, Vito and Bruce recorded more than 20 songs, but four of them were officially released. 
In 1990, Erin released her first single “Never Enough.” It’s unknown how it made the charts, but it was a club hit.
Her second single “Eat Your Heart Out” didn’t chart, but it was also a club hit like the previous single.
In 1991, she released her third single “Waitng For You” (which was a dedication to the troops of Desert Storm). It’s unknown how or if the song charted at all.
Erin’s fourth single “Cold Shower” managed to peak at #90 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 7 weeks. The song sold more than 60,000 copies.
Erin had mainly traveled up & down the East Coast with only one stint in Las Vegas, accompanied by her road manager\fiance Michael Marino (from New York), doing “track dates” to promote Erin’s singles.
She also appeared on television shows such as “The Joe Franklin Show” in New York and “Dance Party USA” in Philadelphia.
After the success of the “Cold Shower” single, Bruce Sudano partnered up with a label out of Boston called Critique Records. Erin’s contract with the Purple Heart Recording Company wasn’t renewed.
On June 12, 1992, Erin married Michael. During that same year (after her record deal had ended), she got a call from a local bandleader who was looking for a singer for weddings & corporate parties.
Erin was a member of the Al Craven Band for seven years. In 1994, she sang at an open-mic night at Le Bar Bat on West 57th in New York City where she was approached by songwriter Billy Seidman who was looking for an artist to produce.
For over a year, Erin & Billy worked together trying to find her sound. Billy thought that Erin’s voice lent itself to country music.
Billy put together a band which consisted of various musicians from Manhattan. The band rehearsed a set of original music and began playing in places such as The Bitter End and Denim & Diamonds.
He later planned a trip for he & Erin to go to Nashville, Tennessee. Billy set up meetings with record label executives, the heads of artist management companies, publicists, photographers and anybody in Nashville that would take interest in Erin as an artist & their material.
Instead of bringing a demo produced in New York, Billy set up recording time at the Emerald Studios in Nashville, using their studio players.
Unfortunately, Erin & Billy went back to New York without a record deal and in 1996, they went their separate ways due to contractual differences.
During that same year, Erin gave birth to her daughter Madison Dee. At the time, she was still singing with the Al Craven Band and doing studio session work.
During her first pregnancy, Erin wrote a song called “My Mama’s Hands” (which was about her mother). She collaborated with a woman named Sandy Wilbur (who co-wrote & produced the demo for her).
In 1998, Erin gave birth to her son Benjamin Michael. She juggled being a full-time mom and singing on the weekends. During that same year, the Al Craven Band introduced another female singer named Christine Tambakis.
In 2000, Erin and Christine left the Al Craven Band to form their own band. They put together a seven-piece ensemble called SistaGroove.
After the band began booking gigs, Erin’s husband Michael started his own business & her family moved to York, Pennsylvania. Upon moving there, Erin took a break from doing weekend singing work to be a wife & suburban mother.
Erin continued commuting back & forth to New York, working with Christine & SistaGroove. She also freelanced in other bands and found work in the Washington D.C. area close to home.
After 10 years, Erin’s marriage to Michael ended. She later dediced to take her experience as a singer & a bandleader with SistaGroove to build a business for herself.
Erin formed her first band called Word of Mouth with drummer Dwayne Dickey, but the band broke up after 9 months. She later met drummer and the co-founder of Cruise Control, Butch Barber.
Erin & Butch worked together to form a five-piece variety\dance band & started performing publicly in early 2002. These days, it has become a successful area cover band.
Along with the band, Erin is also in the process of writing a small catalog of original songs that she has demos of. She also works on original studio projects.
To see Erin’s official website, go to:
www.erincruise.com/
To see a fan-made video for “Cold Shower,” go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8pygjUEWd0
To see a fan-made video for “Eat Your Heart Out,” go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyxkYDBE4Y0
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